Health is not a disease

Dr. Chip Beckett is on the scene as he chastises New Haven for their absurd and poorly understood enforcement that will further penalize tiny house occupants. Beckett makes good points while pointing out the hypocrisy in policies that will perpetuate and increase homelessness in my home state.

But in doing so, he makes a common error and misses two crucial points.

Common views

“Homelessness is not a problem of laziness, nor is it very often a choice. Homelessness is caused by mental health issues, long-term unemployment, substance abuse and sometimes just bad luck or bad luck.” (Dr Beckett)

His op-ed reflects a syndrome that affects many people and government officials – a lack of understanding of how homelessness happens. We’ve been sold a commodity note that homelessness is caused by mental illness, addictions, or choice, which allows us to dismiss the homeless as flawed. That leaves the system on the hook.

The fact remains that the root causes of our nation’s growing homeless population can be directly linked to decades of disinvestment in housing, family support, health care, education and other essentials.

By default, this addiction/mental health fallacy totally misses the one main segment of homelessness – families.

“The solution is not rooted in exclusion or eliminating options, as is the case with New Haven’s tiny houses, but instead provides safe places and ladders to success for homeless individuals and families.” (Beckett)

Beckett at least includes families, but does not mention trauma, which has a major impact on children and adults. And it bypasses how the homelessness “system” mostly caters to mothers with children who are invisibly struggling to survive. He is not the only one.

The Connecticut Department of Education oversees the compliance of all school districts when it comes to educating students experiencing homelessness. School is where most homeless students are identified. Or not. Connecticut schools have identified approximately 5,000 homeless students, K-12. Throw in over 1,000 more babies and toddlers, with and without diapers. That may sound like a lot.

The federal McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth Act clearly sets out the requirements for all public schools when it comes to meeting the needs of homeless students. But this map shows CT districts identifying “0” homeless students. I’ll bet my lunch money he’s wrong. Unfortunately, districts are still not identifying the homeless students in their midst, as the map below shows.

Credit: CT.gov

The researchers find that the majority of districts under-identify or completely miss the homeless student population in their community. Here are the national, state, congressional, and school district views of homeless children (not including parents/guardians). Remember, these are subcounts.

What is being done for families?

Tiny houses? Many communities don’t even have emergency shelters. And pushing families into small communes of houses full of adults would not be advisable. But policymakers tend not to know much about family homelessness, let alone the common and debilitating trauma that affects most families, youth and single adults.

Help is on the way!

In my 40 years of working with families experiencing homelessness, including the last 20 years of living in a van traveling across the US chronicling this issue for my nonprofit, HEAR US Inc., I have learned a lot by listening. My first film, My Own Four Walls, captured the emotional observations of children, including some from Connecticut, as they described homelessness and what school meant to them. Their timeless descriptions deserve to be heard today.

My travels across the country led me to interview hundreds of parents and children in a variety of homelessness situations, which led me to meet three Melissa. I kept in touch with these three moms and realized that they could offer the rest of us, especially homeless families and those who work with them, an unprecedented amount of wisdom about surviving homelessness. So I asked them if they wanted to be a big part of a book project and they agreed.

Next month, a much-hyped guide to homeless families will hit the shelves. From the positive reviews I have read, my efforts and those of my co-author, Diana Bowman, are validated. “The Three Melissas — The Practical Guide to Surviving Family Homelessness” focuses on the often invisible families. While Diana and I add our two cents worth, most of the wisdom comes from the Three Melissas.

They don’t sugar coat their experiences. And the Melissa family upends the usual adult-blaming categorization of homelessness by pointing out that (mostly) single mothers have (mostly) struggled valiantly to hold their families together despite our societal rejection of their constraints of poverty and housing instability.

Health is not a disease

By Matthew. Jr

You Missed

3 New York Yankees who won’t be on the roster next season without a playoff run

Police found the SUV belonging to a person of interest in the Kentucky shootings

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper Says If Kamala Harris Wins State, ‘She Is The Next President Of The United States’

Taylor Swift And Travis Kelce Look Delighted As They Guide Her In Viral Clip

Health is not a disease

By Matthew. Jr

Related Post

3 New York Yankees who won’t be on the roster next season without a playoff run

Police found the SUV belonging to a person of interest in the Kentucky shootings

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper Says If Kamala Harris Wins State, ‘She Is The Next President Of The United States’

You Missed

3 New York Yankees who won’t be on the roster next season without a playoff run

Police found the SUV belonging to a person of interest in the Kentucky shootings

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper Says If Kamala Harris Wins State, ‘She Is The Next President Of The United States’

Taylor Swift And Travis Kelce Look Delighted As They Guide Her In Viral Clip