Homelessness affects home

I was cold. I was scared. I was truly unwanted. I was living on the streets of Los Angeles. Yes, for one day, I became “homeless.”

I have always wondered what circumstances one would have to encounter to beg on the streets for money. From reading the Los Angeles Almanac, I began to understand the type of people the homeless are, especially in Los Angeles County. Between 33% and 66%, according to the Almanac, of homeless individuals had substance abuse issues. About 25% of the homeless are mentally ill.

For those who don’t think homelessness will ever affect them, think again. Forty-eight percent of the homeless have graduated from high school, and a staggering 32% have had a bachelor’s degree or a graduate degree. The truth is homelessness is a serious problem and it affects millions of people.

Homelessness is a major issue, especially close to home in Los Angeles County. According to the Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty at the Weingart Center, an estimated 254,000 men, women and children experience homelessness in Los Angeles County during some part of the year and approximately 82,000 people are homeless on any given night.

Politicians promise every year to decrease homelessness one way or another. Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles recently announced that the city was able to house 3,375 veterans who were homeless, halfway towards his goal of ending veterans’ homelessness in Los Angeles as he promised in his election campaign. The funds for this costly endeavor will come from Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA), a state-chartered public agency which provides the largest available affordable housing in Los Angeles.

The Obama administration has even attempted to end chronic homelessness in the United States of America. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) officials have set a deadline of 2017 to end such homelessness. Chronic homelessness means when the homeless have been without housing for more than a year or have had four stints of homelessness in a three year period. According to a HUD study, there are tens of thousands of chronic homeless in the United States of America.

Recently, I decided to become homeless myself, to better grasp the situation. Becoming “homeless” wasn’t easy. I searched for pictures of homeless on the World Wide Web and I decided to assemble a costume that would most resemble a homeless teenager.There were several “looks” I noticed, including people who didn’t really look like the homeless portrayed in movies and television shows.

But since I wanted to appeal to the masses, I dressed in my most tattered and dirty clothes. I also decided to not shower for more than one day leading up to my homeless dress up. According to my own mother, my stench was disgusting, which was perfect for my experiment. In addition to my smell and dirty clothes, I also applied some make-up on my face so it would seem that I hadn’t showered for weeks.

After my appearance was set, I decided to beg for money in a public and safe venue. The location I chose was deliberately picked for its reputation as a clean and harmless neighborhood. I decided to beg by the Trader Joe’s on Hyperion Avenue in Los Angeles. My mom shops there often and always noticed its peaceful and nurturing environment unlike other places she had been. She recommended that I should beg in that neighborhood. Everything was finally ready for me to try my experiment.

My experience was frightening and sad. People ignored me and rejected me. I was a part of society’s outcast and unwanted. Some people tried to help me and asked if I was okay, but mostly I was treated like trash on the floor, just being stepped over and looked in disgust.

More than 100 people in all had passed me, and only a few would look at me, let alone donate spare change. No one wanted anything to do with me whatsoever. It was terrible to just imagine that hundreds of thousands of people go through that daily for real. After begging and pleading for money for two hours, I had earned $3 from all the spare change and bills I had collected.

I originally did not think much of the $3, but it could be very useful. I found out that most meals provided by soup kitchens or elderly care shelters, would cost on average from $2 to $2.50. Three dollars is not a lot of money at all, but for homeless people, $3 could mean the difference between having and not having a plate of hot food on the table that day.

Later, when I came home, I was interested if $3 for two hours of begging was the standard that all homeless lived by. There were only reports of individual cases, and the information was staggering. Apparently, a 2008 report by Komo News, reported that a homeless man in Oregon outside a local Wal-Mart made about 100 thousand dollars a year.

An actual homeless man via blogspot directly reported his daily experiences and wrote that he made $15-30 per hour. As I read through several cases, I discovered that there was no common income that homeless would receive. Some would make only $10,000 a year while other would make conservatively $100,000.

I donated my earnings to a soup kitchen in Los Angeles. Although they are called soup kitchens, I learned they served all types of food. According to the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank, there are over 374 soup kitchens or emergency food pantries in all of Los Angeles County, many of which are faith-based organizations. Many in their mission statements directly quote the Bible, itself.

After searching for a homeless shelter that would take my questions for more than two weeks, I finally found the Salvation Army Bell Shelter. It is the largest homeless shelter west of the Mississippi, with about more than 40,000 square feet of space. The shelter itself is located in East Los Angeles. It offers a variety of services to about 350 homeless men and women daily.

Some services include counseling, HIV/AIDS education, computer training, and many other useful services. The Bell Shelter itself used to be a former military base, but by fulfilling the 1987 Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, it was converted to the shelter it is today.

Bernic Hernandez, who has worked at the shelter for over eight months, said that each day the shelter sees ten to thirty new applicants. “I really have liked my experience and hope to continue my work here at the Bell Shelter,” Hernandez said. “It’s actually pretty awesome working at the shelter. It’s very rewarding and cool. I literally learn something new every day! Although we are dealing with troubling and mostly negative issues, it is important to reflect on the positive.”