Sarah Riegel

Honors Citizenship
Dr. Childers-McKee
November 4, 2016
Reflection on Homelessness
Homelessness is simultaneously a concept that most people are very familiar with and an
issue that gets glossed over. I cannot even count the number of times Ive seen one charity or
another collecting for the homeless; yet, the majority of society does not seem as concerned
with truly helping people who suffer because of homelessness. Why is this? Perhaps because we
are afraid that if we look too closely at homeless people we will be made uncomfortable. By
pretending homelessness isnt the issue that it is, we as a majority (of people with homes) are
valuing our emotional and financial comfort over the basic physical needs of fellow humans.
Homeless people are often stigmatized as dirty, dangerous, and having played a large role
in the causation of their situation. Granted, there might be some truth to these stereotypes,
particularly the last one. For instance, it seems like from the readings and videos assigned on
homelessness that it is not unusual for a homeless person to have suffered or currently be
suffering some sort of addiction, but the factors surrounding these conditions are never as simple
as weak will power or bad choices. Even if they were, shouldnt we still make healing and
recovery a top priority for people? When listening to Vondas story during our visit to Moore
Place and reading Bears story (Price, 2015), I was disturbed by the trauma that colored their
pasts. In particular, when listening to Vonda speak, my foremost impression was of someone who
exemplified great strength, humility, and inspiring compassion. Honestly, this and the entire
culture of Moore Place challenged how I have in the past viewed homelessness. I have grown up

being wary of people living on the streets without stopping to question why they were there and
only sometimes having my heart long for them to receive healing and assistance. I am so
thankful to have had my eyes opened. I think the main issue for me was a lack of awareness
about the needs of the homeless population. After viewing some of the statistics from North
Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness (North, 2015) and seeing the sheer number of people
sleeping outside on Tryon Street while walking around Uptown Charlotte for the first time after
9pm last weekend, I have a better understanding of the true magnitude of the issue. Never having
lived in an urban, downtown area, I really was unaware of the volume of people who go
unhoused in our state.
Also challenging was the concept of housing first campaigns. I had not spent much time
previously considering how difficult it is for homeless people to rise up out of homelessness. The
issues are multifaceted and diverse, from health problems to a lacking a mailing address. Seeing
the physical transformation of people once given housing in the Anderson Cooper Report
video (Court, 2014) and hearing Kenneths pride in his home at Moore Place really stuck out to
me. They seem to be proof of this idea that stability is necessary for people to start reclaiming
their lives, health, and independence. It was also found in a CHHS study that Moore House after
just one year of being operational had led to a significant decrease in jail stays and emergency
room visits, cutting costs to taxpayers (Boone, 2014). Yet, after hearing about the many social
workers and nurses required to cater to the clients of Moore Place, I wonder whether the
statistics given in the CHHS study show the full picture of actual cost-effectiveness of this type
of housing solution. I also agree with the philosophy of accepting people where they are in life,
and that people dont need to have their lives together to be provided affordable housing.
However, its not okay to stay in an unhealthy place. That is why I think that rehabilitation and

harm reduction classes and counseling should be an expectation for residents who need it, but
with negligible consequences for failing to participate. Perhaps an even greater need is the
restructuring of how people are given disability and social security income. It blew my mind that
saving money made Kenneth vulnerable to having his disability benefits withdrawn, and that the
initiating of his social security payments significantly reduced his disability earnings.
I am glad that we were able to read an article about a previously homeless, hardworking
family who are living in subsidized housing (Blad, 2014). Moore Place is not the type of
complex that could really cater to families because of some of the issues its residents are facing.
This article brought up the issue of effectively segregating schools by concentrating poverty in
only a couple main areas of cities (Blad, 2014). I think to expand subsidized housing into every
area is a noble goal, which will only be achieved if we as a society learn greater compassion.
Perhaps the location to which families are assigned should be allocated based on lottery, so as to
avoid the impossibility of setting a standard for subsidized housing and avoiding corruption
resulting in deciding who gets an unfair advantage. Thus, the way our society should combat
homelessness is to couple housing first with the expectation of participation in rehabilitating
services, call for the reform of disability and social security benefits, and push for expanded
areas of subsidized housing determined by a lottery system. This would need to start with an
attitude shift for the majority of Americans. This is by no means a perfect or totally cost-effective
solution, but I believe it would be a start.
Overall, I think the Moore Place visit contributed to the goals of the course because it
was eye-opening to the complexity of issues surrounding homelessness and demonstrative of
why disadvantaged people should not be defined by their past and circumstances. The visit itself
was part of community engaged research. It got us out of the classroom where we talk broadly

about broad topics and into the community to see the distribution of needs from people living in
these situations. This is the true purpose of the class. As such, the Moore Place visit should
definitely remain on the course outline. One of my favorite parts of our visit was hearing
Kenneth and Vonda speak about how they are currently helping out and fighting for people who
are still homeless. If they can make such a strong impact in society with still limited resources,
why cant the rest of us more privileged people do the same?

Works Cited
Blad, Evie (2014, March 25). 50 Years Later, Housing Programs Reach is Limited. Education
Week. Retrieved Nov. 3, 2016 from: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/03/26/26
wophousing_ep.h33.html?print=1.
Boone, Latricia (2014, March 24). CHHS Study Demonstrates Housing Program Helps Save
Lives, Money. UNC Charlotte. Retrieved Nov. 3, 2016 from: http://inside.uncc.edu/new
s-features/2014-03-24/chhs-study-demonstrates-housing-program-helps-save-livesmoney.
Court, Andy [producer] & Cooper, Anderson [correspondent] (2014, Feb.). 100,000 Homes:
Housing the Homeless can Save Money? CBS News. Video retrieved Nov. 4, 2016 from:
https://uncc.instructure.com/courses/6854/modules/items/559237.
North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness [NCCEH] (2015). North Carolina Point-in-Time
Count Data. NCCEH. Retrieved Nov. 3, 2016 from: http://www.ncceh.org/pitdata/.
Price, Mark (2015, May 3). Homeless Man in Shed Illustrates Charlottes Toughest Cases.
Charlotte Observer. Retrieved Nov. 3, 2016 from: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/ne
ws/local/article20086371.html.