Letter: Homelessness is not a ‘lifestyle’

With excellent desire, I read the June 16 short article about the new very low-barrier shelter selection for the homeless place forth by ANCHOR [“Come as You Are: Low-barrier Shelter May Fill Temporary Housing Gaps,” Xpress]. The have to have to meet folks where by they are and advertise safety is integral to the damage-reduction technique when addressing the physical and psychological wellbeing issues of our homeless populace. The more options available, the superior.

What grabbed my interest in this usually educational write-up was the impression of ABCCM’s government director, the Rev. Scott Rogers. He expressed the impression that a part of our area’s summertime boost in the unhoused populace will come from individuals who “choose a homeless lifestyle” for social or political reasons. Homeless life style? I respectfully disagree.

Just as psychological, bodily and socioeconomic situations are not existence, neither is homelessness it is an result of people conditions. While my individual son was homeless and touring the country for four a long time throughout the mid-2000s, a hallway conversation with him could possibly have led a single to believe that he was deciding upon a touring life style a deeper conversation would have unveiled the ache that drove his soul to wander, searching for relief. His untreated bipolar ailment resulted in harmful pursuits: practice-hopping, hitchhiking and substance use.

Those who travel as a result of our spot in the course of seasonal shifts are generally just doing that, traveling. They seek out out a local climate wherever they can rest out-of-doors without the need of jeopardizing hypothermia in the wintertime or dehydration in the summer time. They are frequently rootless, detached from family and dependent on the kindness of many others. Dismissing this as a selection not only ignores the serious-lifetime wrestle of the homeless unique, but also the anguish of the people who adore them.

We need to have to reduce the incidence of homelessness by giving lasting, good quality, supportive housing and healthcare solutions. Until that time will come, acquiring shelter solutions that will meet folks wherever they are is a start off.

— Anne Seaman
Montreat

Editor’s note: Seaman adds that she is a group activist in Western North Carolina who advocates for the successful and compassionate health care treatment for people struggling from material use condition. Her son, Stuart, was fatally poisoned by opioids in 2017.