The sun is out, and so are the homeless

[elfs]

Drunk at 4pm
Hosted on Flickr!. Click to enlarge.

Ah, the joys of living in the big city. Now that the sun has come out, so too have the homeless and in droves. Aggressive panhandling, signs in the parks now include "No urinating / no defecating" warnings (gross!) and every once in a while you find someone passed out on your doorstep. This photo was taken just about three blocks from my office, in a section of town that includes a lot of homeless assistance and drug recovery programs, barely a block from the new Seattle Art Museum sculpture garden. People were stepping over her. You can't see the 40oz can of malt liquor she's got hidden behind herself.

There is something objectively frightening about photographs like this: the voluntary helplessness, the abject self-degredation, the apparently willful quest for self-annhilation. Images like this don't make me want to help; if anything, they make me want to avoid ever being anywhere near her condition.

Comments

[woggie.livejournal.com]

What I don't think you mentioned was the part where those homeless assistance programs are either full (if they put people up) or have (at last check) a five year waiting list in which they expect you to have a mailing address so they can contact you if an when your number comes up.

Hey, if I'd had a mailing address when I was on the street, do you really think I'd classify myself as homeless?

I will grant you, there are a lot of drunks out there. Alcohol gives you the pleasant sensation of being high without actually being illegal, and gives you the illusion of being warm.

From this picture, I would assume she was just at one of those homeless places, they turned her out, and she decided to turn to the solace of booze, hoping they will take her back that night.

I'm not saying the woman doesn't have a problem, though.

[hydrolagus.livejournal.com]

I know of one homeless assistance organization that provides mailboxes (plus showers and interview clothes). They're not a band-aid group--they're trying to get people back into being self-supporting, so they're where the practical stuff left from the swaps goes (coats, towels, hygiene stuff).
The nasty thing about alcohol is it makes being out there feel less crappy while making it less likely that you'll be able to fix anything. Nasty, too, because it often ends up being used as a stand-in for meds in the case of mental illness.

[woggie.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that such organizations exist. I hadn't herd about the place for having a mailing address in addition to showers and such. I always thought it was so stupid during that time in my life that they would demand a mailing address to get a place in addition to the enormously long waiting list even while the yuppies at the other end of the economic spectrum were driving people like me out of cheap housing to renovate the neighborhood.

Well, when alcohol is cheaper than meds, and you barely have enough money as it is, you take what you can get. Gratefully, the same address that gets you the application to a low-cost home also in many cases gets you the low-cost meds you need. All that remains is making sure those people have the resources and the hope that they can pull themselves back out of the gutter.

There are still so many gaps in the rehab system. It's good to see there's one less. :)

[acelightning.livejournal.com]