Kris Pavek, a 71-year-old retired midwife and photographer, has often stayed in Brattleboro in summer months, in the van she calls her home, since 2021. This post originally appeared on her Substack site, where it was "written in the dark, in bed, at a Love's Truck Stop in Nevada."
NEVADA-When the weather changes, I have to move. I travel south in the winter, north in the summer. I have favorite towns that welcome me back. It might be because they look forward to having an itinerant landscaper tackle their overgrown gardens in order to earn gas money.
I follow my towns on their Facebook pages, where I often see posts about the growing problem of homelessness in their communities. Sometimes I just read; other times I comment.
There are complaints about loitering, complaints about sleeping, complaints about panhandling, complaints about littering, complaints about public urination and defecation, complaints about public drug use and the discarded paraphernalia.
Merchants are concerned. Parents are concerned. Homeowners are concerned. Community leaders are concerned.
These homeless folks are horrid people, they say. Full stop.
The behaviors are horrid. Focus on the behaviors, and remove the word "homeless" from the conversation. The culprits may be homeless - that's not a crime.
* * *
My best friends are homeless. They volunteer in animal rescues, they spend long hours picking up litter, they tend community gardens, they sit in cafés sipping coffee and writing. Some talented ones play music on the corners of villages; some walk your dogs.
"Oh, but," you say, "those are not the homeless we are talking about!"
In fact, we do not know if that person who just urinated in public is even homeless.
If that kid shooting up behind the gas station lives with his parents.
If the panhandler has a job that pays minimum wage and he rents a room.
* * *
Can we begin to focus on the behavior that is greatly annoying - alarming, even?
Isn't decorum what we seek? Consideration for others? Respect for health and environment?
Removing the word "homeless," used in a negative context, turns the spotlight on the behavior.
When we do so, it doesn't erase the fact that thousands of people are without housing. It doesn't erase the corporate greed that sees housing as a hot investment.
It does lessen the stigma of the word "homeless." It opens the door of the closet where you'll find the homeless elders, the hurricane-ravaged survivors, the burnout fire victims. We are the vast majority of the homeless population in the U.S.A.
And, yes, we know how to behave with decorum. See us.
And also:
• Line your streets with garbage cans.
• Remove the signs that say "restrooms are for customers only."
• Designate legal 24-hour parking in secure locations for those of us who live in our vehicles.
• Give grants to business that want to install showers for employees.
• Provide municipal jobs that pay cash daily.
• Provide public lockers for the belongings that these workers need to secure.
• Pick up five pieces of litter a day. Wear gloves, if you wish.
• Say good morning when you see me.
• Shake my hand if you dare. Homelessness is not contagious.
This Voices Viewpoint was submitted to The Commons.
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