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| Chronicling homelessness: do 'homeward bound' bus programs work? | Chronicling homelessness: do 'homeward bound' bus programs work? |
| (about 20 hours later) | |
| Stories about homeless people being put on buses and forcibly shipped out of cities are legend. One such rumor circulated last month, amid reports that Salt Lake City’s homeless people had been put in vans and driven 35 miles away, to some canyons near Tooele, and dumped there with nothing more than some bottles of water and food. | Stories about homeless people being put on buses and forcibly shipped out of cities are legend. One such rumor circulated last month, amid reports that Salt Lake City’s homeless people had been put in vans and driven 35 miles away, to some canyons near Tooele, and dumped there with nothing more than some bottles of water and food. |
| We investigated these reports, and have found no evidence to substantiate them, although it does appear to be the case that hundreds of homeless people have disappeared in Salt Lake City, baffling police and local activists, as we revealed in this widely read investigation. | We investigated these reports, and have found no evidence to substantiate them, although it does appear to be the case that hundreds of homeless people have disappeared in Salt Lake City, baffling police and local activists, as we revealed in this widely read investigation. |
| That’s not to say there are no controversial examples of homeless people being encouraged to take buses, such as in the run-up to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. | That’s not to say there are no controversial examples of homeless people being encouraged to take buses, such as in the run-up to the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. |
| And there are, of course, several examples of voluntary bus (and even flight) services for homeless people who want to voluntarily leave. | And there are, of course, several examples of voluntary bus (and even flight) services for homeless people who want to voluntarily leave. |
| Cities ranging from San Francisco and Denver to New York and Fort Lauderdale operate what are sometimes called “family reunification” or “homeward bound” projects. Homeless people are offered publicly funded bus tickets to their hometowns or places where they have personal connections, with the goal of helping them find stability and even resolving their homelessness. | Cities ranging from San Francisco and Denver to New York and Fort Lauderdale operate what are sometimes called “family reunification” or “homeward bound” projects. Homeless people are offered publicly funded bus tickets to their hometowns or places where they have personal connections, with the goal of helping them find stability and even resolving their homelessness. |
| We’re examining programs like these across the country, and asking whether they work. We’ve spoken to homeless or formerly homeless people who have taken tickets – but we want to speak with more. Have you taken one of these bus tickets, or do you know someone who has? Do you have insights into a bus program in your community or elsewhere? | We’re examining programs like these across the country, and asking whether they work. We’ve spoken to homeless or formerly homeless people who have taken tickets – but we want to speak with more. Have you taken one of these bus tickets, or do you know someone who has? Do you have insights into a bus program in your community or elsewhere? |
| If so, I’d love to hear from you. Email me at alastair.gee@theguardian.com. | If so, I’d love to hear from you. Email me at alastair.gee@theguardian.com. |
| Follow me on Twitter for our latest stories: @alastairgee. | Follow me on Twitter for our latest stories: @alastairgee. |
| Know someone who should subscribe to the newsletter? Send them this way. | Know someone who should subscribe to the newsletter? Send them this way. |
| What we published | What we published |
| Some academics are so impoverished that they have turned to sex work or sleep in their cars. | Some academics are so impoverished that they have turned to sex work or sleep in their cars. |
| The deadliest US outbreak of hepatitis A in decades kills homeless people in San Diego. | The deadliest US outbreak of hepatitis A in decades kills homeless people in San Diego. |
| A California city confiscates porta-potties at a homeless camp, forcing them to use buckets. | A California city confiscates porta-potties at a homeless camp, forcing them to use buckets. |
| Silicon Valley residents chant “build a wall” in response to plans to build emergency housing. | Silicon Valley residents chant “build a wall” in response to plans to build emergency housing. |
| Behind the scenes | Behind the scenes |
| I received the email in July. A college lecturer who lived near Miami named Mindy Percival wrote to tell me about the appalling conditions in which she and other adjunct professors lived. Mindy herself was on the edge of homelessness, a state, she wrote, that “is unacceptable for the highly educated, the uneducated, the mentally ill or the psychologically fit”. | |
| Speaking to Mindy was one of the sparks of yesterday’s story on poverty among college professors (the other inspiration was, strangely enough, a second message I received from different adjunct). | Speaking to Mindy was one of the sparks of yesterday’s story on poverty among college professors (the other inspiration was, strangely enough, a second message I received from different adjunct). |
| In the piece, Mindy’s hardships – the “shack” in which she lives, lacking hot water, a shower or an oven – come through the strongest. But on the phone she is constantly cracking jokes, and I’ve come to think of her as a female Jackie Mason, though her humor is edged with tragedy. “I grew up in the lap of luxury, by the way, if you can’t tell by my voice,” she told me when first talked. But because she couldn’t afford dentistry, she once had to teach “with four teeth missing from my Jewish American princess mouth”. (When I asked her to send some photos of herself, she joked: ‘My mother used to say keep your chin up – both of them’.) | In the piece, Mindy’s hardships – the “shack” in which she lives, lacking hot water, a shower or an oven – come through the strongest. But on the phone she is constantly cracking jokes, and I’ve come to think of her as a female Jackie Mason, though her humor is edged with tragedy. “I grew up in the lap of luxury, by the way, if you can’t tell by my voice,” she told me when first talked. But because she couldn’t afford dentistry, she once had to teach “with four teeth missing from my Jewish American princess mouth”. (When I asked her to send some photos of herself, she joked: ‘My mother used to say keep your chin up – both of them’.) |
| Mindy was not bowed by her situation, she told me. “I love my work and care deeply for my students and subject matter. And I am well loved in return and a popular professor. Teaching is my ‘raison d’etre’ and gives my life meaning and purpose, and I consider myself lucky to do the work. All my education also helps me see things in a larger way, perhaps, and somehow … while it stinks, I am not really unhappy. Go figure.” | |
| Last but not least | Last but not least |
| Bob Armstrong, living in the place he thought he would be happiest, never imagined it would come to this. | Bob Armstrong, living in the place he thought he would be happiest, never imagined it would come to this. |
| Originally from Ohio, Armstrong, 56, has had a varied and illustrious career, from working as a local television anchor and station manager to heading a major marketing effort for an art and science museum. He was once a professor of communications in Singapore, and says he traveled everywhere in Asia except for North Korea and Myanmar. | Originally from Ohio, Armstrong, 56, has had a varied and illustrious career, from working as a local television anchor and station manager to heading a major marketing effort for an art and science museum. He was once a professor of communications in Singapore, and says he traveled everywhere in Asia except for North Korea and Myanmar. |
| But in 2011, after the deaths of his brother and father, things started to come undone. Sorting out his dad’s finances, he realized: “You can spend your entire life working, saving, playing by the rules as politicians like to say, but the extra expenses at the end of life are not enough to insulate you from poverty. And here I am six or seven years later, and I have wiped out everything I’ve ever saved.” | But in 2011, after the deaths of his brother and father, things started to come undone. Sorting out his dad’s finances, he realized: “You can spend your entire life working, saving, playing by the rules as politicians like to say, but the extra expenses at the end of life are not enough to insulate you from poverty. And here I am six or seven years later, and I have wiped out everything I’ve ever saved.” |
| After that hard year, he moved to Hawaii, “the one place in the world that I think is extraordinary and truly paradise”. But well into middle age, it was hard to find full-time work and, therefore, pay for an apartment. He has a job in sales, but it’s not enough. On Monday, he was told by a court that he must vacate his current home by 15 October over late rent payments. | After that hard year, he moved to Hawaii, “the one place in the world that I think is extraordinary and truly paradise”. But well into middle age, it was hard to find full-time work and, therefore, pay for an apartment. He has a job in sales, but it’s not enough. On Monday, he was told by a court that he must vacate his current home by 15 October over late rent payments. |
| “In two weeks, I’ll have to find somewhere to live,” Armstrong told me. “I am alone in the world and have no resources left except persistence, patience, a good pair of walking shoes and a deep belief in myself and my talents.” | “In two weeks, I’ll have to find somewhere to live,” Armstrong told me. “I am alone in the world and have no resources left except persistence, patience, a good pair of walking shoes and a deep belief in myself and my talents.” |
| Do you have an experience of homelessness to share with the Guardian? Get in touch | Do you have an experience of homelessness to share with the Guardian? Get in touch |
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