Underlying Issues Challenge Serving Homeless Population

Ben Osborn, Quality Assurance Officer (left), spends time coaching, mentoring and training new tier, Dawn Brown. At St. Paul's Community Outreach, 4427 Franklin Blvd., in Ohio City, Cleveland, Ohio.

As Ohio City Power assists the homeless population in getting back to the workforce, a December 2012 article on the Internet help accentuate some of the considerations to remember when serving the homeless population.

Recently a story from the New York Times went viral about a homeless man who was given a $100 pair of boots by a Police Officer after he was seen barefoot outside on a very cold night.

• Homeless Man Is Grateful for Officer’s Gift of Boots. But He Again Is Barefoot.

It turns out the man, Jeffrey Hillman, was not homeless, but has an apartment paid for by vouchers, social security and veterans benefits. 

• Jeffrey Hillman, Barefoot 'Homeless' NY Man, Reportedly Has 30 Pairs Of Shoes, Spotted With Cash Wad: New York Post (VIDEO)

This, however, still brings attention to those suffering in the cold, the reasons for it and what can be done. Many others are still there in the cold, like Mr. Hillman was.

Some people wonder how people even survive outside on a cold Northern winter night. The homeless are a segment of the population Ohio City Power is proud to serve and support.

The following are some of considerations in helping the homeless, using this barefoot man in the cold as an example:

• Homelessness can negatively affect a person’s self-worth in a number of ways.

• Things could be at work here, such as pride, underlying fear or basic human emotions.

People generally do not like to think of themselves as “homeless”. In this society people have certain assumptions about the homeless, such as they are lazy or it is their own fault, and blame is often attached.

When Mr. Hillman was asked how he ended up homeless, he stared blankly, paused and said “I don’t know.” Pride could keep people in this situation from answering the question directly. Being homeless can take a mental toll, in addition to taking a physical toll.

A basic human emotion is to feel appreciated in some way and the absence of this can lead to a variety of problems. For some it is easier to hide from their problems than to face them.

• The homeless are human and might not like to admit they have underlying problems.

One comment he made was “I could lose my life”. This underlying fear contributed to him being found shoeless in the cold again, after being given boots!

• Another issue faced by the homeless is that middle-aged men in this society are expected to be able to provide for themselves. For some, the shame is too much to try to face people. 

One woman had said she bought him a pair of shoes a year ago. To be in the cold barefoot again indicates some sort of problem. It is possible he sold them for something like drugs, in which case there would be another underlying problem.

It is important to remember that some, even a Veteran like himself, are in these kinds of situations every day in cities all across America.

• Another possibility for being homeless, mental illness, is another issue that could be hard to for some people to deal with. People do not like to think of themselves in this way, even if they did not cause it. 

When these problems add up with other problems it is often too late to try to regroup their lives, and homelessness results. The question, then, is where do you get assistance?

If someone in the Cleveland area thinks assistance could be useful please contact 211, which is United Way’s First Call For Help, and they can inform you of where to get help.

Deep down many people naturally would like to help those they think really need help. There is a perception of people holding out cups as con artists who don’t really need the help and unfortunately, this has probably always been part of the population. People generally aren’t quick to help in that scenario. People in that case would blame Mr. Hillman for being in that situation.

However, for some people there is an empathy that thinks, what if this were them? Thinking of yourself when you were that cold could make you want to help someone else in that situation.

The article does not give details about the Police Officer, but this tells you there are people somewhere who look out for others when conditions are unfavorable. It leads you to wonder how many other times this happens on a typical night that people do not hear about.

Ohio City Power would also like to help those who are homeless and looking for guidance back into the workforce, for whatever reason.

- Written by Albert Wagner, Operations Manager, Ohio City Power; Edited and Published by Betsey Merkel

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