Where Is Responsibility Bred?

Homelessness is a multifaceted problem, as most problems of the human race are. There could be an awakening on the part of all Americans tomorrow where we realize that we can eliminate homelessness in this country by balancing the imbalance of wealth inequality here and using the surplus funds (and there would be a lot!) and building new communities, refurbishing, and repurposing existing properties and seeing to it that everyone had a proper place to live. I would love to see that happen, but I cringe when I think about what would happen down the road from that.

The town of Scituate, Massachusetts has been hit by massive and devastating storms many times over the years. I watched a news video from there after one of those storms had flooded a large portion of the town. A resident from there told of how her home had been heavily damaged and about all the repairs that would now have to be made. It was dreadful to hear, but at the end of the interview, she said how much she loved Scituate. With devastating storms being a not uncommon occurrence there, you just knew that she would never leave and she would gladly pick up the pieces and remain. I am told that the citizens of Scituate have a unified resilience and dedication to their community. Where does this kind of dedication come from? It would be easy to say that these people care because they are a wealthy community but I have seen that it is more than economics that drive people to take care of what they have.

YouTube is full of video tours of abandoned mansions that wealthy people just walked away from, seemingly unconcerned about doing so. Many times, they leave the place looking like holy hell with trash scattered about, clothing strewn everywhere, and many valuable and useful items left behind. Why should they care? They can easily buy more furniture and necessities. The videos come from America, Canada, France, and probably from all over the world. What makes people care or not care about their world? When I see videos like these, I am reminded that there are thousands of properties that may not be trashed but they are just sitting vacant because some wealthy buyer has purchased them and just left them empty to add to their proof of wealth but have no intention or inclination to allow anyone to live there. As they sit empty until the owner/corporation decides to rent them out there are thousands of people sleeping on the streets who could be sheltered there. Can caring be taught? Does Scituate, Massachusetts have an enforcement office that would throw people out of town if they didn’t take care of their properties? I doubt it.

After hurricane Katrina devastated parts of New Orleans, singer Harry Connick Jr. and others teamed up with Habitat For Humanity to build a Musician’s Village for displaced musicians from there. There is a video on YouTube that showcases their efforts. I understand that the houses are now falling apart and the residents cannot afford repairs. When wood started rotting on the homes people contacted Habitat For Humanity for help but they learned very quickly that the organization felt no obligation to help. They cited the lapse of the home warranty and the fact that the homeowners should have attended classes on how to take care of their homes. So much of the time the sponsors of a help program feel no obligation whatsoever for the residual effects of providing an initial help with a social problem and couldn’t care less that their generosity has opened up a new set of problems for the recipients. It is rather like handing a new toy to a child with no frame of reference to how things will not last if they don’t do continued maintenance to keep the toy in working condition, and then blaming the child for not knowing how to change batteries or how to repair a broken wheel. Home Economics classes used to be offered as electives to middle school and older aged children up until about the 1990’s. Since then, I know of no school here that provides these classes and I doubt that the children would even recognize a need for such a thing now when most of our world runs on computer technology and little if any thought is given to needing a knowledge of basic and down to earth life skills. So, it will not help our people for very long to offer a helping hand out of poverty when it actually takes many hands to support a sustainable situation.

A promotional video was produced back in the 1961 by First National Films to introduce the new community being built in Phoenix, Arizona called Maryvale. The video featured actor/comedian Buster Keaton who was a prospective homebuyer in it and it is great fun to watch.  It was a silent film, as was Buster’s forte when he began his film acting career. The town features some gorgeous new homes for some unbelievable prices. I don’t know how affordable these houses actually were for the people who lived in the 1960’s. I have no idea what the average income was back then but I can promise you that in today’s prices the houses would probably cost 5 - 10 times or more than what they were back then. Maryvale was built as more than a subdivision of affordable homes. It was an entire planned community.

When the video was produced in 1961 it was a beautiful place. Something happened in the late 1970’s and early 80’s that changed everything. The residents up until then had been predominately white people. Some Hispanic families started moving in later which caused a “white flight” from the community and as that happened Hispanic gangs began moving in as well. Crime went through the roof and it was so bad that the police did not want to go there. Those who did try to address the criminal complaints were met with extreme violence and intimidation. As of now, Maryvale is similar to a war zone. All its charm and beauty is gone. No amount of refurbishing could help it now.

I used to live on a street where one house on the block was a rental that the tenants decided to destroy the interior of for God knows what reason. The owner was sick when he saw the damage and it cost him a small fortune to make repairs. He actually sold the property after that and vowed to never be a landlord again.

There are so many stories like that I have heard and there is also the other side of the coin with landlords who rent shacks for a war price and never make repairs. If I owned rental properties, I would be terrified that the tenants would destroy it or not pay the rent as they should. I was a renter for many years and the last person that I rented from told me a few horror stories about some of his tenants. So, if the people of America were to provide housing to everyone here, who would be responsible for taking care of and properly maintaining the homes? If people have no experience in taking care of their homes, will we provide instruction to them? If they destroy the property or terrorize other residents, will we just allow it? Will we deny housing to people based on income or their credit score or criminal history? That is already being done now so if housing becomes mandatory for all how will we keep the neighborhoods secure and in proper living conditions? Until there is an answer for that I do not see us ever having zero homelessness here. There will be no way to drive the cost of renting up to a point where you can assume that the tenants will be responsible “better” people, ever though there is no absolute guarantee that the affluent will take any better care of the place or pay their rent or mortgage on time.

We cannot be sure that we will have tenants who will be responsible citizens so I understand why property owners try to keep out the people who stereotypically get associated with untrustworthy behavior. And even if you did have model citizens who care about keeping their home and their neighborhoods in good condition you would have tenants who would not want to live near them if they aren’t white.

Before we can provide a home for everyone, we need to provide a halfway home of sorts to get people to understand how to get along with each other and provide “home economics” classes to teach them how to take care of their new home. Typically, people are left to their own devices once the job of housing or helping them has been accomplished. Many people think that educating them consists of pushing them toward attending college and while higher education is an admirable thing, they tend to forget that many people don’t even have the basics skills of getting along with others and maintaining a livable home. To forget about those abilities that we automatically assume everyone has is to set up a situation that is doomed to failure. Being homeless should never happen in a civilized society but it does because there are so many uncivilized people in every socioeconomic sector. I wish it were not so, but the truth is that almost every example of inequality here is that too many people just do not want to get along and they do not want to share and they do not want to take care of anything, not even the planet, let alone each other. Do not assign the blame to any group or individual other than anyone who does not understand that the bottom line of everything that is wrong is an issue of don’t give a damn at every level.

Giving a damn is a much more complex task than we really want to tackle. It requires understanding where those we wish to help came from. This mentality has its roots in the distant past and it is a problem that we have half-assed it on for so long that fixing it now falls upon a highly narcissistic and elitist society that doesn’t want to bother with anything that won’t benefit the much better off individuals that prefer to amuse themselves with multi-million-dollar toys, glorifying publicity, and hoarding their wealth. We have allowed them to stay children and have demanded little responsibility from them. This is a problem that needs to be addressed before we can adequately address the fallout that is a result of breeding people who have “Affluenza” and we are oblivious and cannot be bothered to enforce the cure for it. It is a disease that has become an epidemic and is considered to be quite fashionable in too many circles.