Conditions for shelter: whose rules are they?

Ask an economist, an investment banker or a policy maker and the solution to homelessness is by increasing the supply of affordable housing.  But even if we decided to invest the money to build more very low income housing and keep policies that protect the inventory we already have, we’d still always have dysfunctional people living doubled up, sleeping rough and moving from place to place for a place to sleep and store belongings.  Why?  Because housing instability is not just a symptom of economic vulnerability.  It’s what happens to people who don’t play by society’s rules.

Untreated mental illness and emotional disorders, self-medication with mind-numbing chemical substances that overtake the individual’s judgement and ability to self-manage are the real causes of homelessness.  Urges and choices that involve illegal activities, sometimes violence, and often, a disregard for the impact of one’s choices on others (family members, neighbors, community supports and random strangers) are what perpetuate homelessness for the vast majority.  I don’t mean to say it’s deserved or that we should accept this reality without trying to solve the underlying human challenges.

I know what I say sounds harsh and unsympathetic.  But I don’t say it lightly.  I say it because I have a brother who has spent 30 years living a rebellious life revolving around alcohol and drugs include crack and crystal meth and at the age of 55, he is barely hanging on to a shelter with a bed he can call his, regular meals and place to store his meagre belongings. 

My brother has had jobs in between stints in jail, rehab and hospitals and while holding down jobs he paid rent regularly. But he also lost homes due to his choices and he knows the rules our family has laid down: if you continue your uncontrolled drinking, you cannot live with us.

I recently found out he has been heavily medicated for bi-polar diagnosis.  He has spent the past 16 months talking about wanting to die.  And he’s been in and out of 4 rehab centers, sober houses and hospitals including an involuntary psychiatric stint.   

He’s also been very fortunate to have been placed in half-way houses for those in recovery or who are post-incarceration.  He usually shares a room, gets 3 meals a day and must respect house rules and participate in resident responsibilities for a nominal monthly rent that he can afford on SSDI or whatever savings he has accrued.  And even when he’s broken the rules – drinking himself to oblivion and ending up passed out on the street where an ambulance recovers him, he’s generally given the option for redemption by these shelters. 

But my brother doesn’t like rules. He never has, since he was a kid.  And for once, I sympathize with his choice to not follow rules.  The last place he stayed was a therapeutic home for recovering substance abusers as well as for child traffic survivors.  They had a different set of rules.  Operated by a Christian organization, their rules required him to carry a “Jesus Saves” sign outside near his shelter.  He refused this requirement so ended up back on the street.