shelbycourtland

Wherever I will sleep tonight,
I’ll get another bedbug bite.
No comfort shall I know,
in cots, row after row.

No peaceful dreams for me.
No cocoa, no hot tea.
Just a smelly, creaking cot
and the scent of fungus rot.

“Who’d want this life?” I wonder.
And everyday, I sit and ponder.
How much longer can I last?
Will this ever be my past?

All they say is, “move along!”
When I rest, I’m in the wrong.
I know for me, there is somewhere.
But right now, I live nowhere.

My bed is on my back.
Or in another homeless ‘shack’.
I guess I can’t complain.
I’m not in the pouring rain.

I bow my head in shame,
since they think I am to blame.
Some of us do drugs and drink.
We can’t help it if we stink.

Sometimes, the shelter’s full.
Don’t they know I’ve got no…

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What Ever Happened To…? Former Basketball Player Hits Hard Times.

Ten year basketball vet Ray Williams becomes homeless:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/04/former-celtic-ray-william_n_635218.html

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/The-sad-tale-of-Ray-Williams-10-year-NBA-vet-no?urn=nba,253262

He looks like an everyday Joe, except for the duct tape holding his shoes together. Good luck brother. Hope you found some help. — T.J.

Good Read

http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/blog/entry/the-right-to-shelter-and-proven-solutions-to-the-problem-of-homelessness/#.UT0NjKe2LpI.wordpress

A very sad story about how a hero was treated after losing everything and becoming homeless.

shelbycourtland

I was finally getting myself established in my new home in a brand new city, knowing no one. For Christmas I had purchased a stereo system and had finally gotten a dinette table(someone had left chairs in the apartment before vacating it). I was listening to music and enjoying the fact that I was caught up on my rent and had paid the electric bill in full. I had just turned the heat off because it had gotten hot, however, I started to smell smoke and then to actually see it wafting through the apartment. I was not sure what was going on. I couldn’t cook and had already eaten my take-out, so it wasn’t coming from my apartment. It started getting thicker and I followed the smoke to my door. When I opened my door, thick smoke engulfed me. I thought, “oh God no!! We’re on fire in here!”…

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Interesting viewpoint here.

domeconnector's Blog

Building simple,safe housing is the solution to the Earth’sHomeless blight. After years as a Contractor,I have realized that the Public are hood winked by our Regulatory agencies to do what a select few have construed as the “only” way. This makes the agency’s implemented laws the Only way.
Alternatively,that’s not always the best way!
Housing units are deemed “allowed” aka permitted based on a bunch of factors. The most is for financial gain of a select few:
#1 you (the owner)
#2 bank (they make 3x the amount you borrowed over the life of the mortgage)
#3 tax collector (the commission of valued homes value)
#4 realtors. (higher values = larger commissions)
#5 mortgage brokers higher values =”higher tips”
. Across the US the housing bubble has burst and tens of thousands of Families and individuals have lost their homes to price gouging.
Some of these folks are living…

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Anger Issues and the Homeless

Got some great information that I thought I would pass on about resolving losses and the self-protective shield that many homeless people put around themselves as a way to avoid “loss-threatening circumstances or events.”

First we must understand there are many types of losses:

Relational Losses (ie. deaths, divorces, abandonment, etc.); Physical Losses (ie. health problems, bankruptcy, natural disasters, etc.); Emotional Losses (ie. abuse, traumatic experiences, etc.); Sexual Losses (ie. sexual abuse, surgery, etc.); Spiritual Losses (these occur with all abuses); Existential Losses (ie. loss of a sense of security or purpose, etc.)

Experiencing many losses in life causes us to lose hope. When these losses go unresolved, they may lead to feelings of rage. The rage is used as a self-protective shield to avoid more losses and is evidence that we have lost hope (in ourselves, the system, authority, etc.) This loss of hope leads to self-defeating behavior.

In a homeless person, this leads to self sabotaging (others efforts to help) in an attempt to keep the rage and resentment alive and avoid hope that may lead to soul crushing disappointments.

The book Faces of Rage by David Damico 1992 talks more about the subject in general.

Related articles

• British Film Maker David Sargant Looks to Indiegogo to Fund Homeless London Documentary (prweb.com)
• Eva’s Village provides case management to homeless and working poor who come to their soup kitchen. (prweb.com)
• Project Homeless Connect provides various services for Birmingham’s homeless population (photos) (al.com)
• Homeless Veteran Cited for Dumpster Diving (praiserichmond.com)
• The Right to Shelter and Proven Solutions to the Problem of Homelessness | Coalition for the Homeless (donnareevesblog.wordpress.com)
• “Don’t Walk By” Volunteers Walk Every Block of Manhattan to Help Homeless During Winter’s Coldest Days (prweb.com)
• A Homeless Man in an Armani Suit (fierceisthenewpink.wordpress.com)
• Homeless write love letters to New Orleans in ‘Sincerely, Homeless’ television spots (wgno.com)