By Julie Loomis
Photo by Gypsy Wind
It has been another year since I landed at Interfaith Sanctuary and I have learned a lot about myself. I learned that depression can have meds that really help. I can endure through heartbreak. I am stronger than the weakness in my body. And I have met many amazing people with their own stories.
People judge us by how the media presents us. Dirty, messy, and mentally unstable with some type of addiction. Everyone on the streets has their story, and some have issues with drugs or alcohol and mental illness. That is not the underlying cause for many of our homeless. We work or have SSI because we can’t work. Trust me, we would definitely like to be back in the workforce. The underlying problem is housing. It is out of our reach. Find affordable housing and the homeless population would sufficiently decrease. Finding safe housing for the mentally ill or for many who do not want to be addicted and the homeless population would decrease more. Yes, there are a few who like to wander, but most want their own place.
When someone is in a mental hospital and has nowhere to go, we end up out on the street or in a homeless shelter. We are still not all the way settled, and being here doesn’t help. You want us off the streets, but give us nowhere to go. The only drugs we are on are the ones we are supposed to be on.
Out here we see people get housing and we celebrate. We also see people die and not just drug abuse. I lost a good friend that died from a massive heart attack. I am tired of losing friends.
If I sound passionate, I am because this is my life and my friend’s life. These are elderly, physically or mentally disabled, abused victims, displaced youth,and just ordinary people who ran into bad luck. We don’t need your laws against us, your pity or rude comments. We need your understanding, compassion and help.
We are also artists, writers, singers, construction workers, retail workers and many other things. We are human beings with no homes. Speak with your actions and show us we are not invisible.