WEBVTT - How Homelessness Works 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.560 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:16.319 from house Stuff Works dot Com? Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:19.000 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. With me is Charles W. 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.000 Chuck Bryant. Fresh off of the Stuff you Should Know 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:26.160 Facebook page, where we've been discussing all manner of interesting 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:29.120 stuff like Bob Ross has come up. Have you been 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:32.839 posting Bob Ross videos? He's the best? Yes? I posted. 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:37.479 I posted the Peanuts Christmas Times here a little segment. Uh, 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:40.440 you've been posting some pretty good stuff too, but thank you? 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:42.920 What what's some what's one of your favorite things that 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:47.040 have gotten people buzzing lately? Did I posted about Bonnie 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:48.880 Prince Billy? He was that on my own Facebook page? 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:52.240 I don't know. Yeah, did you know? Because you would 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:54.600 have taken it down? I would not have. I would 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:57.560 respect your post. I'm sleepy today because of Bonny Prince 0:00:57.640 --> 0:00:59.880 Billy last night. I would scoff at it, but I 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.080 wouldn't take it down. I love it. That's become a 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:05.080 running gag. Is me loving him and you're making fun 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:10.360 of him? Go ahead, Okay, you're ready for me to 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:13.679 make fun of him. Yeah, I'm not going to. He 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:20.320 seems like a nice guy. Okay, So Chuck Chucker's um. 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:25.720 I wrote a blog post actually recently on homelessness. I 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:29.520 read it. Did you read it? Really? I read your stuff? Man? 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:35.160 Are you kidding? I'm a fan? Really? Yes? Really? So 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:38.360 the whole thing, then, you know, this already was centered 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:43.000 around well, it started around this, um this news that 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:48.520 came out in July that the homeless, the population of 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:53.760 homeless school children had risen dramatically to about one million 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:59.760 kids in US schools, public schools, I would imagine who 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:04.680 are homeless? Yeah? Right? And uh in one particular area, 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:10.160 I think by the numbers statistically speaking, in Sue Falls, 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:14.080 South Dakota, that's a homeless kid per classroom. Yeah. They 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:17.840 had a huge increase, didn't they there? Oh yeah, something 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:20.760 like that in that state period. Yeah. In uh, in 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:26.840 Sioux Falls school district, it's jump over the last five years. 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:31.000 And what in Texas like a hundred plus percent? Yeah, 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:36.720 So across the across the US, there's been um an 0:02:36.760 --> 0:02:41.440 increase of forty one percent nationwide, right of school children, Yes, 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:45.120 of homeless school children and um the so Texas has 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:47.840 seen an increase of a hundred and thirty nine percent, um, 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:51.000 Iowa a hundred and thirty six percent. The lowest of 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:55.440 the highest five is New Jersey with an increase. And 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:58.600 this is, of course, i'll due to the great recession 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:01.560 that's going on right now out right, of course. And 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:04.680 somebody actually posted I haven't read the links, but somebody 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:07.680 actually posted a comment on the blog that said, um, 0:03:07.720 --> 0:03:11.320 you know it's bad enough. You know, homeless school children 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:14.960 are depressing enough, but you know there's plenty of homeless 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:18.000 kids out there who aren't in school. Well yeah, sure, 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:21.440 thinking about that. So with the economic recession is clearly 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:25.919 to blame for this increase in homeless school children. Um. 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:27.880 And there's a lot of other factors that over the 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:31.120 years have contributed to homelessness, which we'll talk about. But Chuck, 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:34.600 let's talk about homelessness in the United States, shall we? 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:36.920 And we should say we're just going to concentrate in 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:39.600 the United States. Actually, I've got a few stats, do 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:42.960 you have, Well, just some stats, Okay, so let's go 0:03:43.040 --> 0:03:45.840 ahead and talk about this and get the around the 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:49.560 world out of the way. Worldwide, They they approximate, and 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:52.880 we should go ahead and say that counting homeless people 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:58.760 is is a tough bag because they changes drastically week 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:01.360 to week sometimes. Well, we should say that there's two 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:04.000 ways of doing it. One is it's called a point 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:07.760 in time count, where it's basically like, all right, everybody, 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:10.560 go count the homeless people in your area today, right 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:14.680 on this one particular night, and then UM reported in 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:17.240 and then we'll tally the numbers. And then the other 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:20.159 way to do it is UM basically over a year, 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:25.000 and that's like a huge undertaking UM usually done by 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:29.320 the Census Bureau. UM that identifies, you know, how many 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:31.400 people have used homeless shelters, how many of them have 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:33.880 been different, and it comes up with a pretty rough number. 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:36.640 Well yeah, but one of the reasons it's it's difficult 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:41.799 is because fortunes change rapidly in this crazy fast moving world, 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.840 and homeless people sometimes are in cars and campgrounds and 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:48.039 places where you can't find them, so it's tough to 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:50.599 get the dead accurate numbers. But having said all that, 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:53.880 my friend I do have some stats worldwide, approximately one 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:57.760 people around the world are homeless. Uh the u n 0:04:58.040 --> 0:05:00.799 what did you say? A hundred million people in the world. 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:04.360 It sounds like you said a hundred one. Uh, the 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:07.760 u N it says there's about thirty million displaced Indigenous people. 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:09.880 I don't know if they count that as homeless necessarily, 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:12.120 I would imagine, so that might be a part of 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:15.480 that larger number. Um. And then I started thinking about, 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:19.080 like are there homeless everywhere? And of course there are, 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:22.480 But I said, what about places like Sweden in Norway, 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:25.960 like where you would not expect homeless people, they have 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:29.240 him there. But Sweden only has about seventeen thousand homeless 0:05:29.880 --> 0:05:32.679 out of nine point three million people. It's this pretty 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:36.839 small percentage. Uh. Norway though, has one point for homeless 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:40.760 people for every one thousand people, which is it's not 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:44.440 too far off America's percentage really because we have about 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:49.080 one percent. Right two About three to three point five 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:51.560 million people is the latest number I saw. The latest 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:54.240 number I saw, it was actually less than that. What 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:56.960 was it? And this this doesn't make sense because it's 0:05:56.960 --> 0:06:01.039 it's to the homelessness population has increased right right in 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:05.520 the US since the recession. So the two thousand five 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:09.679 number I think was two point three and three point 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:13.200 five million between those two, right, like like you just said. 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:17.200 But then there's another one from two thousand nine, it's 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:21.320 one point five six. So the numbers are all over 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:25.280 the place this, right, So that's a little bit from 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:30.080 around the world, Russia, China, Africa, Canada. It happens everywhere, 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:32.920 but most of this is U S. Base because that's 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:35.600 where we are. What we can say though, is that 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:41.040 percentage wise, there's a disproportionate number of minorities that are homeless. 0:06:41.600 --> 0:06:44.360 Minorities in this country makeup about twelve percent of the population, 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:50.679 and African Americans make up about fifty and another are 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:56.000 Hispanic right, homeless in the United States, right, African Americans 0:06:56.000 --> 0:07:01.839 are the account for between thirty eight and of the 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:04.640 homeless population, right, but they only make up about twelve 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:08.760 percent of the U. S population, right, And this is 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.000 you know, obviously you'll see most of this in big cities, 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:13.120 but it's a problem in rural areas as well as 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:19.040 well as well. And typically homeless families make up a 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:24.280 greater proportion of the homeless in rural areas, which is 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:27.200 that's any kind of homelessness is sad, but an entire 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:31.400 family being homeless, that's really tough. Chuck. We we talked 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:35.320 about what was driving homelessness right now, driving the increase 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:40.520 is the recession, but UM in the late twentie and 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:49.040 this century as well, right, UM, there's been a combination 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:53.520 of factors and the two biggest drivers are poverty, an 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:58.680 increase in poverty, and UM a decrease in the availability 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:03.280 of affordable housing, two huge factors in addition to others 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:06.600 that we'll talk about later, UM, that have contributed to 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:10.480 people not having a home, which is the saddest stat 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:13.960 well because we'll talk about all the other factors like 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:17.840 drugs and alcohol and mental health and stuff like that, 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:19.760 but it's sad that the reason why people don't have 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:23.840 homes because they can't afford housing. Right. And here's here's 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:25.880 something I just want to put this out there now. 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:28.640 I was reading a history of homelessness in the US 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:34.880 UM and the author was basically saying, homelessness been around forever, 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:40.480 like apparently, UM, fourteenth century England had vagrancy laws. Right, 0:08:41.000 --> 0:08:44.680 people have been homeless, have been um not necessarily living 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:47.280 on the streets, but don't have a permanent residence. And 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:50.400 that's an important point too. When we talk about homelessness, 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.640 we're not just talking about people sleeping on the streets. 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:57.200 We're not just talking about people sleeping in emergency shelters 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:00.640 or even in their cars. The true genuine definition of 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:04.800 homelessness is you don't have a home, you don't have 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:07.240 a place that your own, you're staying with family, you 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:12.120 live in a weekly motel, that's homeless as well. Yeah, true, right, Um, 0:09:12.720 --> 0:09:15.760 the but back to the uh, the history of homelessness. 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:19.280 The author was saying, you know, we've had homeless in 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:24.240 the US since we've been here. Um, the differences. We 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:27.640 used to have homeless because we couldn't afford to give 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:30.640 them work. I couldn't afford to take care of them. 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:32.880 Now we can't afford to take care of them. We 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:36.120 just don't write. You know. Well, yeah, that's interesting you 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.440 brought that up because I was reading about other countries, 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:42.679 and America seems to be unique in a very bad way, 0:09:42.760 --> 0:09:46.280 and that a lot of Americans feel like it's deserved 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:51.200 and because you messed up by doing something really bad 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:53.760 or you're on alcohol or drugs, and a lot of 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:57.000 Americans stick that attitude that homeless people deserve to be homeless, 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:00.640 and then most of the rest of Americans just don't 0:10:00.679 --> 0:10:03.040 think about it at all, and it's a very invisible 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:06.680 problem or there are you know, people that do care 0:10:06.960 --> 0:10:09.960 and don't think they deserve it, and they're what we 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:17.760 call good people or advocates. So how do people get homeless? Josh, Well, Chuck, 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:21.120 let's talk about it. We we said that poverty and 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:24.280 UM the lack of affordable housing are two of the 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:31.960 biggest drivers UM with with poverty. Okay, right now, when 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:36.040 you when you quantify poverty and the poverty line, you 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:40.760 basically figure out how much the average person pays in 0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:42.679 a state or in a nation or something like that 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:46.000 for housing, utilities, food, that kind of thing. Then you 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:48.839 set a line and say anything below this is you're 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:54.280 eligible for government assistance. Right, your your poverty stricken. UM. 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:59.040 In the US, the poverty line is somewhere around seventeen 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:02.480 grand a year for family of three. Right. The problem 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:05.320 is there's a big disparity between the poverty line and 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:09.680 the minimum wage. So the federal minimum wage is seven 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:13.720 dollars and twenty five cents an hour. Right, for a 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.840 person to work forty hours a week, it's a normal 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:22.920 work week, UM fifty two weeks a year, vacation none, 0:11:23.200 --> 0:11:25.679 like they work five days a week every week, they 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:31.120 would gross fifteen thousand eighty dollars. That's not very much money, right, 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:33.920 So you're actually falling below the poverty line making the 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:38.840 federal minimum wage. Right, and then consider that actually too 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:45.520 afford a two bedroom apartment. This is the median across 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.800 the states. UH to afford a two bedroom apartment at 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:51.760 thirty percent of your income, which is the definition of 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:57.680 affordable housing. UM at seven making seven, you'd have to 0:11:57.920 --> 0:12:01.200 work eighty seven hours a week. Iculous. So there's a 0:12:01.240 --> 0:12:03.360 big part of the problem right there. Well, yeah, it 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:05.120 said one of the stats in here that was shocking 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:09.360 was about fiftcent of homeless people actually have jobs. So, um, 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:14.320 I saw actually not in this article, but and I 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:18.720 just across the internetteresting. Well, what is clear is that 0:12:19.559 --> 0:12:21.920 a lot of people end up homeless that I don't 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.880 think they would ever end up homeless. They live paycheck 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:26.679 to paycheck. They have a job and they're getting by, 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.520 but then something happens, either lose a job, or they 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:33.960 have some outrageous medical bills, or some catastrophe happens, and 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.520 then your average Joe or Jane with a job can 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:42.040 find themselves homeless, like pretty easily. Sometimes it's not always 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:46.760 just some schizophrenic who has a heroin problem, you know, right, 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:50.359 In fact, most of the time, I would say it's not. Um. 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:54.719 We also talked about a lack of affordable housing. Right, 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:58.520 we said, the definition of affordable housing is of your income. 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:08.520 M A. Apparently there are five million that you're shooting for. Yeah, yeah, 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:12.440 five million US households pay more than half of their 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:16.160 income in rent. Right, that is unbelievable. That's called worst 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:18.679 case scenario. And the rule of thumb is if you 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:24.160 pay a quarter, you're doing good. Yeah yeah, so yeah, 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:27.160 half of your income in rent, you're in a bad, 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:30.920 bad way. Um, that should be living in whatever big 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:34.320 city you're living in. Well, that also encompasses that worst 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:37.280 case scenario. Also encombs as people who live in substandard 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:41.000 housing as well. So, um, it's not just how much 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:44.040 you're paying out, it's what you're paying for, right, or 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:47.200 a combination of the two, right, Um, part of the problem, Chuck, 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:51.000 Do you remember tech Wood, Yeah, tech Wood housing, Techwood housing, 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:56.240 US Street. No, it's not that and that um the 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:59.240 demolished Remember they demolished tech Wood, which is like the 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:02.200 projects and Atlanta right before the Olympics. They were just 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:05.000 gone and it was like Okay, all you poor people, 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:07.240 you don't have to go home because you don't have 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:10.200 one anymore, but you can't stay here. And that was that. 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:13.599 And apparently there's a there there. That was a nationwide 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:18.200 trend since the eighties. Yes, between eight and two thousand three, 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:23.440 more than two million low rent housing units were basically 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:26.760 either demolished or turned into you know, high rise, expensive 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:29.400 high rises. And during that same period, from eighty to 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:35.440 two thousand three, government assistance for housing um fell by half, 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:38.720 decreased by half. That's gonna be cool a lot of homeless, 0:14:38.920 --> 0:14:40.480 So it's not. And not only are we not helping 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:45.240 the homeless, we're actually creating homeless. Right. Well, so, uh, 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:48.960 we talked about obviously pay and being down on your 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:52.640 luck to temporarily living paycheck to paycheck, else would you 0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:55.680 become home? Well, you you kind of hit the the 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:57.280 nail on the head a little bit when you talked 0:14:57.280 --> 0:15:03.040 about heroin addicted schizophrenics. Those those can be a combination 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:05.800 of those two or separately. Mental illness and addiction are 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:10.080 two big factors in homelessness as well, with mentally ill 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:15.240 um Apparently about twenty of all homeless people have some 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:18.840 type of mental illness. That brings up a really interesting point. 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:21.920 Have you ever heard the urban legend that Ronald Reagan 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:25.480 is responsible for the increase in homelessness because he closed 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:28.760 down all of the mental institutions. Yes, I have heard that. 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:31.640 That's actually not too far off the mark. When he 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:34.600 was governor of California from like sixty seven to seventy four, 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:39.680 he shut down a lot of these state run psychiatric hospitals. 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.120 When he became president, one of the major things he 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:46.920 cut funding too was the treatment of mental illness. And 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:50.880 because of this cut and funding, a lot of mental 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:53.760 hospitals shut down and a lot of mentally ill people 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:58.360 found themselves homeless. So kind of indirectly in that sense, 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:02.480 he he definitely contributed to increase in homelessness. Well, should 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:05.920 we go ahead and talk about the McKinley Vento Act, then, yes, 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:09.840 we're talking Reagan. Well, yeah, now that here we go. 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:15.880 He also signed the first, it says, only significant Homeless 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:22.640 Act of Congress. Yeah, the McKinley McKinney Vento Act that 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:24.560 was had a different name, but than they named it 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:27.640 after Stuart McKinney and Bruce Vento, who were two of 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:30.080 the biggest champions and it had all sorts of cool 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:35.280 programs in it, right, Yeah, emergency shelter, transitional housing, healthcare, food, 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:39.680 job training, substance abuse services, all kinds of cool stuff. Yeah. 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:42.560 And it's really ironic that he he was the president 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:45.520 that signed that in the law, because he is also 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:49.360 widely credited in this kind take off so many Republican listeners. 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:54.080 He is widely credited as creating the homeless problem in 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:59.040 the US, not just through the institutionalization, but through the 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:04.159 creation of the wealth gap that we've seen between nineteen 0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:07.919 eighty and now. You talked about substance abuse, and about 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:10.760 two thirds of homeless people struggle with some kind of 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:15.440 alcohol or drug problem, not surprisingly. And then uh, sadly, 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:18.200 domestic violence has a big part to do with it, 0:17:18.320 --> 0:17:21.680 especially with women. About half the women are battered women, 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:25.720 and they oftentimes don't have anywhere to go. They'll flee 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:28.640 there if if they're brave enough to actually flee, they're 0:17:28.720 --> 0:17:32.600 jerk husband, abuse of husband, then there they have nowhere 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:34.840 to be because their husband might be the sole breadwinner 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:38.000 and and that kind of circumstance. So they have battered 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:41.560 women shelters that God for just for women, that that 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:45.520 suffer from abuse and kids too. I think half of 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:52.320 a runaway homeless runaways, um, we're fleeing domestic abuse or 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:55.960 homeless kids on their own. I guess we're fleeing domestic abuse, 0:17:56.000 --> 0:18:02.360 and about we're fleeing sexual abuse. But it doesn't stop there. Unfortunately, 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:06.640 when you are homeless on the street, you encounter even 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:10.040 more abuse. Many times you leave home, you leave an 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:12.560 abusive situation at home, you live on the street. Then 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:14.399 you get attacked on the street for being homeless, or 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:19.399 you are forced into doing really bad things for food 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:22.280 and shelter and stuff like that. On toward things at 0:18:22.320 --> 0:18:25.920 the bus station. At the bus station and veterans, Josh, 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:27.960 are a big part of our homeless problem. And that 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:31.200 I can't say satisfy of all because it's all really sad. 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:34.520 But when you're veterans, when you've got to fight for 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:37.920 this country and you end up one of the two 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:42.399 hundred thousand homeless single men, usually with mental illness, substance 0:18:42.440 --> 0:18:46.200 abuse problems because of maybe post traumatic stress disorder, that 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:50.000 is heartbreaking. Yeah, and and again you just keep kidding 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:52.560 that nail right on the head man. There's a lot 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:57.920 of overlapping problems or factors of in homelessness, like you know, veterans, 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:02.000 maybe homeless veterans maybe more prone to having a substance 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:05.159 abuse problem or suffering from a mental illness like PTSD 0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:09.160 or substance abuse and mental illness overlap and other people 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:12.439 as well. Uh. And part of the problem is you 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:15.640 get to get into a vicious cycle. There are far 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:23.360 few services, far fewer services available easily accessible on the street. Um, 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:25.480 then there are if you have a house and an 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:27.800 income and an address and a number and all the 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:31.159 normal stuff that that you just kind of need to 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:33.359 be able to get by in the US these days. 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:37.119 And you know, you you look at something like the 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:39.720 Department of Veterans Affairs, which does as good a job 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:42.399 as they can as far as I know, but they 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:46.199 can only accommodate about of homeless veterans. But what's so 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:48.919 frustrating is that they could accommodate all of them. They 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:51.040 could if they wanted, if they had not, if they 0:19:51.040 --> 0:19:53.120 wanted to, if they had the funding. So you see 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:57.200 these record bonuses for CEOs on one hand, and then 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:01.040 you hear about homeless veterans the and he's out there, yes, 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:03.320 and I'm glad it was veterans that got you. I 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:06.320 hope it's homeless school children that get somebody else. I 0:20:06.359 --> 0:20:10.600 hope somebody hears this and realizes that we have all 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:14.119 the money we need to get it's just some of 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:16.240 the wealthiest are gonna have to give up a little 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:18.240 bit of it so that some of the poorest have 0:20:18.359 --> 0:20:22.160 a house. It's as simple as that. We have the means, 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:24.560 just not the will. Yeah, and we're not talking about 0:20:24.960 --> 0:20:27.600 just some social program with these alcoholics living off my dime. 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:31.200 We're talking about homeless veterans and children. And you have 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:34.720 used women. And even if it is alcoholic veterans, we've 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:38.000 are learned. Have we not learned already that alcoholism and 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:40.800 all addiction is a brain disease that follows the brain 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:44.000 disease model these days, you need treatment. Well that's the 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:46.000 whole stupid American idea that I talked about, was that 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:48.040 some people feel like they deserve to be homeless. They 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:49.719 see him on the street and they think, what did 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:52.399 you do to get here? Yeah? Instead of what can 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:55.520 I do to help you? Yeah? Well, this is touched 0:20:55.560 --> 0:21:00.720 the nerve today. It's homelessness. Really should be shocked. But 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:04.120 I'm glad. I'm angry, That's what I'm saying. Okay, I'm 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:09.040 glad you're angry too, chook josher's Uh, let's talk about 0:21:09.040 --> 0:21:11.159 some of the effects. And a lot of these you 0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:15.320 can file under duh. But it bears saying you're talking 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:19.320 about women's shelters. Yeah, well women's shelters only let in women. 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:23.160 And if you have a teenage son, you can kiss 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:29.200 him goodbye. Yeah, so bye bye family unit. Uh. Physical 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:35.639 attacks Homeless people are attacked, beaten, kicked, chained, feted, spray 0:21:35.680 --> 0:21:40.200 painted people, lit on fire, peton is pretty bad. Yeah, 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:42.880 just because they're homeless. People will go out and beat 0:21:42.920 --> 0:21:47.200 up homeless people. Yeah. Well, there's like a whole line 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:51.320 of thinking that like serial killers, practice on drifters, or 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:57.679 sure health effects for kids. Um, if you're homeless, you're 0:21:57.720 --> 0:22:00.760 gonna have a higher rate of stomach prob UM's asthma, 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:09.000 your infections. Depression anxiousness PTSD is pretty prevalent. It's a 0:22:09.119 --> 0:22:12.640 cause of and is caused by homelessness, and not just 0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:16.320 adults but kids as well. Right, Like, you can actually 0:22:16.359 --> 0:22:19.080 start to develop PTSD because you don't know where you're 0:22:19.119 --> 0:22:22.679 going to sleep the next night. I mean, think about it. Chuck, like, 0:22:23.240 --> 0:22:28.159 have you ever been without a home like I, I 0:22:28.200 --> 0:22:30.640 would think it can be really weird to not know 0:22:30.920 --> 0:22:33.119 where you're going to stay or did not just you know, 0:22:33.280 --> 0:22:35.000 have a hard day at work or a hard day 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:38.119 at school, and to go to know that at the 0:22:38.200 --> 0:22:40.879 end of this day you have no idea where you're 0:22:40.880 --> 0:22:42.600 gonna sleep. Maybe you're gonna sleep in your car, maybe 0:22:42.600 --> 0:22:44.920 you're gonna sleep in the woods. But you don't get 0:22:44.960 --> 0:22:49.240 to just rest. You don't get to just take a shower, 0:22:49.400 --> 0:22:52.200 beer and watch you know, TV or whatever. It takes 0:22:52.240 --> 0:22:56.960 the unwined, So you're you're stress level is heightened constantly 0:22:57.000 --> 0:23:00.600 without any resolution to it, and of course you're going 0:23:00.640 --> 0:23:04.560 to suffer PTSD or at least stomach aches something bad. 0:23:05.800 --> 0:23:09.080 Adults too. It's not just kids. They can get frostbite, 0:23:10.160 --> 0:23:16.160 leg ulcers, respiratory infections, HIV and AIDS, and diabetes way 0:23:16.200 --> 0:23:19.160 more common than homeless population. So lots of health effects 0:23:19.160 --> 0:23:24.680 going on, Josh, I agree, Chuck. So check we talked 0:23:24.680 --> 0:23:31.000 about UM Reagan as both creator and alleviator of homelessness. UM. 0:23:31.200 --> 0:23:33.159 You you talked about some of the programs that the 0:23:33.280 --> 0:23:37.840 McKinney Vento Act created. UM, some of the other programs 0:23:37.880 --> 0:23:42.520 that have been developed in the United States are um 0:23:42.560 --> 0:23:45.919 like Section eight housing, right, do you know about this? 0:23:47.119 --> 0:23:51.600 That's uh, well, there's there's homeless shelters, which are like 0:23:51.680 --> 0:23:54.880 the emergency beds when it's cold, that kind of thing 0:23:55.600 --> 0:23:58.280 you can go temporarily, right, And a lot of those 0:23:58.400 --> 0:24:01.320 are I would say most I don't have any numbers 0:24:01.320 --> 0:24:02.760 on this, but I would say most of those are 0:24:02.760 --> 0:24:07.480 privately operated. Really yeah, interesting. Uh. And then there is 0:24:07.520 --> 0:24:09.560 the Section eight thing that you were talking about, which 0:24:09.560 --> 0:24:12.879 is not public housing. It's when you fill out of 0:24:12.920 --> 0:24:15.639 Section eight vouchure and you can go find just a 0:24:15.720 --> 0:24:19.800 regular private apartment to rent from a landlord. It's got 0:24:19.840 --> 0:24:23.040 to fit certain requirements and if you meet all those requirements, 0:24:23.160 --> 0:24:26.639 you only have to pay thirty of the rent and 0:24:26.720 --> 0:24:30.760 bills and then the government pays the other seven straight 0:24:30.800 --> 0:24:33.360 to the landlord. So that's Section eight. But Section eight, 0:24:33.400 --> 0:24:35.280 you know, they're a huge waiting list, and I read 0:24:35.320 --> 0:24:39.680 that a lot of cities have shut it down until 0:24:39.680 --> 0:24:42.400 the list gets smaller, and they're like, there's no point 0:24:42.480 --> 0:24:45.000 in keeping a list of four years, five years. We're 0:24:45.000 --> 0:24:47.159 just gonna shut it down, get the list smaller, and 0:24:47.160 --> 0:24:48.800 then open it back up in a couple of years. 0:24:49.520 --> 0:24:51.919