Hacker News Reader

Comment by Mz | Hacker News Reader

Makes me feel so much better about refusing to stay in a shelter during the years I was homeless. A tent and control over my life were vastly more humane than what I am reading here.

Homelessness traumatizes its victims. We might even call it a triple trauma. First, your life falls apart: family and friends shut their doors; your belongings disappear. This is a kind of living death. Then you’re traumatized again, separately but relatedly, by the stress of living in danger. Shelters are lousy with drugs and violence; streets are cold and your last possessions are imperiled. You’re disdained by your fellow man. You’re lucky if the despair doesn’t drive you to addiction, but addiction is a third kind of trauma when it arrives.

And this is why we need to solve affordable housing. It is unconscionable that we do this to so many Americans.

View on HN

I had a few friends who were (occasionally) homeless, and they avoided shelters at all cost. I've heard the same from friends who had experience with or worked in mental hospitals.

Conversely, one of my best experiences was helping with organizing a massive Christmas party for the homeless. It was... surreal and confusing and confronting to see some very 'stereotypically' homeless people dancing and flirting and getting drinks and snacks at the bar like, well, 'normal' people.

I feel that often best things we can do for the homeless and those with mental health issues is to ensure that they feel like full human beings, rather than at best objects of charity or pity. And, as you say, a core part of that is making sure they have as much 'normal' in their life as possible. Having a place to call your own is pretty fundamental to that, I'd say.

This! A million times this! We seem exceptionally good at marginalising those in society that need normality the most. It boggles the mind that in the year 2017 we seem to still not be able to strike a balance between our humanity and profit.

You cannot treat someone like an outcast and sub human and expect them to recover into being fully functioning human beings again after such trauma.

One of the things I try to do when approached by someone who is homeless (or I think is homeless) is not to treat it like some kind of transaction where they need something and I may or may not give it to them even though that is usually how the interaction starts. The first thing I try to do is introduce myself and get their name to make it less like "ok what do I need to do to get you to leave me alone?".

I used to find it really stressful to get asked for change or food or whatever but by talking to people you realize they are often not that different although I haven't dealt with many people with severe untreated mental illness. The unfortunate side effect (and maybe this is why we don't do this more as a culture) is that you'll feel worse about their predicament. When you find out that the person used to be an electrician and had a decent life but money troubles and maybe addiction took that from them, its a little harder to look forward to the restaurant or show you were on your way to as much as you did before.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com