Downtown’s nightlife is fantastic. There were different kinds of people walking on the street, also there were some people standing or sleeping in the corner. They look tired and helplessness. They were looking at everyone who was walking on the street, they hope anyone who can stop by and ask: “Do you need help?” However, the people were not what they expect. When I was looking at them, I was wondering what they were thinking about. Thinking about their family? Thinking about what they can eat tomorrow? Thinking about why they cannot find a job? Thinking about their experiences? Are you imagining who are those people? Yes, they are homeless people, people who were seeking help.
As a student, have you ever seen homeless people sleeping outside? Have you ever thought about why some homeless people do not use homeless shelters?
I have been volunteering to a homeless shelter before, and I have seen some problems that I thought can be the reason for why homeless people rather slept outside instead of using the shelter. For example, the shelter has a lack of accommodations, the check-in process in the shelter is disrespectful, easy to get sick and lack of privacy in the shelter.
Many of homeless people are disabled, because the factor of their body they had hard time to find a job. Those people are the one who really need to access to the homeless shelter. However homeless shelters are a lack of handicapped accommodations so they have to stay outside. For example, most homeless shelters are in old buildings. Therefore, there are no elevators, no railings in the restrooms and no ramps into the buildings. If the shelters do not have those, how can disabled homeless people access and stay in these places?
Even though disabled homeless people get access in the shelters, they still might choose not to stay in because of the check-in process. Everyone needs to be respect whatever situation he/she is at. When people check in, they need to be asked many different kinds of questions including their sex life. It is okay to ask questions, because it is an information requirement. However, it is not respectful to ask, “Do you have any sexual partners you could stay with?” Those kinds of questions are really hurt people’s feelings. The reason why people chose to stay in the homeless shelter is because they really do not have any places to stay at. Why the check in process suggest people to find a sexual partner so that they have a place to stay in? It is disrespectful! This is why people choose to stay outside instead of using the shelters.
Of course there were many people who do accept the check-in process. After they got in the shelter, they probably would rather to sleep outside, because diseases can spread easily in homeless shelters. There was a homeless person who stayed in the shelter said: “One reason it’s hard to fall asleep in homeless shelter is the almost endless coughing”. (CITE!) If one person is sick, it is very easy to spread the bacteria out. Therefore, the bacteria could infect homeless people who were in the shelter more easily. Even though they are homeless people, but no body wants get sick. When I was volunteering in the homeless shelter, I can hear people coughing constantly. When I was passing the food to those people, they looks they felt sick, because their face look as pale as sheet and also look tired. Don’t you think that is better to sleep outside instead of getting sick in the shelter? If I were they, I would rather sleep outside and get fresh air instead of get sick. If the shelter can sterilize everyday or there is someone who can take care of those sick people, the homeless shelter might be more useful for those homeless people.
One of the reason for disease can spread easily in shelter is because the lack of privacy. “Many homed people would argue that people who are down on their luck are not deserving of privacy”. (CITE)I do not mean that everyone has to have a room, but has to have a bed. People are not suppose to stay in a place where is too crowded. Especial not good for people whom with mental disorder, because crowdie could make them getting worse. I do believe that people would agree that a place to take rest has to be quite, healthy and has everyone’s own privacy. A homeless people said, “Well-meaning planners of homeless shelters try to make the most of their square footage by squeezing as many beds into their shelter as possible. That makes shelters even more frightening to people with claustrophobia, social anxiety, or fear of crowds”. According to the dictionary, claustrophobia is “an abnormal fear of being in enclosed or narrow places” (cite). When I was volunteering in the homeless shelter, I saw some of people were hiding in the corner for a long time and had never talked to anybody. I was guessing that was the way they gave themselves a quite place to stay in. Please imagine if a homeless person stays on the street, especially at night, he/she could have more privacy because there were nobody walking or talking on the street. Is that better to stay on the street rather than stay in the shelter?
People need help, then the whole society try to help them. It is good to help people who need it. It would be better to help them with more concerns. For example for the homeless shelters, it is better to build more shelters for those homeless people so that those people could have more privacy place to stay in, and could be more healthier because the disease could not spread out that easily. Also would be better to make the shelters have better quality, such as solve the accommodations problem so that disabled people have the chose to stay in the shelter. For the check-in process, it would be better to let the homeless people feel that the shelter is their temporary home.
Shelter is the place for take the homeless people in, it also could be the place give more concerns to those people. It could be a place makes homeless people feel as warm as their home.
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