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# Humanizing the homeless
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/humanizing-the-homeless-editor/
- Published: 2006-04-05T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:29:28.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Community, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless, Homelessness

*By Lisa Fisher Director, Westside Shelter & Hunger Coalition/SPN Santa Monica*

“They’re just bums” or “The homeless are the problem.” We hear more of these statements as the crisis of homelessness takes on greater proportions in our communities. But can we relegate a segment of our population to this simplistic description? Who makes up the group we call the “homeless‚” anyway?

Studies by the National Coalition for the Homeless indicate homelessness affects a diverse cross-section of our population. The majority are single men, but the number of homeless families with children has increased significantly over the past decade and comprises 40 percent of the total. Nearly the same percentage are children under the age of 18\. Half of the homeless population are African-American and approximately 23 percent suffers from some form of severe and persistent mental illness. Why are people homeless? Poverty is the driving force, coupled with the following: a lack of affordable housing, eroding work opportunities, lack of affordable healthcare, mental illness, substance abuse, domestic violence and HIV/AIDS. Many people are forced to choose between food, shelter and other basic needs. Interestingly, as high as 25 percent of people who are homeless are employed. The notion that these “bums” are lazy and refusing to work is archaic, disputed by the facts and complexity of the issue.

It’s easy to react to the demonstrative byproducts of homelessness, i.e. sleeping in public places, aggressive panhandling for money, urinating and defecating in alleys. No one wants to be exposed to this. But it’s a false assumption to attribute these problems to all people who are homeless, given the diversity of the population. Many are working to improve their situation, and most do not violate the law.

People who become homeless do not fit one general description. It’s no more appropriate to ascribe common traits and descriptors to “the homeless” than it would be to race, religion or gender. While people experiencing homelessness do have certain shared basic needs, they are too diverse to be reduced to a single descriptive term.

We must find ways to reduce the contributing factors to homelessness. We must endeavor to make more housing available to those in need and create more job opportunities so that people can become self-sufficient in our society. We can take a step in this direction by recognizing the diversity of the population of people who are homeless. Let’s take a cue from our growth in the area of race relations and establish “the homeless” as a negative epithet inappropriate for society, a pejorative term that diminishes and no longer applies. Let’s just call them people and find ways to help.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 5, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/040506.pdf?ref=smdp.com)