November is such a lovely month. I just adore the crisp fall days, the leaves changing color, and the commemoration of important times and events – all complete with feasting and other manner of celebration.
One noteworthy November holiday is Veterans Day. Originally Armistice Day, signaling the end of the first World War, a Kansas Congressman Edward Rees, proposed that the eleventh day of the eleventh month be changed to Veterans Day. Shortly thereafter, on May 26, 1954, Presisdent Eisenhower – arguably the most famous veteran in U.S. History – signed Rees’s bill into law.
If you love Veterans Day, I agree. It’s a darn fine day. But let’s put a pin in that one, shall we. We’ll circle back to it shortly.
No, the day we really build November around is Thanksgiving. Feasting, football, family. Oh yeah, Thanksgiving’s all about the F words.
Tomorrow, according to custom, from Anchorage to Key West and Hawaii to Maine, Americans will gather, gorging themselves on family favorites. Nothing better than a warm house and a bountiful feast on the fourth Thursday of the month. Unless – of course – you don’t have a house or food or both.
(Ironic really, considering the propaganda surrounding the first Thanksgiving – in 1863 – which allegedly commemorates homeless refugees finding shelter and sustenance in a new land but was actually a way for the U.S. to say “oopsie” after slaughtering a whole slew of first peoples, Dakota leaders… but I digress).
Let’s stick with today and all those houseless, foodless folks who approach November with the same sort of dread that they approach every other month of the year. For those people, the good students and faculty of Villanova University created another November tradition. In 1975, with an eye toward ending the scourge of unnecessary need in the wealthiest nation on earth, Villanova recognized the very first “Hunger and Homelessness Month.”
Consequently, this year, at more than 700 colleges and universities – young people and their educators have once again struggled to raise awareness and increase assistance for those in need.
READ: New Documentary ‘Beyond the Bridge’ Takes Viewers on a Search for a Humane Solution to Homelessness
While just a high school kid in 1975, I’ve reported on, or participated in, at least half of these awareness raising events. Idealists set aside time and energy to improve the forecast for millions of our neighbors who lack the common necessities of life.
And it seems that someone’s been listening. Since those kids at Villanova started, the feds have launched the 10-year plan to end homelessness, and a 10 year plan to end youth homelessness: a seven year plan to end chronic homelessness – as well as, last but not least, the five year plan to end veteran homelessness. (I told you we’d get back to Veterans Day!)
What do all these plans have in common? Why, failure, of course!
And – not to take this buzz kill too much further but – there’s a really good reason they’ve all failed. Not because physically providing adequate housing is all that tough, but because dedicating the resources necessary to care for our neighbors has proven damned near impossible.
I’ll give you one example, then I’ll let you get back to stuffing the turkey.
Back in 2009, when Veterans Affairs Secretary Shinseki and President Obama announced their push to end veteran homelessness, they freed up 100,000 new VASH (Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing) vouchers. These vouchers provided for a veteran to pay a portion of their income for an apartment with the rest being paid by the U.S. taxpayer. An aggressive and commendable move – BUT – the federal government didn’t actually create any new vouchers for the vets. Instead, they took 100,000 vouchers from non-veteran individuals and families in need.
So, when they allocated 100,000 vouchers to assist – at that time – 400,000 or so veterans in homelessness, (clearly still inadequate to meet the need), they disadvantaged many times that number of women, children, infants, and old folks.
READ: The Way We Treat Our Unhoused Neighbors Is Criminal
I’ve met hundreds, if not thousands, of homeless vets. I’ve never met one who wanted to secure housing because a baby and her mom lost theirs.
Homelessness and poverty are perpetually intertwined. Poverty is aggravated by low wages, unemployment and for-profit healthcare. We have too little affordable housing stock and too many people in poverty – and that’s the cause of homelessness.
Until the U.S. either throws real billions at the problem OR enacts universal healthcare, rent controls and adequate minimum wages while building affordable housing … hunger and homelessness will persist – no matter how many of us hold candlelight vigils or sleep out on college campuses.
Oh – in case you’re wondering – homelessness is deadly. Nationally, numbers are sketchy, but Los Angeles County, California keeps pretty good track. In 2021, more than 2200 people died homeless.
