To those who hate homeless people

[Alice1248]

My boyfriend and I are homeless and live in a Motel 6 for 4 months. We had to move rooms once and the head maid even came knocking on our door to compliment us and said she never saw a cleaner room from a guest. We cleaned everything top to bottom before moving. 

Before Motel 6, we went from hotel to hotel but the prices kept increasing and increasing.

But we always pay on time, respect others, follow the rules, and clean up after ourselves.

So many people hate homeless people and honestly, I know a lot of homeless people like us but I do know some that have no respect to others’ spaces whatsoever.

I feel so hurt when people generalize homeless people and/or couples (homeless or not) because my boyfriend and I are the complete opposite of what they believe homeless people to be.

I had a good job until they laid me off immediately when COVID hit in May 2020. Then after applying and applying, I finally got a job for Christmas season last year (2021). Now, I have been applying for so many jobs but I either never hear back or they won’t hire me cause they find out I’m hearing impaired. I have my bachelor’s degree and have a great resume but no luck whatsoever.  Luckily, my parents help out financially from time to time.

My boyfriend is the sweetest, most considerate man I ever met. Unfortunately, the majority of people do background checks see his felony he got 14 yrs ago when drug possession was still a felony not a misdemeanor and then a few misdemeanor since for drug possession. When people see his record, they automatically think he is a horrible worthless person who deserves nothing but the worst. He cleans up after himself, he is a hard worker when he does work (he sometimes works with his dad in construction), he is honest, he respects others and their space, and he goes out of his way to help people whether they are better off or worse than himself even when he has barely anything. We have helped so many other homeless people and a couple of them are now sober, have their own place, and are doing extremely well.
Not all drug users are horrible and violent that people portray them to be. Many drug users I’ve met, one was my co-worker and she recently won an award for being one of the best veterinarian technicians in the county, are people like you. Many have jobs and a place to live yet those people don’t get nearly as much negative criticism and judgement as homeless drug users. Drug use is not a moral failing. But I’m not gonna get into a huge discussion about it right now.

Anyways, my boyfriend and I are tired of being kicked out of hotels just cause they realize we’re homeless although we’ve done nothing wrong, tired of people treating us like worthless pieces of trash or horrible people, and we do our best to prove to others that we aren’t like society’s image and generalization of homeless people but no one cares enough to listen/see it or they just are adamant that we are rude filthy people who are disrespectful, lazy, and try to get our way by manipulating or harming people which is so far from the truth with most homeless people.

We want to be treated with kindness and respect just like any other person and most of all, to be given a chance to prove that we aren’t what you think we are.

[Kate867]

@Alice1248   Thank you for sharing your thoughts.  You have touched on a couple of topics with this post and your earlier one which no doubt will cause some people an element of discomfort so I really hope you get some positive and sensitive responses here.

I personally do not ‘hate’ homeless people and indeed have a great deal of sympathy for the majority of them. Some people choose to be homeless and live a nomadic life.  We have one such person in the county where we live now, and he is always happy and cheerful.  He moves around to various farms offering his services in stone walling, sleeps in barns, in a tent or under a hedge depending upon the weather, will only accept fair payment and given his talents could easily work somewhere full time and buy or rent a home.  His choice is not to, he just wants and is perfectly entitled to a simple and uncomplicated life if he wishes.

Many people lose their homes to unforeseen circumstances. It can be the loss of employment, a breakdown in a relationship or a simple bad business decision amongst many things.  Shockingly, until I was reading the statistics a few years ago I was blissfully unaware that up to 60% of people in rented accommodation are just a few pay cheques away from homelessness.  I think that once that home is lost it would be very easy to decline further and perhaps make some bad decisions which will just exacerbate the situation.  The current housing crisis in some countries is dreadful.  Houses are incredibly expensive to buy and/or rent and there is not enough ‘social’ housing being built either.

I agree that homeless people are absolutely entitled to the same respect that people in all ‘walks of life’ are.  We don’t always get to choose how things work out.  I did some voluntary work at a day centre for the homeless some years ago as I had some free time and was truly humbled by the experience.  The clients were mostly friendly and open about their circumstances and what led them to that point in their lives.  Others were simply traumatised and trying to make the best of a very bad situation.  There were young adults from broken homes, too old for foster care and too young to be unsupervised and on the streets,  there was a man whose wife died, and unable to cope he lost his job, his home and  his children were put in care.  If you take the time to listen you can understand and if anyone finds themselves with some free time I would recommend that they reach out, devote some time, and simply listen to someone who just needs to talk without being judged or advised.

Your other post referred to another sensitive topic regarding Sex Workers and Airbnb’s apparent discrimination against them.   I did look at your links, albeit not all of them and have to admit, that until I did I was completely unaware that their AI was effectively scrutinising people before allowing them to join the platform  and even checking on their social media.  I am aware that it (most likely) can only check on information that is publicly out there but frankly find it quite abhorrent and feel that nobody should be automatically banned from joining the platform without some right of appeal.  Suppose, for instance, they checked my husband, who works with dogs for a living and found information about this.  Could they then ban him just in case he tried to sneak a dog into a non pet friendly Airbnb?  Where does the AI draw the line?  I have absolutely no doubt that sex workers have time off and take holidays just the same as Doctors, Lawyers, janitors and check out girls do etc.  Obviously and quite understandably due to the nature of their hosting business, the majority, if not all hosts would absolutely not want a sex worker operating out of their Airbnb’s, many of which are in residential areas as they are designed for Family holidays, stays of necessity such as travelling nurses and business people etc. and  aside from anything else in many cases the number and names of all guests are required for insurance and safety purposes.  However, surely there must be some sort of solution which allows a fair balance without discriminating against people based on their employment.  Maybe someone here in the community centre has some ideas?

[Francesco514]

The main problem is that Airbnb It is the main cause of the homeless in the world. But everyone look the other way. Airbnb managers are ruthless who only want to enrich themselves.

Greetings from Italian gentrification.

[Helen3]

If you believe this why are you hosting then @Francesco514 

[Francesco514]

I've hosted for ten days 5 years ago a single room.
Anyway, the problem is not who rent one or two room (I am also in favour of this), the problem is when people (or companies) rent an entire appartament or many appartament.

For years we have been talking about this. is it full of articles, have you never heard of it?