Florida’s Work to End Homelessness
By Rupal Ramesh Shah Florida’s homeless population, as of 2018, was 31,030 or 6% of the total state population. With a homeless population that large, different organizations have developed across Florida — state and private — to help solve this problem of housing, hunger and safety over the years. One of those organizations is the Central Florida Commission on Homelessness, of which acting
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The Grey Limits of Homelessness
By Andrew Fraieli At what point does being homeless become homelessness? Federal law has a definition, and states have varying ones as well, but it’s not as simple as that. Living in a car, for example, is not considered a first choice, it’s usually done from necessity. Van life, on the other hand, is the opposite — with vans purposely and painstakingly transformed into
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The Furniture Store that Feeds the Homeless
By Andrew Fraieli Everyday there is food wasted by large businesses, thrown away because boxes are damaged or they’re close to their expiry dates, and everyday people go to sleep hungry who could benefit from this wasted food. Today, there is one more solution to this in the world, the Rose K. Boatwright Food Pantry. Created a year and a half ago in
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The Policies and Laws of Florida Cities
By Kristen Grau If you’re homeless in Jacksonville, the city will provide you showers, food and mental health counseling. But if you’re homeless in West Palm Beach, the city will blast incessant children’s music to drive you away. When it comes to being homeless in Florida, you might have a drastically different experience depending on which city you reside in; some cities have more
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The Many Laws of Florida’s Panhandling
By Maria Mor We either scramble for our bag in search of a couple dollar bills trying to beat the traffic light, or we lock our car doors and quickly avoid eye contact. Maybe we make a snarky comment about the beggar looking for some loose change; possibly, we send them prayers of hope and good faith. However, how often do we sit in
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The Word for Homeless
By Andrew Fraieli The word “homeless” holds onto its negative connotation like the people using it hold onto their purses, and their line of sight. Or rather, the word “homeless” has its derogatory connotation thrust upon it like the expectations given to them by the passersby. “Homeless” is used in common day-to-day language to describe what’s seen as a drunk/crazy/druggie/dirty/lazy bum on the sidewalk
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The Homeless Woman’s Monthly Struggle: Periods
By Brett Lowenstein Homeless women around the country have more worries than simply lacking food and shelter; every month they have to repeat the same stress of getting the right materials necessary to stay clean and comfortable during their periods. Women in the streets generally have no access to proper pads and tampons, the lack of which can lead to infections and disease. However,
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A Home for Everyone: The Veterans Inn
By Rupal Ramesh Shah We can put a man on the moon. We can blast a bomb 5,000 miles away from us and hit our target the size of a postage stamp, yet we cannot figure out how to put a roof on everyone’s head in America,” said Sean Cononie. With this thought, Cononie — head of the COSAC Foundation — started the Veterans
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Hostile Architecture: The Indirect Public Fight on the Homeless
By Andrew Fraieli Defensive architecture; hostile architecture; anti-homeless spike; bum-proof benches; urban planning; well-being; right to public space. These are the keywords in a research paper debating the ethics of architecture in public spaces that “exclude ‘unwanted’ behaviors and people.” Unwanted behaviors like skateboarders roughing up ledges, and unwanted people like the homeless sleeping in public places; public property being used by the
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The Dark Days Aren’t Over
By Andrew Fraieli A documentary of the homeless in 1990s New York tried to bring attention to housing issues that still persist today. The Broken On August 30, 2000 the documentary “Dark Days” was released. It begins with the bangs and whistles of an Amtrak train leaving the station, then flatly cuts to a man walking down a dark road. Jumping back to
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