On Considering the Homeless Crisis as a Disaster Event

These reflections are the direct result of reading Rebecca Solnit’s brilliant book, A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities that Arise in Disaster, published in 2009.

Her book is about what happens in the immediate aftermath of disasters such as a hurricane, earthquake or terrorist attack. As I read and annotated the book, I was transported to my experiences with the homeless in Oregon and wondered about the possible comparisons between the responses to this crisis and the ones Solnit documents.

Here are my notes, observations, comments, asides and questions:

Is the homeless crisis in America a disaster event? Yes. Look around you. Am I wrong to equate the homeless crisis as a disaster on par with a hurricane or earthquake or wildfire? No.

Have homeless people responded as if caught up in a natural disaster? Yes. They have formed distinct communities to survive the experience. Some of these communities are healthy, others are not.

The disaster of homelessness is the opportunity for positive, even momentous change. But we are not seizing it. Maybe it isn’t disastrous enough.

We know the causes of a natural disaster. Do we know the causes of the homelessness disaster?

Yes.

Solnit writes, “…are we beholden to each other, must we take care of each other, or is every man for himself?”

Yes.

She also writes, “When all the ordinary divides and patterns are shattered, people step up—not all, but the great preponderance—to become their brothers’ keepers. And that purposefulness and contentedness bring joy even amid death, chaos, fear and loss.”

Yes.

Furthermore, “Horrible in itself, disaster is sometimes a door back into paradise, the paradise at least in which we are who we hope to be, do the work we desire, and our each our sister’s and brother’s keeper.”

Yes.

Disaster hits. Then people and their governments respond. People go into action first, then governments and various relief organizations. That’s what’s happening now with the homeless crisis but the actions don’t seem to be making a difference that most people can see. The homeless crisis is a disaster and that’s why and so many others are volunteering to help with it. But for how long?

Solnit believes: you can be your best most desired person helping out in a disaster. It creates that unique opportunity.

Sometimes the trauma inflicted by a disaster makes you act to help yourself and others to survive it. But is that true of the trauma of being homeless?

Perhaps helping the homeless shows the homeless and the housed the best way to live.

I have read virtually nothing about the volunteers assisting the homeless or even about people employed to solve or alleviate the crisis. Why is that? We need those stories, too.

Solnit describes a solidarity formed by people who experience a natural disaster together. I have seen that solidarity in many of the homeless men and I woman I have encountered and interacted with.

There is joy in the community at having survived a disaster that finally came to an end. But will this one ever end?

Solnit is adamant that an authoritarian and/or militarized response to disaster is typically a debacle for the people suffering on the ground. But that is precisely the response many people are calling for, including one Republican candidate for Governor who suggested rounding up all the homeless in Oregon and interning them in facility at the Port of Portland.

The advocates and professionals tasked with alleviating the homeless crisis should be held just as accountable for their inaction and failures as homeless people are held accountable for their inaction and failures.

There are redemptive moments in disasters. I’ve seen them in the homeless crisis on both sides of the issue.

The key to surviving a natural disaster is creating power from below and letting survivors plan or help plan and participate in recovery efforts. Does that model work in the homeless crisis? It would seem like a great idea to try.

Solnit somewhat castigates the Therapy Industrial Complex (my phrase) for reducing people to victims with no capacity to transcend a trauma related to a disaster without professional (and expensive) therapy. The Complex never presents the idea that the trauma inflicted by the disaster might actually lead to something better than a previous existence. Sufferers of trauma should not be labeled and treated like victims. They should be met where they are and immediately helped with consistent and kind follow-up. In the case of homeless people, that means getting them off the streets to better serve them and not prolonging their homelessness and its obvious dangers by advocates claiming trying to do so further traumatizes them and makes their conditions worse. The trauma is the homelessness. Focus on that.

The successful communities that sprang up after disasters relied on creativity and improvisation. In other words, winging it to solve problems. I’ve seen this type of winging it with some of the homeless. Examples include figuring out how to fix a timing chain on 50-year-old RV engine when the part doesn’t exist; rigging up a tiny garbage can to barbecue a turkey for Christmas dinner in a fire pit; using the fine hardwoods of discarded coat and hack racks for material to carve ornamental walking staffs.

There is some hope in the homeless crisis, at least in my limited experience, because many homeless people have come together to create a community to ensure their survival, although some of the survival tactics are undeniably injurious in the short and long runs.

The people I volunteer with to help alleviate the homeless crisis are the finest people I have ever met. Our camaraderie brings me great joy. They have taught me much about how to serve in this disaster.