An INSIGHT to HOMELESSNESS - M anytown S - U.$.$.A.

Observe what the hardships of a meager existence does to folks in this video... THEN..............

...observe the reality of WHAT the problems I have been advocating about, with the meaningless so-called "solutions". Then consider that the problems have been building for over 20 years, and like a train slowly building up speed will take time to slow down only - much less "reverse" direction. There are those who waited to be affected before being concerned, while there are those who have not yet realized that 2008 was just the beginning, and will realize an even more of a rude awakening!

"Connecting the Dots" offers a Reality Check providing the historical reasons and what to prepare for.

Follow the Links, hear the Audios and view the Videos . . . then you also can help to . . . >> Incite... more Insight!!?!<<

I am . . . a John Doe Homeless

and these are  my Viewpoints
of those  "progressive " developments
of the  Growth  that has been
       SOooo-OH!

"Good for the Economy"!!?
. . . . . as if the world doesn't have enough problems . . . (?)

Edit / update by a John Doe Homeless - updated on Dec 29, 2008 at 6:07 PM

It Doesn't take a Disaster... to be a Catastrophe in ones life!?

Homeless folks have all had something tragic… to compel changing a lifestyle to such desperate measures of living homelessly. The looting and crimes committed in New Orleans typifies one type of reaction… out of desperation. Survival mode will cause a different sense of values, and different people react in different ways, just as people who try to help do.
Folks that behaved inappropriately... were behaving inappropriately before becoming homeless. It is not appropriate to blame all the homeless for a specific behavior of a few. The tragedies that befell the victims of Katrina are traumatic obviously. But… not so obvious, is how equally traumatic becoming homeless is whatever the cause… losing life, property, life’s worth in general is devastating and is equally disconcerting. The despair accumulates and becomes overwhelming. When depression sets in, it enhances the decision making process. The complaints exemplify the results of these scenarios. Over three million homeless folks who have been trying to live within their means best they can with obstacles most people hopefully will never have to find out how to deal with. Many - never do find a way to cope at all! (You have just begun to see some of those on the news)

Typically the government will come up with the wrong solution for a given problem. A new law being put into place all over the country, skirts around the abolishment of former vagrancy laws making it a crime to be homeless and violates Civil Rights!! How will this play out with Katrina’s victims being scattered throughout the country. With so much devastation, even FEMA will have to cut corners with funds short, and in communities like mine they’ll get up to $500 fine and/or 6 months in jail… (?)

*** And then there's Barbara Bush, our presidente's mother . . . (no not a typo) remarked regarding the victims of Katrina that "Those people are all underprivileged anyway & ARE BETTER OFF " !!!?! Obviously that whole family is full of Freudian slipS............
*Read my lips . . .. .NO NEW BUSH'S!!!!

I am a John Doe Homeless...
Sept. - 2005

Posted by a John Doe Homeless on Sep 29, 2005 at 1:52 PM

Homelessness is NOT Illegal!!

The U.S. 9th
District Court
Court Rules!!!

****************************************
What were the local governing agencies expecting to accomplish by punishing and persecuting the unfortunate folks who are merely attempting to survive by living within their means?! That is to reference the inappropriately created ordinances by cities and counties throughout the country making it a crime for camping in public as termed by Sonoma County amongst others. However it is worded, it merely skirts around the formerly abolished vagrancy laws and literally violates Civil Liberties as I have advocated since these laws began to be put into place.
In April, 2006 the U.S. 9th District Appeals Court ruled that "making it a crime to be homeless by charging them with a crime is in violation of the 8th Amendment." The previous link provides the complete transcript. Excerpts of that transcript in the following:

" L.A., Cal., Mun. Code ss 41.18(d) (2005).
A violation of section 41.18(d) is punishable by
a fine of up to $1000 and/or imprisonment of up
to six months.
Id. ss 11.00(m).

The City could not expressly criminalize the status of homelessness by making it a crime to be homeless without violating the Eighth Amendment, nor can it criminalize acts that are an integral aspect of that status. Because there is substantial and undisputed evidence that the number of homeless persons in Los Angeles far exceeds the number of available shelter beds at all times, including on the nights of their arrest or citation, Los Angeles has encroached upon Appellants' Eighth Amendment protections by criminalizing the unavoidable act of sitting, lying or sleeping at night while being involuntarily homeless.

Jones argues that LAMC ss 41.18(d) makes criminal what biology and circumstance make necessary, that is, sitting, lying, and sleeping on the streets. He maintains that the gap between the number of homeless persons in Los Angeles, and the number of available shelter beds, leaves thousands without shelter every night. Jones claims that some 42,000 people are homeless each night in the City of Los Angeles, with approximately 11,000 living in the Skid Row area. The number of homeless persons exceeds the number of available shelter beds. Of the 11,000 on Skid Row, approximately 7,000 sleep in a single room occupancy facility and 2,000 stay in emergency shelter facilities.

[14]We do not suggest that Los Angeles adopt any particular social policy, plan, or law to care for the homeless. See Johnson v. City of Dallas, 860 F. Supp. 344, 350-51 (N.D. Tex.1994), rev'd on standing grounds, 61 F.3d 442 (5th Cir. 1995). We do not desire to encroach on the legislative and executive functions reserved to the City Council and the Mayor of Los Angeles. There is obviously a "homeless problem" in the City of Los Angeles, which the City is free to address in any way that it sees fit, consistent with the constitutional principles we have articulated. (See id.)

id. at 568 n.31
(Fortas, J., dissenting); the Eighth Amendment
prohibits the City from punishing involuntary sitting,
lying, or sleeping on public sidewalks that is an
unavoidable consequence of being human and homeless
without shelter in the City of Los Angeles

That being an impossibility, by criminalizing sitting, lying, and sleeping, the City is in fact criminalizing Appellants' status as homeless individuals. Similarly, applying Robinson and Powell, courts have found statutes criminalizing the status of vagrancy to be unconstitutional. For example, Goldman v. Knecht declared unconstitutional a Colorado statute making it a crime for "'[a]ny person able to work and support himself'" to "'be found loitering or strolling about, frequenting public places,...begging or leading an idle, immoral or profligate course of life, or not having any visible means of support.'" 295 F. Supp. 897, 899 n.2, 908 (D. Colo. 1969) (three-judge court); see also Wheeler v. Goodman, 306 F. Supp. 58, 59 n.1, 62, 66 (W.D.N.C. 1969) (three judge court) (striking down as unconstitutional under Robinson a statute making it a crime to, inter alia, be able to work but have no property or "'visible and known means'" of earning a livelihood), vacated on other grounds, 401 U.S. 987 (1971).

Protection against deprivations of life, liberty and property without due process is, of course, the role of the Fourteenth Amendment, not the Eighth. The majority's analysis of the substantive component of the Eighth Amendment blurs the two. However, the Eighth Amendment does not afford due process protection when a Fourteenth Amendment claim proves unavailing.

The defense encompasses the very difficulties that Jones posits here: sleeping on the streets because alternatives were inadequate and economic forces were primarily to blame for his predicament. Id. at 390. Jones argues that he and other homeless people are not willing or able to pursue such a defense because the costs of pleading guilty are so low and the risks and challenges of pleading innocent are substantial.

By our decision, we in no way dictate to the City that it must provide sufficient shelter for the homeless, or allow anyone who wishes to sit, lie, or sleep on the streets of Los Angeles at any time and at any place within the City. All we hold is that, so long as there is a greater number of homeless individuals in Los Angeles than the number of available beds,the City may not enforce section 41.18(d) at all times and places throughout the City against homeless individuals for involuntarily sitting, lying, and sleeping in public.

The complete official court transcript can be found here >>> The 9th District Federal Court of Appeals along with the opinions of the judges.

What must not be overlooked, ignored, or left unchecked until the illegal laws must be rescinded. They must be removed off of the books, but some just still don't get it!!... More than a year after the Federal Court ruling... Some areas in California (Sonoma County, L.A., and San Francisco included) still persist to Violate Civil Rights in this manner! If they are not stupid then they are being so arrogant to believe they are above the Federal Law!? The illegal laws must be rescinded, removed off of the books, but some just still don't get it!!

Awareness... not ABOUT homelessness, but about the injustice to the many folks who have no clue of (until personally impacted)! It's a rude awakening finding out the hard way, but then it's of no use to complain. Encourage focusing on reducing the causes of folks resorting to living within their means after passing the point of the proverbial "one pay check away". Perpetuating a criminal element (and some get good at it when there is nothing else to lose), is not only counterproductive but everyone pays! As the differences between wage earnings and housing costs continues to widen, so also does the ability to recover.

The Watch Dogs are Watching
the Watch Dogs!!

... NOW the door

is WIDE OPEN!

I am a John Doe Homeless...and these are my Viewpoints!
June - 2006

Posted June 30,2006 at 7:59 PM

Houseless is NOT Homeless!!?!

California seems to set the pace for cities in many ways. Throughout the country, many areas are skirting around the abolishment of former vagrancy laws and making homelessness a crime! This is a violation of Civil Rights!!! In 1951 Santa Rosa’s population was 17,000. By 2005 had grown to 170,000 (a 10 times increase in over 50 years). By comparison, in 1994 the homeless population here (after tripling in 2 years) was estimated at about 150. By 2005 a census showed that homeless folks had increased to 1,700 (that they knew of) a 10 times increase in about 10 years). This disproportionate figure was not representative of the influx of new arrivals, but a residual affect of new arrivals that was "growth-being-good-for-the-economy". Two comparisons to make on this note, (as they have really no way of knowing exactly) that the estimated current homeless population (as of-July 2007) - being over 2,200, the availab60sle space in the shelter in 1994 of 280 beds has been replaced by a facility with only 80 beds!? Progress for 13 years!? It seems that there are some areas with concern to facilitate citizens more appropriately, and many do not want to be "warehoused" where conflict often occurs. It does typify the attitude of a locality like the difference in people themselves. The cost of housing has increased over 20 times while during the same period that the wage earnings increased less than 20%! This is typical the economic imbalance nationally which, by the way, the homeless population was last reported at 3 MILLION!! Typically, governing agencies come up with the wrong solution to a given problem. Good examples are inappropriate law changes, "band-aids" for problems instead of an attempt to fix-it. It's the same efficiency of amendments to an amendment of an amendment etc. There wouldn’t be more need for more food at the kitchens and food banks, more shelters (the kitchens and food banks are growing in abundance), if the client population was reduced, instead of growing. The contribution to the problem is that some of the former donators are now clients!!! A more current (attempted) “solution” not only fails to solve problems (IE: complaints regarding the homeless) but creates new problems, and doesn’t even ease the original problem (just moves it to additional areas). The complaints that are not limited to just homeless (including urination, littering, panhandling, drug & alcohol abuse, etc.) are obviously behaviors by all echelons in society. Those with inappropriate behavior, behaved inappropriately before becoming homeless... likewise responsible conduct is not exclusive to having a residence!!? Consider, after being refused the privilege (or should it be a right?) the use of a public restroom then walking maybe 6 blocks or more to another facility only to be refused (even shunned again), and then again.... Sooner or later common sense will dictate that nature will run it's course. Eventually, one will just skip to the last part - (go figure?). Litter violators, trash dumping are especially not exclusive to the homeless, but significant by each and every ill-mannered, uncaring and unthinking social group!!! Alcoholism starts in the home, and the last I heard, proficient drug dealers can afford a residence! Until attention is paid to the Real facts since the 1980's... connect the dots of the Reality of it all... the more will experience the rude awakening of testing survival skills (or the lack of!). If you think that those are problems ... wait until you get aload of WORSE!!?!

I am a John Doe Houseless . . . not homeless

Sept. 2005

Posted by a John Doe Homeless on Sep 29, 2005 at 6:07 PM

Homelessness Perpetuates Itself!!!

Posted (orig) 2004

At 60+, employment isn't plentiful, so while living in a RV, I have been protesting actively the extreme increase of housing costs, sometimes with peril, and at my expense. For over 15 years of coping with economic imbalances, being put out of business, experiencing homeless hate crimes, and even the discrimination. I can relate to most experiences that homeless folks have had to deal with. During the last 10 years I have observed "newcomers" to the homeless population, showing up at homeless facilities who are obviously disoriented, stunned, bewildered and not comprehending how they could have gotten into this situation, and not understanding why nothing is being done correct things. Losing mini-storage, housing, then no longer able to maintain (much less) increase their income only begins a depressing result. Eventually, there is a loss of expectation that these ambitions are even viable and concession to accept only short term goals are practical, until there are no more goals at all... only survival skill development. These skills vary in all the ways that have often become complaints.After years of falling behind the inflationary increases, lessening expenses is a more effective alternative. I have been opposing the economic trend that has resulted in our increased numbers and the shameful current conditions. I have tried to raise public awareness (before many of you became homeless however it was caused), while some of which were still kicking homeless folks to the curb!!... (and those of you... know who you are!)... and that perpetuates the problems.

The one thing in common, is being ignored which is the first step in ignorance of those who look the other way (as if... "if it’s not seen it doesn’t exist"). But, for those who have still not yet fallen to the streets, vehicles & bushes need to speak up while they may still be listened to. Attention isn’t paid to homeless as we are now "less than important" (even avoided understandably) by others... but that also perpetuates the problems.If you can relate to some of the conditions that I have dealt since before 1990, then you know how ironic the very causes of our problems, handicap our ability to make progress, improve or correct those problems (IE. communicate reliably, make appointments punctually or at all, proceed with following up with those appointments or commitments.

Then, new laws were created, made it a crime for over 3 million of us to try to live within our means (by avoiding housing costs to allow for sufficient food and other more important necessities than "landowner support"). What this has perpetuated, is an ever increasing underworld of clandestine activities! Go figure!?

(Now Updated - Dec 2016) 

So... if you think you have a problem now, for over 15 years I have had a problem with our elected representatives who make decisions affecting everyone’s life and well being, having the stupidity, especially the arrogance (while violating a Federal Court ruling), to be Soooo....... counterproductive!!?!  

And so YOU are waiting until . . . (?)

Speak out now before you become just another one of THEM!?


I am . . . a John Doe Homeless

and these are  my Viewpoints
of those  "progressive" developments
of the  Growth  that has been
         SOooo-OH!

"Good for the Economy"!!?