From Jamie’s Big Voice (UK):
“…I think I understand more than most the plight of homeless people after they have a home. getting A flat or some kind of accommodation is only part of the battle. The battle to break the habit of homelessness it’s self is the toughest. It doesn’t matter how good you are at keeping a flat clean and tidy or that you have food. It’s this thing that the streets brings you I suppose you could call it the survival instinct you don’t want to lose it so you keep going back to the streets because that’s what you know so well…”
I’ve seen this in my friends. It baffles me. Saddens me. It’s real.
The streets are also where their friends are. Once they are in a “home” they are alone and loneliness sets in big time. On the streets they are with others like themselves and can talk to people or just watch life go by.
I found I could only help men get off the streets when I got them a job so they were out and about during the day. I never succeeded in getting a woman off the streets after she had been there more than a years or so.
Of course my experiences were so very limited, like in a dozen or so in all because I was only a part time volunteer at different times in my life. I never made it my mission. Just did something when I saw a need and the solution was readily available. BB
Brenda, I agree that after people get housing, they need something to do with their time, whether that’s a job, volunteer work, school, hobby, etc. One of my friends gave me a list of things that every homeless person needs, and it applies to formerly homeless people (and the rest of us), too:
http://chosenfast.com/2008/04/01/what-every-homeless-person-needs/