Non-Professional Analysis of the Causes of Homelessness
This article is not done yet - a work in progress.
Above: Petroglyph of an Ancient Homeless Family (Mom, Dad & the kids) in search of shelter (Native American Petroglyph, Valley of Fire, Nevada)
This article is based on my observations and discussions with numerous homeless individuals over more than a decade. Though these observations were primarily made through association with the greater San Luis Obispo homeless population in the homeless shelter overflow (consisting of homeless families or single women), it also includes interactions with homeless folks completely outside of the shelter system.
Given that I am not a professional in this field, some of my amateur analysis will come off as being politically incorrect. However, the terminology used is the simplest way to get to the end goal: an understable analysis of how we become homeless. As always, the major cause of homelessness is lack of money caused by the inability to keep or hold a job. To a lesser degree, people become homeless due to the inability for a low paying job to allow for housing in an expensive home area, or for government assistance programs to do the same.
After long thought on this analysis, I came to the conclusion that there are not invidual categories that the homeless conveniently fall into, but sets of factors that either individually or collectively lead to homelessness. Most of these factors are related to the inability to land and / or keep a job. These factors will be discussed at length to identify how they affect homelessness. Its important to note that there are 2 categories of homeless people: (1) those that can simply never land a job, much less keep employed, and (2) those who can land a job but cannot keep it, and those that can only land and keep a minimum wage job. Lets look at the many factors that cause people to become and remain homeless:
- Factor: Low intelligence: For this factor, think Forrest Gump. Really. Forrest was not smart but lucky, and the homeless do not live in the crazy dream world of success like Mr. Gump. It brings to mind the saying "It's better to be lucky than good". Well, most homeless aren't lucky, and when you have a low IQ (think 75 to 85, the same IQ that Forrest Gump was portrayed as having in that film that won Best Picture way back in 1995), you're probably not going to be good at many jobs, either.
The drawback to having a low IQ in the job market should be obvious. Even if you have a strong work ethic, it's hard to teach new jobs skills to somebody that struggles to read and understand basic math. An interesting side effect of people with a low IQ is that superstition and randomness replace facts and logic. A low IQ often means the person does not understand the world at large, and that holds them back from moving up the job and income ladder. Unfortunately, they are limited to menial, low skill jobs for their entire career because of their low intelligence.
In conversing with these homeless with low IQ, they often demonstrate a lack of understanding of how the business and job world functions, thus limiting their success in that area. Low intelligence often causes them to have difficulty delivering what employers want: (1) show up on time, (2) dressed appropriately, and (3) do you job. When they are fired or never get promoted, instead of attributing it to (1), (2) and (3), they instead believe that somehow their employer dislikes them, has an extreme bias against them for <pick your random reason>, and wants to hold them down.
Unfortunately, you can't do much to "cure" low intelligence. Those with low intelligence are stuck with it. In many ways, its similar to how high a person can jump. Being a coach of various sports for decades that involve jumping (basketball, volleyball, soccer), I have observed that training and working out can only improve your vertical leap by at most, 10 percent. Same with intelligence. What G*d gave you is what you've got to work with. Bummer.
- Factor: Stuck in a Low Paying Job Forever (aka Inability to Progress in Job Pay and Job Skills): This is more of a catch-all category for those homeless who can land a job and keep it, but are stuck in a low-pay situation. They are stuck because they either do not have the aptitude to upgrade their job skills, or do not understand how the game of moving up the job ladder is played. Unfortunately, you moved up the job ladder by both upgrading your skills and (let's face it) some form of sucking up to the boss. Upgrading skills requires motivation, intelligence, and either self-guided skill improvement, or further education and training. The homeless person either does not have the talent to get better, or lacks the motivation or awareness to do so. A mentor can help this situation if the obstacle is simply lack of awareness as to why they are being held back, or lack of awareness that additional training and education is available. A mentor can help with both of these situations. Clearly, being stuck in a minimum wage job in California means that life will never be easy, and it will always be a major struggle to pay for housing and food, not to mention the other necessities of life, such as health insurance and health care.
- Criminal Record / Criminal Tendencies / Not Trustworthy: Many homeless have recently gotten out of prison, or otherwise have a prison record. Many or most employers do a background check before hiring, and few employers will voluntarily hire criminals, when non-criminals of similar qualifications are available. Also, many types of criminality (DUI) leads to the lack of a driver's license, which also impedes normal daily life functions, including getting and holding a job.Anecdotal evidence indicates that many homeless, whether they have criminal records or not, have what I would like to call "criminal tendencies" or "criminal attributes". This simply means that they think and act like criminals. When given the opportunity, they will steal or otherwise take advantage of employers, friends, family, acquaintances or complete strangers. This includes many homeless who are what are called "con-men" (con-women?) who, for whatever reason, are prone to taking advantage of others who show weakness. It may also include those holding up the ubiquitous" cardboard signs on street corners. They are often inscribed with whatever text the person believes will land them the most in "hand-outs". Many have another message on the other side of that cardboard - I won't say what that message is - I'll leave it for the reader to see if they can (safely) find out what that message is!
Example: I was talking recently to the Pastor of a local church, who shall remain anonymous. His previous church had an outreach to the homeless program. Ignoring the effectiveness of the program, he reported that some of the participants stole from the church. Such actions from those who should be appreciative of what the church was doing for them, instead "bit the hand that feeds them" for whatever reason.
Related to criminal tendencies is the inability to be trusted. This results from a homeless person burning their personal and family bridges by negative behaviors such as lying, stealing, creating conflict, fighting, etc. Not being trustworthy carries over from personal relationships into work relationships, and ultimately, your employers need to trust and rely upon their employees.
I have personally witnessed homeless people who had the opportunity to live with relatives or friends and rebuild their lives, but for a variety of reasons, could not be trusted by their hosts. The inevitable result was that they were asked to leave and not return. Had they been trustworthy, they could have remained in their temporary housing situation, and rebuilt their lives. It is much easier to rebuild a life and career from a stable home platform, where all the necessities for this activity rest. Such things as interview clothes, frequent bathing, and a good nights sleep would all be available at their temporary home. Dishonesty removes this homebase from the homeless person, thus casting adrift into a sea of uncertainty and stress - a place where recovery to a "normal" life is almost impossible.
- Alcohol or Drug Addiction, or Cigarette Addiction: Many homeless are current or former alcoholics or drug addicts. If the addiction resulted in a criminal drug conviction, the result is the "Criminal Record" problem. However, even without a conviction, there is the thought that "once an addict, always an addict", the mantra common to Alcoholics Anonymous type groups. This means that even if the homeless person is not currently addicted, it is always lurking in the background. It is common for many homeless to have a previous addiction come to the fore when under stress, and for the homeless, being under stress is a frequent (or continuous) state of affairs.
I also mention cigarette addiction, due to its negative effect on: 1) getting a job (who wants to hire a smoker these days?); 2) poor health affects; 3) extremely high cost as related to the homeless persons total income levels. Cigarette smoking negatively affects the ability to get and hold and job for those 3 reasons. Addiction to tobacco is just a legal form of a negative addiction, like alcohol. However, alcohol consumption is much more socially acceptable than nicotine addiction. The high cost of cigarette taxes has reduced smoking among the general population, but I am not sure it has had the same affect on the homeless. A large percentage of the homeless still smoke - it would appear to be higher than the current 22 percent of all adult age Americans who currently smoke.
- Poor Upbringing and Lack of Role Models: This is a much more difficult factor to use as a cause of homelessness. However, it does come up, and therefore it has been included. One would think it would be obvious that a poor family life, a single parent household, low education levels in your parent(s), etc. would lead to weak study skills for school and later, poor job skills.
When there is only 1 parent in the home, as is the case in many low income families, by definition, a parent is not around very often to serve as a good role model, if they even are one. In a 2 parent household where both parents work, or domestic and income-producing activities are divided up between the 2 parents, there is much for a youth to observe and absorb as a model that should be imitated. When only 1 parent is available, they are often absent for much of the child's upbringing, and are often more tired and more stressed out (wouldn't you be?) compared to a 2 parent household.
I can speak to the benefits of a 2 parent household, with a harmonious division of parent responsibilities. It didn't matter what we said (lectured?) to our children, what mattered (as we later found out) was the role model that we provided to them. It is much easier to be a role model when you can pay your bills, and have a spouse to bounce ideas off of, and to calm you down when having a stressful day or moment.
- speak
- Mental Disability
- Antisocial Personality / Difficulty with Group Interaction
- Inability to Accept Authority
- Lack of a Safety Net from Family or Friends
- Old Age / Job Skill Deterioration
- Prefer Homelessness to the “Rat Race”
- Physical Disability or Sudden Illness
- Inability to Structure Modern Life Functions
- Inability to Conform to Social Norms
- Poor Judgment / Bad Financial Decisions:
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