Army of Light
Rattata
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The media rheoretic I have seen elsewhere comparing unhoused people to vermin has been unhelpful at anything other than justifying police brutality and raids on encampments taking away what few gains these people have had at saving up enough assets to get housing.
The only thing that separates the houseless from the housed is one bad day. In my case, I became homeless 3 separate times. The first was fleeing a violent relationship during Illinois's budget impasse caused by Rauner. There was no shelter available. The second was a fire caused by my criminal landlord. The third time was getting screwed by my former roommate who spent 5 months not paying his share of the rent and never being notified of a discrepancy.
So much of the media coverage on the issue of homelessness has centered on homeowners whose land values are being lowered but honestly, my concern is with those who don't even have houses at all like I didn't used to. Landowners and landlords are secure at least in having a place to live. I'm sorry it's inconvenient that our suffering has lowered your property values.
I mean I'm really sorry that you're in your car, with air conditioning and security, and space for your property and someone is in the way because they're begging for change in the middle of the intersection. I'm sorry about that inconvenience. But instead of blaming him maybe look at the factors that contribute to the lack of affordable housing and the way workers are underpaid, traumatized, and exploited by landlords. I'm sorry that some so called "bums" are crazy or violent but look at the violence inherent in evictions.
