Streetwise: Survival of the Fittest
You feel invisible when you’re homeless…I don’t let it beat me. I get up every day and try again. I survive every one of these days still being me.
~Ron, a homeless man battling mental illness
Most of us have probably never imagined ourselves living on the streets. But for about 2% of the world’s population, this is their unfortunate reality. An estimated 100 million people are homeless worldwide. As many as 1 billion people lack adequate housing. While it is considered the leader of the world stage, the United States alone still has one of the biggest problems with homelessness, even when compared to more impoverished countries. With a homeless population per night of over half a million souls, the numbers are sobering.¹
The characteristics and causes of homelessness around the world are complex and varied. Homeless people experience social exclusion and stigmatization, economic hardship and poverty, and physical and mental health problems. Everyone deserves a home.
Getting an accurate picture of global homelessness is extremely challenging. Definitions of homelessness vary from country to country. Census data is typically collected based on household and, while most census data takes into account those living in shelters and receiving government aid, census takers struggle to count the “hidden homeless” – those who may be residing in inadequate settlements such as slums, squatting in structures not intended for housing, couch surfing with friends and family, and those who relocate frequently.
Homelessness is not the same as Houselessness’. Someone can be homeless while still having a roof over their head. When we talk about ‘insecure’ accommodation it can refer to structurally unsound properties, such as slum areas that are illegally built on flood plains. However, it can also be ‘insecure’ in terms of unsustainable e.g., someone who is living on someone else’s sofa. Defining homelessness is complicated, but getting an idea of what secure housing is can be done by answering these three questions:
- Will someone be able to live there long-term?
- Does the person living there have independence? For example; Do they have agency over what food they eat? Or when they can come and go?
- And the most fundamental question of all; Does it feel like their home?
You can read more about defining homelessness and the ETHOS definition of homelessness here. Meanwhile, it’s time for us all to step up to change the narrative about homelessness “for good”…
It’s time for real stories to be told by the unsheltered and by those who can speak about and for them so we can debunk the myths “for good”….
—WORLDWIDE CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS—
CLICK FOR PRESS RELEASE ► Breakthrough Unsheltered Anthology Book Series Launched
WE NEED STORYTELLERS, including:
- those who; are currently unsheltered/homeless; have been unsheltered/homeless in the past
- have been affected indirectly/a degree removed from being unsheltered/homeless (family members, friends, co-workers, etc. .)
- are familiar with the personal and global effects of the unsheltered/homeless population,
- organizations and causes who are on the ground facing daily struggles with those who are unsheltered/homeless and who have stories to tell.
Originally Published on https://www.bizcatalyst360.com/author/dennisjpitocco/
