View this post on the web at [link removed]

The other day I was at dinner and after the obligatory “what do you do?” questions (which I actually love, but probably only because I love talking about my work and am going to do so whether you ask me to or not) the woman next to me said “I’ve always heard that homeless people want to be homeless”.
You will be relieved to hear that I did not throw my drink at her. But I wanted to.
I will never understand how anyone can witness human beings sleeping in the streets, panhandling for food, suffering in the elements, and think that they must want to live that way. Except, in a way I do understand. As a black woman, a lot of people have said pretty dehumanizing things to me in my lifetime, a constant reminder that there are people who look at other people and don’t see full people.
IDs for Life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Whether this willful dehumanization stems from ignorance, arrogance, or a deep lack of self worth I couldn’t say. What I can say is that I have heard enough comments like unhoused folks should “just be put somewhere”, or "shouldn’t have to be seen on my Starbucks run”, or simply “gross me out” to be constantly reminded of three things:
The caste system in America is alive and well.
America has never been a classless society but as inequality deepens and homelessness and poverty become generationally entrenched across the country, we are settling into an uncomfortable caste system, in which the untouchables raise their children in tents on the sidewalks while the modern aristocracy vacation on yachts that have garages for tiny yachts and everyone in between struggles while doing their best to look like they are in a higher caste than they actually are.
Most people do not realize that they are one to two accidents away from being unhoused.
We all have heard the news that two out of three Americans can not comfortably cover a $400 emergency. Over the next few months, all of the
COVID protections that have been saving American families- the student loan freeze, child care funding, increased work requirements for food assistance, reduced Medicaid- will run out at around the same time, as inflation continues to stay high and jobs are harder and harder to procure, no matter what the economists say, and rent just keeps getting too damn higher. We are all so close to losing everything, it would be good to remember that when we judge those who already have.
Compassion on a micro scale helps us have compassion on a macro scale.
It is difficult, when homelessness seems to be an overwhelming and unfixable problem, to turn our wrath from the politicians, the economy, capitalism, etc. to the victims. The politicians, after all, are not sleeping on our sidewalks and taking up our park benches. From a bird’s eye view, the problem looks insurmountable, and exhausting. But time after time I see that when we get to know each other as humans- when, for instance, our volunteers help someone get an ID for the first time, hearing their stories and connecting with them as individuals, the scales fall off of their eyes and they see that each person in this mass of humanity has a story. They see that they matter. It is so important for us to look at each unhoused person as an individual, and not an anonymous face among thousands.
Nobody wants to be homeless. There are reasons that people may prefer to be on the streets than in a shelter, which I can delineate in another email but suffice it to say that they are not always pleasant places to be. But everyone wants a safe place to sleep at night, a place to store their belongings, hang a picture, watch the game, invite some friends over. It’s so basic, something that most of us take for granted. But for so many, it is the biggest dream of their lives. The fact that they don’t have it is not something to look down on, it’s something that should motivate us to find a better way.
-Kat
Spread The Vote + Project ID is having a tough summer- demand is high and we are trying to keep up! Please consider donating to help us help our clients during this heatwave!

Unsubscribe [link removed]?