The Paw Print

A news publication created by Baruch's College Now high school journalism class

Homeless

Homelessness can not be ignored

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It’s summer time right now and everyone is going to the park, the beach, or out of state. When I go to the park to eat during my break, I see many homeless people sitting on the benches. When I go home on the train I see them begging for some change so they can eat or feed their children.

The number of homeless people in NYC has been gradually increasing, and not many shelters can house them, because they are full of people. To solve this, the city should create more shelters. 

According to the organization Coalition for the Homeless, homelessness in NYC has reached the highest levels since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In May 2019, there were 61,129 homeless people, including 14,674 homeless families with 21,372 homeless children sleeping each night in the New York City municipal shelter system. Many people become homeless due to evictions, job loss, domestic violence, or overcrowded housing. Homeless shelters are overcrowded and full of people, the majority of them families. 

Even though there are homeless shelters, thousands of homeless people sleep on NYC streets, in the subway system and in other public places. African-American and Latino New Yorkers make up the majority of homeless people. There have to be enough shelters for everyone to live in because the people who cannot stay in shelters that are overloaded are living on the streets. 

The problem is that some of the homeless, may have run away from their house because they don’t want to live with their parents or their parents kicked them out. 

Most of the homeless people have mental health problems and they need to get help, but there is no one to help them because they live in the streets and no one pays attention to them. Many homeless people don’t know how to deal with their problems and turn to alcohol and drugs, and become addicted to it. 

I personally do not know anyone who has been homeless, but my mom has heard that a family friend is living on the streets because he has alcohol problems. The family is trying to look for him so they could help him, but can’t find him. It broke my mom’s heart hearing about this and that night she prayed, hoping the man was safe wherever he was.

The number of shelters needs to increase. According to a 2015 assessment by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 564,708 people were homeless on a given night in the United States. At a minimum,140,000 or 25 percent of these people were seriously mentally ill, and 250,000 or 45 percent had any mental illness. There should be medical employees who can examine the people and get them the treatment that they need. Homelessness is not something that can be ignored-not when you see many of these people on every corner.

 

Without A Home In New York City.

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Every year more New Yorkers find it almost impossible to live in the city. As affordable housing has become  more difficult to find, it’s affecting lower income classes to be homeless.
In the last 20 years the number of homeless persons has quadrupled from 15,000 homeless people in NYC to 60,717 in 2017. These statistics only document homeless people living in shelters, which doesn’t include the homeless people living on the streets or subway stations. New York has reached its highest homeless population since the Great Depression in 1930.
In the last ten years the cost of housing has doubled in all areas of New York City, which has impacted poorer communities.The Coalition for the Homeless has conducted a study that over 22,000 families are homeless, which is more than the amount of single adults who are homeless in NYC.
The question is what is causing so many New Yorkers to become homeless in this century?
To take an example from the app Trulia, rent for a simple 1 to 2 bedroom apartment anges from $2,000 to $6,000 in Brooklyn; while a 1 to 2 bedroom apartment in Furnace, Pennsylvania  ranges from $500 to $2,000.
New York City is one of the biggest cities in the world with a population of over 8 million people. It is understandable why it’s so expensive to live in. But In this political climate rates of affordable housing in not only New York City but in other places all over the U.S will soon increase.
“I’m here everyday the same routine, I come here and play for everyone who want to listen to me play.” said a homeless man who plays the guitar at the Lexington Ave/53rd Street subway station. He said he comes to that station almost everyday to play music to make every penny he can to get food that day.
He also said that with his old age and not being able to hold a job that he isn’t in a financial state to own any type of housing.
“Dollars here and there help me to get something to eat but not enough to put a roof over my head…and shelters nowadays are way too crowded so this is all I can do” he said.
Many homeless New Yorkers are in the same situation as this man. Lack of affordable housing in New York has put more people into shelters; making homeless shelters population increase by 76 percent in the last ten years.
Poorer neighborhoods in NYC have higher rates of homelessness because rent is increasing each year. The lower class neighborhoods consist of mainly African American and Latino/Hispanic people, so they’re affected by homelessness the most.
If the number of people becoming homeless in New York keeps increasing, the possibility of a decrease is very unlikely in the near future.

 

Changing New York

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New York City, also known as the Big Apple ,is known for many things such as skyscrapers, monumental places, and good schools. But there is also many negative things in New York such as homeless people lying on the sidewalk, subways and park benches.

When hearing New York, there are things we can do to change it to make it better, such as reducing the amount of homeless people. We can do this by making the shelters safer. The reason some people do not go into shelters is because they are overcrowded. Sometimes in shelters some of the homeless people sell and do drugs, can rob you and sometimes they rape you. In an interview with David Pirtle (a man who was once a homeless person) he states, “You know, I had my shoes stolen, just like people said you get your shoes stolen. I think this is more generally the case with people, is that you hear a lot of terrible things about shelters, that shelters are dangerous places, that they’re full of drugs and drug dealers, that people will steal your shoes, and there are bedbugs and body lice”. Most homeless people prefer the streets over the homeless shelter because shelters are so dangerous and also because they know that their belongings won’t get stolen by people.

They also live on the street because in the shelters there are different things such as bed bugs, lice and a whole bunch of diseases. An article called “10 Reasons Homeless People Sleep Out in the Cold – and Die” by Piper Hoffman, it states,“as if homelessness didn’t cause enough physical discomfort (hunger, untreated pain from medical conditions, often being dirty, carrying all of one’s belongings), shelters often add a couple, like bed bugs and body-lice, which are inevitable when a different homeless person sleeps in a bed each night”.

 

Is Union Square’s “Beautification” a Facade?

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An ambulance siren blinked and blared as paramedics closely followed a tall man. They held a bright orange stretcher shadowing him as he led the way.

A woman sat with her body folded forward and eyes closed. She appeared to be unconscious just before she was swiftly pulled up straight by the tall man. Her eyes opened up wide, mostly revealing white. A hollow expression formed on her face.

The paramedics stood still for a moment looking at the woman’s eyes. She may have overdosed.

Children danced, jumped, and ran in a small field of grass just footsteps away from the helpless woman. It was Thursday in Union Square Park.

Thursdays, Union Square hosts a daylong event called Summer in the Square. The non-profit Union Square partnership offers a range of free community activities to children and adults. The events have been held since June 16 and end August 11.

Summer in the Square has been hosted by the park for 14 years, said staff. They said the event has gotten bigger and bigger each year. The program has a large range of sponsors.

According to Summer in the Square’s website, the park hosts the event “to ensure… Union Square district’s continued growth and success by providing… sanitation, public safety, economic development, marketing and events like Summer in the Square.” The site claims it is focused on “investing in the beautification of Union Square Park.”

Union Square hasn’t exactly provided the “sanitation, public safety and economic development” it insists it offers.

In a short walk around the square, you can smell the stench of rancid trash. On the east side of the park piles of garbage bags sit, left to be picked through by homeless looking for recyclables and food.

Drug addicts, who are often also homeless, populate the entirety of the park. Some are spaced out or incapable of motion.

Cop cars are usually parked along the east side of the park, yet these occurrences persist.

The growth and success Union Square claims to ensure has not been felt by all its community. While many enjoy the services the park provides, those who generally need it most don’t take advantage of those opportunities. Because they aren’t offered significant attention, they’re bound to decline.

The tents with big names plastered across them, and the big stage that holds up performers can’t hide the reality of the deterioration of Union Square’s smaller community.

 

Is Helping the Homeless Really Helping Them?

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40 percent of the food that the U.S. produces each year is wasted. Saving 30 percent of that 40 percent would make food insecurity a thing of the past.

That’s what I tell every volunteer I guide through the city to bring restaurants’ leftover food to homeless shelters, rescue missions, and churches. Since last July, I have been a lead rescuer for Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, a non-profit food rescue organization based in NYC that focuses on eliminating food waste and insecurity simultaneously. For almost a year, I have been in close proximity to the city’s homeless population while wondering whether I should help them more or less.

While carrying out my duties of bringing both volunteers and food safely to the nearest church or homeless shelter, I found that the statistics on homelessness in the nation are less astonishing than how well-off some homeless people are. Certainly, there are patrons of the shelters who approach outsiders to network for job opportunities, but there are also patrons who approach bystanders to expand their social media following. The latter may leave you thinking, “What is he doing in a homeless shelter trying to get more Facebook likes and Instagram followers when he should be trying to get a job?”

To expand on that, you might ask yourself, “Why am I even bringing food to these so-called underprivileged people who have smartphones as nice as mine?”

People often visualize homeless people as old men with beards, more than three bags at any given time, and odd stenches. In May 2015, there was an estimated 59,000 people without shelter in New York City, so does that mean there are tens of thousands of stinky old men with beards walking around?

Despite common misconception, families, not men, are the majority group of homeless people. Lack of affordable housing, eviction, and overcrowded homes are common causes of homelessness in the city. A fair amount of the homeless are victims of violent acts or domestic abuse.

According to The Coalition for the Homeless, the number of people in NYC who sleep in shelters every night has spiked 79% in the last decade. Even so, it is hard to give a precise calculation of just how many people are living in New York City without a roof over their heads.

One might then ask, “Since these people are young, can’t they just get a job?” While many young homeless people make efforts to get hired, it is almost impossible to get employment without a fixed address. Thus, they must return to homeless shelters every evening just to receive a meal, if not a warm place to sleep.

Many times while delivering up to 30 pounds of food to The New York City Rescue Mission, I encountered patrons who were there for a plate of rice and chicken that most would take for granted. These people had all become a family, joking around and calling out each others names and laughing. Getting comfortable in an environment where everyone is in a situation similar to yours makes it easier, but being homeless is far from easy.

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No one wants to be homeless, but anyone can be at any given moment. Statistics say that one out of every three working people are susceptible to being homeless. As soon as one is labeled ‘homeless,’ it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to pick himself or herself back up especially when all the eyes of society are looking down upon him or her. Thus, the answer to the question of whether or not the homeless should be receiving as much help as they do today is yes, they should.

Most homeless people once had jobs, houses, and families before life hit them with unexpected tragedies. It takes an enormous amount of persistence and effort just for a homeless man, woman, or child to survive and homelessness should not be looked down upon, especially in today’s society where everyone is striving for equality.