think about it. for one, you don't have an address at which to include on applications or receive mail. this is a larger difficulty that people realize. also, you likely have little access to facilities and resources to present an appropriate appearance. clean hair cut, clean and pressed clothes, decent shoes, clean fingernails. imagine how difficult this must be when you do not have a place to call home. there are various agencies and charities that work with the homeless to try and alleviate some of these problems by providing a mailing address, access to showers, donating clothes for interviewing, etc. but not only are they unable to provide assistance to all those in need, this only helps with the first step -- getting a job.
now that you have a job, the hard part is over right? what types of things do you have to do to keep your job? you have to arrive at your shift on time, every day. you have to be clean, showered, and dressed appropriately. you have to have a stable enough personal life that allows you to focus on your job and do it well. imagine how difficult it would be to keep your job as a person who is homeless. you would need a place to shower every morning before work. you would have to have access to more than one set of work clothes. (what response could you expect from your job if you came in the same outfit each day even if it was washed before each shift? obviously, this does not apply to many people in the service industry or other positions in which a uniform is required. but you get what i'm saying). so even if you are lucky enough to have access to a shelter or a friend to use their shower and store your clothes, you have to get to work on time and stay focused enough to do your job. if i were homeless and did not know where i was sleeping that night or if i would be safe in the place i was sleeping, i would have trouble doing my job well. and though not as vital, imagine getting to know your coworkers on your new job site and answering the "where do you live?" questions.
so what made me start thinking about this tonight? i saw this post by derek about a personal mobile shelter designed for those who are homeless to protect them from the weather, provide them with privacy, and as a storage solution for their possessions and a way to collect recyclables. the mobile shelter is through edar (everyone deserves a roof). it's a very interesting charity which supplies the units and provides an edar community which they describe as
Five to ten EDAR's are used as modular components of a pod grouping, creating a community effect on land provided by a local authority or other entity which wishes to move homeless people away from random locations and towards a facility where bathrooms and other necessities are added at minimal cost. Cities own many pieces of scrap land which go to waste. Similar to the Dome Village in downtown Los Angeles, the local authority provides unused land, so that EDAR can be used as the ready-made basis of a small community, having positive security, hygiene and social services for the homeless.
and on a sad note, i saw this post about a drop in shelter in new jersey that was evicted by the first reformed church. the wall street journal reports it was because the shelter director served food to the people who attended christmas dinner rather than leading them in sermon and carols first, as requested by the church officials. does someone need to remind the church that being homeless isn't a sin?
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