Last week the front-page article “To Board or Not to Board” in the Alliance Times-Herald focused on the 1st Interstate Inn on West 3rd Street. Our police chief and fire chief expressed their concerns about the hazards the abandoned motel poses. It has been vandalized. Litter is everywhere. The biggest concern is the number of people who live and sleep there, and those numbers may be increasing as the weather gets colder.
It’s easy to understand the concerns. The motel is an eye sore on a major road through Alliance and affects the image being presented of our community. Officials are concerned about health issues and drug use. As it gets colder, people may start fires which could easily spread. One thing I missed in the story was compassion. Is anyone concerned about the fact that these people don’t have anywhere else to stay?
It’s hard to believe we have homeless people in Alliance, Nebraska. They try to be invisible. But we see them walking down the streets. We see them at Community Table. Now we see them because they’ve become an issue with the abandoned motel.
Every year on one night in January, the federal government sends out teams of people to count the homeless in America. In January 2023, that number was 653,104 people, an increase of 12.1% over 2022. Since 2016, the number of homeless has increased every year. Nationwide, we have increased the number of permanent low-income housing and temporary beds by 251.5% since 2007. The problem is far from being solved.
With an unemployment rate of 1.7% in Nebraska, why would anyone be homeless? In a nation that produces 30% of the world’s GDP (production of goods and services), why would we have people so poor they cannot afford a roof over their heads?
The obvious reason people are homeless is that they don’t earn enough to pay rent. Rents have skyrocketed across America because we haven’t been building as many homes. Wages have gone up a lot in the last couple of years, but so have prices for everything else.
Mental illness is a big factor for more than half the homeless, according to the National Library of Medicine. About 30% of homeless have conditions like schizophrenia. We’ve all seen videos of homeless veterans with PTSD. Many types of mental illness make it impossible to people to hold a job. We used to serve mentally ill in institutional settings, but psychiatric facilities were closed, mostly in the 1980’s. Then the number of people living on the streets boomed.
There are other risk factors as well. Domestic violence might cause someone to flee a bad situation, where even homelessness is a better option. Many groups are discriminated against when they are looking for housing. This includes immigrants, people of color, LGBT+, addicted, disabled, people with health issues, and people exiting prisons. Youth who are runaways or leaving foster care have no stable family situations, so they often end up homeless.
Many people experience homelessness for a short time. Some experience homelessness throughout their lives. When people become homeless, they are uprooted from their homes and lose many of their possessions. How do they cope? Obtaining, cooking, and storing food is a challenge. It can be hard to get to work and school. How do homeless do things like sleep, go to the bathroom, take a shower, brush teeth, and wash clothes?
Where can the homeless stay? They stay in emergency shelters, domestic violence shelters, or motels whenever possible. They live temporarily with friends and family, couch surfing. Many sleep in their cars. Communities might see tent encampments or people sleeping in parks, as well as under bridges and on streets and sidewalks. As we know, they look for shelter in vacant buildings.
Homelessness is a serious problem with no easy solutions. But it isn’t just a problem of cities. It’s our problem as well.