"No Room For Them..."

At this time of year, Christians all over the U.S. and throughout the world are again recreating the Bethlehem scene with its stable, straw-covered manger anc figures of the homeless family in the drama of the birth of Jesus Christ. This timeless scene will be recalled and re-enacted in various ways by people of every age, race and social position. Families, school children, church-goers and revelers will sing of the Babe who was born in poverty, in a stable, wrapped ir swaddling clothes and laid in a manger because There Was No Room For Them in The Inn. And everyone, young and old, will look with pathos at the sight of Jesus and his parents being homeless on this most important event ir their lives.

On Christmas day 1984, and into 1985, and the foreseeable years ahead, One Quarter of the World's Population Will Have No Shelter as dignified as that Bethlehem scene. There will be millions of anxious, homeless parents giving birth to their children in the most sordid conditions with but a minimal chance that such children will lead a healthy and happy life.

Amidst our joyous celebration of Christmas, we must allow The Issue of Homelessness in today's world to trouble us. It says that something is radically wrong in Christianity and all other religions when, in this 20th century this era of unprecedented knowledge, technology and resources, more people than ever before are suffering because of it. This fact has been forcing it self on our consciousness more and more frequently in recent months, highlighted by the 51 day fast by Mitch Snyder, leader of the Community for Creative Non-Violence, who was protesting the lack of facilities for the homeless in the Capital of the richest nation that has ever existed.

Statistics Provided by The United Nations Center For Human Settlement Are Frightening:

"What Is The Current Shelter Situation For The World's Poor?"

Although adequate shelter has been universally recognized as a basic right for more than a quarter of a century, the overall condition of shelter and basic services for more than ONE BILLION of the poor and disadvantaged in developing countries - and for a significant number in industrialized countries - is deteriorating alarmingly. Few Governments today can claim to have national policies or programs that effectively meet the basic shelter and related needs of their people, especially those of the poor and disadvantaged. Consider:

Today...Throughout the World Approximately one quarter of the world's population do not have adequate shelter and live in extremely unsanitary and unhealthy conditions...In the past 24 hours, more than 50,000 people have died from malnutrition and disease, much of it linked to inadequate shelter water supply and sanitation. Most of them were children.

Approximately One Million People Have No Shelter Whatsoever, They sleep in the streets, under bridges, in vacant lots and doorways...In Latin America, it is estimated that 20 million children and youth live and sleep in the streets....In many squatter settlements, it is not uncommon for more than 1,000 people to be dependent on water from single standpipe. Up to 80-90% of the inhabitants may have no access to human waste disposal facilities.

Overall, the population of slum and squatter settlements are increasing at twice the rate of the cities themselves, and four times faster than world population growth." What for the Future?

In the United States, the Department of Housing and Urban Development estimated the number of homeless people at 250,000 to 350, 000. Mr. Snyder and others working with homeless people contest this, stating that the actual number is 2-3 million.

In the U.S., huge numbers are persons who are mentally impaired. The failure of the de-institutionalization concept is responsible for this. Up to 1.5 million mental patients have been released from state hospitals; thousands of these persons, unprepared to cope outside the institution, have been ignored at best and preyed upon at worst. In rags they roam aimlessly on the streets and alleys of our cities, sleep in underground passages or abandoned buildings, rummage through garbage for food and die alone and abandoned. It is estimated that this group accounts for 30-85% of this nation's homeless.

This laudable program, begun by President Kennedy in 1963, has not been carried through properly. Before Congress he said: "We as a nation have long neglected the mentally ill. This neglect must end if our nation is to live up to its standards of compassion and dignity....We must act to bestow the full benefits of our society on those who suffer from mental disabilities....to retain in and return to the community the mentally ill, and there to restore and revitalize their lives."

William Eisenhuth of the Philadelphia Advocates for the Mentally Disabled stated: "We made promises to the patient when we de-institutionalized him or her. We said we will not forget you. That has been the biggest lie in mental health history. We have abandoned the sickest of our entire society. And they have no voice to scream about it. They have no way to organize."

New York City Three years ago, the city was sheltering 3,500 people per night and spending $12 million a year to house the homeless. Today, the city shelters 18,500 per night, including 3,100 homeless families, and religious institutions shelter 1,400 per night, while recent reports cite a total of 34,000 homeless in the city. The cost to the city is now in excess of $200 million. Last year, 12,000 volunteers assisted in caring for those who were homeless.

In Chicago, there are an estimated 25,000 homeless - there are only 14 shelters, providing 1,500 beds. There are 3 to 4 thousand homeless young people with only 40-120 beds available for them. The city is woefully inadequate in low-income housing. In 10 years, it has lost 7,000 low-income housing units; luxury high-rise buildings, such as The Presidential Towers, have taken their place. There is no zoning code in Chicago to provide shelters; each shelter must be approved by a Special Ordinance before it can open - a long political process; therefore, most shelters operate illegally. Many neighborhoods refuse, through community groups, to have a shelter open in their area. Only $200,000 has been appropriated for shelters, while The Chicago Coalition for the Homeless estimates that $6 million is required to meet the minimal needs of those on the streets today...

There Is No Room for "Them"!

Which brings us to the heart of the matter: The biggest problem in all of this is the Attitudinal Barriers which people maintain, consciously or unconsciously. The first is: Blame - "they are there by reason of their own fault." Second: Fear - "they will do us harm physically, socially or financially." Third: Ignorance - "they do not have a human or civil right to decent shelter." By maintaining these attitudinal barriers, the general populace, and consequently, public officials, resist doing anything that will change these conditions.

To explode the myths behind our attitudes, here is a case-history of one shelter established in May 1983, in the Woodlawn area of Chicago. It is the St. Martin de Porres House of Hope.

In the 548 days during which the shelter has been in operation, 1422 persons have been welcomed. 11,330 had to be turned away. This is an average of 29-30 per day turned back to the streets. Of those who were helped, the following documented information shows why they needed shelter:

408: unable to pay rent on Public Assistance income; 106: domestic violence; 50: family disputes; 13: unemployment; 38: fire; 46: no heat; 16: no water; 26: building condemned; 42: children not allowed.

Of the 1422 welcomed, 599 came from the Woodlawn neighborhood (next door to the affluent Hyde Park/University of Chicago neighborhood); 12 came from out of State; 62 from the suburbs; 46 from the North Side of the city; 26 from the West Side of the city.

31 babies have been born at the shelter!

The shelter exists on private funds; neither state nor church funds are available. The main sending agencies are the Department of Human Services, Public Aid, and Catholic Charities. The average length of stay is 19 days. During that time people are counselled in appropriate areas, helped to find apartments and to obtain necessary funds.

Bare statistics never tell the whole story. Talking to a middle-aged couple with children, who had lost their home, I was told: "the physical difficulties, worries and complications of being homeless are nothing compared to the embarrassment of begging, being avoided and feeling that nobody gives a damn about you".

The homeless of this country have no access to the political process, since in the majority of states they are denied the right to register to vote due to lack of a permanent address.

Those who are able to work cannot create links to prospective employers because they have no telephone available to them on the streets.

It is because of these attitudes, carefully concealed within us, that we do not raise a cry in the public and private sectors to change this terrible injustice.

The U.N. and Homelessness

The United Nations, facing this horrible blight on our humanity, has designated 1987 - the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless. Here are some of the projects it urges immediately to prepare for that year:

• Explore, test and demonstrate existing or new ways and means of improving the shelter and neighborhoods of the poor and disadvantaged;
• Serve that segment of the population which is considered by national definition to have an income below the poverty line;
• Contribute to or result in a clear and visible improvement in the shelter or neighborhoods of at least some of the poor and disadvantaged before 1987;
• Either benefit all of the nation's poor (e.g. special legislation and regulations) or contain development features in support of the poor which can be replicated at least in other locations within the country, and preferably in other nations;
• Lead to affordable improvements for many of the poor and disadvantaged rather than major improvements for a few;
• Shelter - Provide and improve shelter, particularly through individual and community action.
• Services - Provide and improve community facilities and services for the majority of the poor and disadvantaged - e.g. drinking water, sanitation, waste disposal, low-cost transportation and health services.
• Employment - Generate jobs in the formal and informal construction sectors.
• Legislation and regulation - Include special provision in national policies, legislation and regulations for security of tenure and improved services for the poor and disadvantaged.
• Management and finance - Extend institutional and financial arrangements to help the poor and disadvantaged improve their shelter and neighborhoods.
• Education, training and information - Provide education, training and information for the improvement of local construction capability and community organizational skills.

What All of Us Can do

These projects are obviously beyond the means of any individual, or small groups. But they not only sketch out the tasks of society at large, but also give us a blue-print of what must be done if we are to live up to our responsibilities as our brothers' and sisters' keepers, and improve the conditions which are destroying a billion people.

We can start by heeding the simple advice of Mitch Snyder: "The next time you see someone out on the street, don't pass them by. Say 'hello', ask them how they're doing, give them something hot to drink....Tell them they're a human being." That can help dispel our attitudinal barriers.

Beyond that, we as individuals and local groups can resolve to Do Something in Preparation For the International Year of Shelter for The Homeless (IYSH), such as:

Contacting the local Department of Human Services; local Religious Denominations' Charity Offices, Salvation Army, etc., to find out what is being done, and how you or your organization can help. All can provide linkage to other local programs and services.

In your Church affiliation, raise the issue of how the under-used facilities can possibly be used for the homeless.

Let the Christmas scene be more than a nostalgia trip to the past, but a resolve for the future: "There will be room for "THEM"!

Information and Acknowledgments -

For further information on the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless contact: Movement for a Better World, Office for the United Nations, 777 U.N. Plaza, New York, NY 10017.