Stephen Wallace considers himself a
“hyper-curious” philosopher who’s an
advocate for peace. His days involve deciphering
theory at the Calvert Library
and his nights are spent in the home of
anyone who lets him in.
Wallace, 19, has been crashing with
various friends and acquaintances since
his parents kicked him out of their
house during his senior year of high
school. Now, as a couch-surfer, it appears
he may have officially joined the
ranks of the homeless as defined by the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD).
HUD’s old definition of homelessness
did not include insecurely-housed folks
such as Wallace. But the new definition,
part of the Obama Administration’s
Homeless Emergency and Rapid Transition
to Housing (HEARTH) Act, casts a
much wider net. The stated goal is to
enable HUD homeless programs to reach
beyond helping people who are living in
homeless, youth and domestic violence
shelters, parks, alleys or doorways, and
work to prevent homelessness among
those who may be on the very brink of
indigence.
The new definition includes people
who lack “a fixed, regular, and adequate
nighttime residence,” according to HUD.
So, a person, or a family, can be homeless,
yet still be living in a home.
People who voluntarily share housing
for long periods would not be included
in the new definition. But many other
individuals and families have no choice.
Many federal agencies have long considered
children living in doubled-up
situations as homeless.
In testimony before Congress on
Dec. 15, HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary
Mark Johnson explained the importance
of federal agencies serving the
homeless to share a single definition.
He also emphasized the impact that
the new definition would have on his
department’s ability to help homeless
and insecurely housed families.
“I personally appreciate the need to
establish a common vocabulary across
agencies if we are going to end homelessness,”
he said. “I experienced this
firsthand when in 2009 and 2010 HUD
and the Departments of Health and
Human Services and Education worked
together to develop a demonstration
program to provide mainstream housing
services for families and children
who had no housing or who were on the
verge of losing their housing.”
Many homeless advocates see HUD’s
decision as a useful development.
The old definition captured only some
of the most vulnerable individuals and
families and overlooked many more in
desperate need of services, according
to a joint statement released by the
National Association for the Education
of Homeless Children and the National
Network for Youth.
“In order to protect their children
and to stay intact as a family, many
homeless families seek to avoid the
streets and obtain alternative arrangements.
These arrangements are overcrowded,
extremely unstable and often
unsafe. Youth on their own also are
more likely to couch surf due to lack of
shelters or other options. Families fleeing
domestic violence are also at great
risk in these arrangements,” the groups’
statement said.
Neil Donovan, executive director of
the National Coalition for the Homeless,
agreed.
“It expands the definition to include
persons who are ‘doubled up,’ so that’s
a positive,” he said. “But in practical
terms, obtaining benefits as a homeless
person or family will still rest with
the individuals themselves.
“One of the challenges is that it requires
the individual to then confirm
their status as ‘doubled up’ by way of…
getting confirmation from an advocate
or some government entity.”
According to the National Coalition
for the Homeless’ report “How Many
People Experience Homelessness?,” the
number of victims has been rising, and
the cause are frequently attributed to
the recession and the housing crisis.
But homelessness is not a recent development,
and the reasons for it go
deeper than recent events.
“The root causes of homelessness are
a lack of affordable housing, systemic
deficiencies in the health care system,
and wages that have not kept pace with
the cost of living,” Donovan said.
To some, it might seem convenient to
blame homeless people themselves for
their predicament. But Donovan cautions
against it. “People who don’t understand
that those are the root causes
of homelessness assign the responsibility
for homelessness on the individual. We
call it ‘pathologizing homelessness.’”
And being treated as psychologically
abnormal or unhealthy becomes part of
the stigma of homelessness.
“So instead of saying, ‘this person is
homeless because they live in a city or
in a country that cannot address their
needs,’” said Donovan, “what they do is
they [people] say ‘this person is homeless
because of substance abuse or mental
illness or laziness or the fact that
they can’t keep a job.’ When in fact, if
that was the case, then there would be
many more homeless people.”
“In the case of homelessness, there’s
a real apathy toward homeless individuals,”
Donovan said. “There’s a real systemic
laziness.”
With the new definition of homelessness,
HUD is reaching past its comfort
zone. There will be challenges ahead
and more people to serve. HUD officials
hope they may also use the definition to
address homelessness while it’s still at
the couch-surfing stage.
