Who Are The Homeless?
As WashU students, staying in the safe, comfortable, and isolated bubble that the school provides is easy. We are privileged to live in world-class dorms, eat high-quality food, and attend classes on a beautiful campus. Despite this, there is a clear sign all around us that the world is not as perfect as it is in the bubble: homelessness.
There are many homeless individuals in the Skinker area and on the Loop, and many of them stay in the same general area for extended periods of time. Recently, I had a conversation with a homeless man who is frequently on Skinker. He told me about his life, from his upbringing to how he ended up homeless. He excelled at basketball in high school, and with professional potential, he focused his efforts in school towards getting better at the sport. He tried out for the NBA D-League but did not make the cut. Eventually, he injured himself badly, causing his coach to give him medicine that contained opiates, which he was unaware of at the time. As his addiction to these painkillers grew, his relationship with his wife deteriorated. She eventually divorced him and took custody of their children, but he still sends them money when he can. Since then, he has gotten off his addiction and has been in and out of homelessness, searching daily for employment opportunities and shelters to take him in.
When I asked him about how he deals with hunger, he said that he has tried frequently to get into shelters, but they are often at full capacity. During the times he has successfully gotten in, the quality of food he was served was so poor that he said he “would not even feed it to a dog.” He has no steady source of food, so he relies on panhandling to provide money for meals.[su_pullquote align=”right”]The quality of food he was served was so poor that he said he “would not even feed it to a dog.”[/su_pullquote]
After this experience, I was inclined to learn more about homeless shelters and stories of homelessness. I spoke with Mary Laubengayer from Our Lady’s Inn (OLI), a shelter for pregnant women and children. Laubengayer once worked in special-needs education but was attracted to the grassroots non-profit organization and mission that OLI provided, and has since worked there for over 20 years. She described how some homeless individuals find it challenging to find proper nutrition when they have to rely on corner stores for cheap, filling food. The shelter combats this malnutrition using produce and meals sourced from food banks, student organizations at WashU and SLU, and various stores. In addition, she mentioned how there is not nearly enough shelter space to accommodate the homeless population, which is especially problematic with a pregnant women’s shelter; the women wish to stay with OLI for as long as possible to receive resources and support for their pregnancy.
When I asked her how college students could help alleviate homelessness, she stated that the first step is to “broaden [one’s] understanding about who is homeless and why”. She listed many uncontrollable factors that can cause people to fall into homelessness, such as generational poverty and domestic abuse. One woman at the shelter used the majority of her paychecks to pay for childcare, which is a necessity for working women. Laubengayer also emphasized how the negative stereotypes associated with homelessness rarely apply, stating that “the grocery store clerk, the person checking you in at the doctor’s office, these are people who could be working during the day and coming home to a shelter.” She pointed out how we may encounter people experiencing homelessness in our day-to-day interactions but be unaware of it. Homeless people are commonly stereotyped as either “choosing” to be homeless, whether through poorly made decisions or drug use, or not working hard enough to find a means to escape homelessness, but my conversations with Laubengayer and the man on Skinker proved to me that is a gross generalization.[su_pullquote]“[T]he grocery store clerk, the person checking you in at the doctor’s office, these are people who could be working during the day and coming home to a shelter.”[/su_pullquote]
The life of a student can be incredibly busy with constant tests, projects, and deadlines. Regardless, it is important to recognize the privileges that many of us have. We complain about the unpredictable weather of St. Louis, but some must stay in it for longer than walks between classes. It’s also easy to complain about repetitive dining hall meals, but we are fortunate to have a stable source of food. These facets of our daily lives, which we often take for granted, would quite literally change the lives of the many underprivileged people in our community. Everyone would like to help those in less fortunate positions, but it can be hard to recognize the need for action if we do not recognize why people are in such positions. For this reason, I would like to echo Laubengayer’s message: we as college students must get educated about homelessness. The first step in helping the homeless is understanding them.
Salil Uttarwar ‘21 studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. He can be reached at suttarwar@wustl.edu.