Homelessness is a problem people have chosen to ignore day after day for hundreds of decades. Yes, when guilt gets in the way there is an occasional dollar or two given out, but has anyone tried to understand why or how one became homeless? Is their life much different from ours? Very few have actually sat down and interviewed them to find out about their past and present. Remember, there is a personality behind each dirty emotionless face and a reason why they do the things they do. If the working, middle, and upper class could only see that the “untouchables” have feelings as well, negative light might be lifted off the homeless and good would come out of it.

In the movie Dark Days, director Marc Singer decided to document the lives of many homeless people living in vast dark tunnels under New York City. All the homeless had similar experiences with life such as family tragedies, drug addiction, and loss of love, shelter and food but all felt sorrow and regret for the things they had done. “It’s a dump down there,” Singer says, “pitch black, rats running around everywhere, garbage, and smells that make your eyes water. When I first went down there, I was amazed and awed; I had so much respect for everybody and I kept thinking, “Could I have done this or would I have let myself go to pieces?” (indiewire) In the movie the police threatened to make all the tunnel residents within 30 days or face a forcible eviction. “They should leave us down here until they get housing then once they get housing they should ship us out,” said one of the upset residents after the police told them they would get them housing and shelter. “They are going to break up the family…I”ve got three words and it’s not I love you…its leave us alone!” said another angry homeless man. None of them wanted to go to a shelter. They worried about their stuff could get stolen or being infected with drugs and/or unclean drugs. When I heard that information on the video I found it surprising that the homeless would be worried about being infected by something (let alone drugs), but later on in my own interview at a local restaurant with Michael, a homeless man, I found out that he had the same reasoning. He said that “Shelters are unclean and you don’t know who is around you. Most don’t have background checks and the ones I have been to don’t even have a registry. You might be sleeping with a psycho and get killed during the middle of the night.” I then asked what he did instead “Man, here in Austin I tie my hammock above Barton Springs and sleep above the water. It’s peaceful and relaxing. I feel safe with the water flowing underneath you…Man it’s like heaven.”

Is it possible that shelters are the cause of homelessness? In the 1980’s there were several shelters and soup kitchens that improved 200,000 to 300,000 people’s lives a day. Yet, “when the cost of something falls, demand usually rises. That truism holds regardless of whether the costs are monetary, emotional or physical. When the expected cost of crime or adultery falls, more people engage in them. When homelessness becomes less painful, people are less willing to sacrifice their pride, their self-respect, or their cocaine fix to avoid it.” It might sound horrible to say that people chose to become homeless but they are not just submissive victims. “They make choices, like everyone else. The choices open to the homeless are far worse than those open to most Americans, but they are still choices” (103-104, Jencks).

Michael told me that he wasn’t homeless because of family problems or drugs (although he did do them); it was because of his need to travel and explore. He left his home at the age of fifteen and set out to see the world. If he needed money he would stand out on a fairly busy street corner and could make up to $20 an hour. That’s all he really needed for a couple of weeks. He got around by hitchhiking not by trains. He said he has gone around on trains a few times but jumping off damages your back pretty bad and he wouldn’t recommend it. “A normal day for the homeless doesn’t exist. You don’t have any place to be. You don’t have to worry about rent or picking up children from school. You just are and it’s great.” He went on to explain all the places he had seen and the beauty within them. He told me his most tragic moment was when his mother died, and he pleaded the 5th when I asked him how many times he had been arrested. He, just like the people in the tunnels of New York, claimed that time did not exist.

Another homeless man on Barton Springs Road called himself Music and talked freely about how many times the cops arrested him for jumping on trains, peeing in public places, disrupting the peace, trespassing, and well, way too many to name. He told me he wasn’t homeless because all the reasons one might think. He wanted to make a statement. He wanted to be against anything having to do with big corporations and the way society lived. He wanted to stand out and stand out is what he did. He traveled just as much as Michael did and his joy in life was music. He traveled to see concerts even if he was standing outside the gates. It was almost like he was trying to recreate the hippie movement in the 60’s and 70’s but failed by a couple generations.

Is there some sort of psychological disorder that these people have that make them want to stand out against the norm? Is it something inside of them that makes them become this way? In the text book Understanding Psychology it reads, “It is estimated that 25 percent of the homeless are mentally ill, overlapping partially with 33 percent of the homeless estimated to be severely addicted (Nation Coalition of the Homeless, 1999). This seems to be a direct result of deinstitutionalization.” (Kasschau, 508) Although I agree that some might have been in institutions, I find it hard to believe that more than half of the homeless population came out of mental institutes. However, I do believe from my observation (from videos, books and personal interviews) that more than 99 percent of all homeless are addicted to some sort of drug and/or alcohol. Making it impossible to hold steady jobs and keep personal relationships.

Is it possible that the drugs are the reason why a homeless man travels so much and stays away from a steady job, or is it because they are scared to keep relationships with one another?

“In 1989, at the peak of the last business cycle, 1.2 million work-age husbands reported personal income below $2500. Some of these men were physically or mentally disabled. Some had no jobs for other reasons. Whatever the cause of their poverty, most relied on their wife’s income to keep going. An even larger number of married women were probably one man away from homelessness.” (Jencks 77)

If a family breakdown occurs in this situation and one divorces the other it would be hard put your trust into anything, let alone a stranger. If a fire occurs and your children are lost one might think “What is the point of trying to get close to a person after such a tragic incident?”

Whatever the reason for this spreading problem, we have to help these people. We need to show them that it’s O.K. to trust again, O.K. to show their weaknesses, and make them realize that they can still do what they love without getting in trouble with the police every day and without living on the streets. We need to fix shelters so that the homeless can feel more comfortable and once again… feel human. We need to realize that the homeless have emotions as well. We need to promise them something and not abandon it. We need to recognize the homeless.