Why do you think people become homeless in America?

1. ADDICTION

2. MENTAL ILLNESS

3. VIOLENCE AND DOMESTIC ABUSE

4. LACK OF INCOME

5. DISABILITY

6. VETS RETURNING

7. RUNAWAYS AND FOSTER KIDS

8. EMOTIONAL STRAIN

9. PRISON RELEASE

10. IMMIGRATION

I hate those “list of 10” posts—they seem contrived, like, it has to be ten, not nine, not eleven—ten. Here I am, thinking of all the reasons I’ve heard regarding why the people I’ve met in the tunnel are currently homeless, and I actually came up with ten, not nine, not eleven—ten. Sorry about that.

Let’s run through them.

ADDICTION is the number one cause of homelessness in America per my experience, earning it the number one spot on the list. It is the only cause which correlates as such, because none of the other causes come close. From my experience, maybe two or three percent of the homeless people I’ve met were not consistent drug users. That doesn’t mean their addiction led to their homeless status, though. Still, the vast majority, of those whom I asked, pointed to drug use as the cause of their losing their home or preventing them from ever having one.

Many have found themselves living in the tunnel for other reasons, and happen to be addicts as well. Others began using after losing their home as a means to cope with the horrible reality of being where they are. Depression is a common companion.

MENTAL ILLNESS may not be the second-most common cause of homelessness, but it’s certainly something I’ve seen a lot of in the tunnel. That said, let’s dig a little deeper into this cause. We’ve seen the “crazy” people yelling at nobody, waving their arms and hands in the air, or maybe dancing to music that isn’t there, but we shouldn’t just label that as “mental illness” and wash our hands of it. We should ask why. These aren’t the behaviors of a combat vet returning from overseas, nor the flagrant actions of someone suffering from the loss of their family in an automobile accident. They’re not, necessarily, the actions of someone on drugs, either. Yes, they certainly could be, and even if they are, these circumstances are treatable through substance detoxification (if needed), psychiatric rehabilitation, and counseling.

According to the ADA National Network, at least 38% of adults with significant psychiatric disabilities are employed full-time. Between you and me, I think a lot of them are in Congress.

What if someone is escaping an abusive household? Is that not a psychological issue? I wouldn’t call that situation mental illness, but VIOLENCE AND DOMESTIC ABUSE are a frequent cause of homelessness. One of the first people I was able to help get out of the tunnel was a woman in fear of going home. I’ve read that nearly 50% of women and children outside of homes are choosing between homelessness and abusiveness—that’s a rough choice. Fortunately, there are many resources out there for victims of domestic abuse. Helping someone typically means simply offering a ride to one of them.

Side note: do not ask a homeless woman if she’s a victim of abuse. That’s just an invitation to initiate lies and deception designed to separate you from your money.

Women’s and children’s shelters are plentiful, but they typically don’t take people who are obviously high, so once again, the easy access to cheap drugs play a huge part in people’s extended time on the streets.

VETS RETURNING from active duty often suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Again, there are resources available to help these folks, but the first step is listening to them, which few people do, then laying out the possibilities awaiting them on the other side of treatment. Not all homeless vets struggle with PTSD and not all PTSD sufferers are vets. When I come across a homeless vet, I always tell them about the Tunnel to Towers Foundation. Though our efforts share the word, Tunnel, we are not affiliated in any way. When I speak of “the tunnel,” I refer to the world of the homeless community. The “Tunnel” in Tunnel to Towers, refers to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in New York, from which firefighter Stephen Siller ran with 60lbs of gear to reach the Twin Towers, losing his life while saving others on 9/11, thus, Tunnel to Towers. Find them at T2T.org. Obviously, the VA has resources available locally, and Wounded Warriors is another fantastic organization offering help to veterans. All too often, the emotional strain of loss and violence makes it difficult or impossible to function within our society, and homelessness is the unfortunate result.

EMOTIONAL STRAIN is the roughest part of being homeless. In fact, emotional strain is sometimes the cause of it. Deep depression can prevent people from holding jobs. Loss and loneliness can do the same. A feeling of emptiness can lead to what the clinicians call despair. When people don’t have an answer to “What’s the point of it all?” responsibilities can take a back seat to whim. Uselessness takes over. Meaningless becomes life’s theme. Usually (again, from my experience), this type of strain doesn’t set in until after homelessness is achieved. Still, I’ve heard the “what’s the point of it all” attitude described as the cause of the fall, rather than the result of it.

You can easily see, from the similarities between these listed causes of homelessness, that they can overlap each other, compounding the pressure which holds people static in this socioeconomic status. Keep that in mind as you contemplate possible solutions to the phenomenon.

LACK OF INCOME is something we might categorize as “obvious.” Strangely, this is the only cause on the list which I have not personally heard named as a cause among the people I’ve met. I only list it here because so many institutions regard “rising rents” as a cause for homelessness in different cities across the nation. I’ve only been to about a dozen large cities across the nation talking to homeless people, and a dozen more smaller cities, and by no means have I chatted with all of the homeless people within any of those cities, but I concede that there must be some truth to the claim that rising rents must be considered within the overarching cause: lack of income. That, and—it’s obvious.

The question has to be: What caused the lack of income? Loss of employment, did rent rise above steady income, did someone decide to start a family while working at a burger stand for minimum wage? Is this a young adult who watched his friends go off to college while he stayed home playing video games and making bubbles with his spit? Is this someone who never learned how to handle money, shopping at convenience stores and buying filet mignon with credit cards? Is there a gambling problem?

I know there are a lot of people in New York and San Francisco who are homeless and still work full-time jobs. That’s a geography problem as well as a finance problem. They both require a Dr. Phil-caliber solution because it’s kind of a mental illness situation when someone insists on living in a place they can’t afford. The only reasonable solution is group together to divide living expenses. Creating communes is the only way for groups of people to get by when circumstances are dire. As individuals, however, one can survive by going rogue—working day labor, paid under the table, stealing to scrape by if needed. All you need is a pair of parachute pants and a monkey named Abu.

TEENAGE RUNAWAYS AND FOSTER KIDS who age out of the foster system upon turning eighteen—these are heartbreaking stories. Alright, not all of them—some are an enhanced version of the video game/spit bubbles guys who figured they’d go the way of the prodigal son but without the premature inheritance. Still, it’s a shame to see young people in the tunnel. They may have been abused, neglected, or unwanted. They may have emotional issues that no one ever taught them how to handle.

I recently met a young man bathing himself with a drinking fountain in a park. Personal hygiene is a sign of sanity, so I struck up a conversation. He’s fairly intelligent but has an anger management problem. It’s the kind of problem that makes it hard to hold a job. He was abused, had all his eggs in one basket—ROTC—then screwed the pooch when he failed his urine test. Nice. Now he’s 22, unemployed, with a 3 year-old daughter, and an ex-wife with a restraining order. Heartbreaking, no? Where would his life had gone if not for an ill-timed bong hit?

Folks, if you have the means, please consider adopting, and don’t forsake the older ones. Think about Big Brothers/Big Sisters if you have the time. For the love of all things beautiful, if you meet a homeless teen, either hand-deliver them to an organization designed to help them get off the street, or get in touch with the End of the Tunnel project so we can help them find the right program for them.

PHYSICAL DISABILITIES can be hard to overcome. I recently read that over 500 Americans lose a limb every day! Loss of limb, sight, hearing, and other disabilities are a huge problem and often lead to unemployment, and sometimes, homelessness. If you think it’s rough living in the tunnel, try doing it in a wheelchair. If you think it’s rough living in the tunnel in a wheelchair, try doing it sober! Depression hits hard. One of the hardest realities of homelessness is the way the general public treats you. Same clothes for six months, no haircut for months, no bathing, all your belongings in a bag—whether or not you’re missing an arm or a leg or an eye, people are going to avoid you. That’s just a fact of life, and it sucks. Worse yet, if you’re wheelchair-bound and everything is stolen from you overnight, now you’re hopping.

Limbs for Life is a wonderful organization out of Oklahoma City. They’ve provided prosthetics for thousands of Americans and many more across the globe. Alas, there’s a minimum 9-month wait time. They need donations to help speed things up! 500 a day in America—be careful out there!

Ex-felons RELEASED FROM PRISON represent a sizeable number of the homeless population. They often have no one and nowhere. Employment is rough. Friends are hard to come by. It’s really no wonder so many people re-offend just to get back to the world they know. For those I’ve met, the tunnel is similar to prison—lesser chance of being jumped, lesser chance of eating a decent meal, no chance of a bed, high probability of insect bites. It’s a good trade, but the sentence is longer.

Employment can be sought, of course, and with any luck, someone will be willing to take a chance on an ex-felon. If any overlapping of the list is involved, things only get tougher. Transitioning from one world to another—who would do that—on purpose?

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION is the last on the list. Here are the folks who purposefully transitioned from one world to another. Those who survived the desert and cartels, and evaded capture by the Border Patrol are now part of the clan. This cause of homelessness is, I think, the most sensible cause. It makes sense that people who come into the country illegally might not have resources in place to grant them a place to sleep at night. Still, homeless migrants are only surging in recent years. NGOs and government institutions are almost as numerous as the immigrants, it seems. Even so, the sheer magnitude of border crossings as of late have overwhelmed the entire industry. Opponents of open borders argue that the influx of migrants has spread resources impossibly thin, leaving service providers, and the people they hope to serve, short on desperately needed aid.

Logically, if the U.S. has spent billions of dollars over decades to address the homeless problem, but has still seen the homeless population continue to climb to over half a million people, one would think the last thing any humanitarian would want is to bring forth another fifteen to twenty million impoverished people to share in the already limited resources that have failed so many people to date.

These are the causes of which I’m aware that most frequently are named as causes for homelessness. I know, it was painful getting through it, and I appreciate your willingness to come along nonetheless. Next week, I hope to have enumerated the steps we need to take in order to solve some of these problems, as individuals, as communities, as organizations, and as local, state, and federal governments. Piece of cake!