Return ticket: How homeless people return to society
Dmitry Kurkin
Laundry project for the homelesswhich the St. Petersburg charitable organization Nochlezhka planned to open near the Dynamo metro station in Moscow, was met with an aggressive protest from the activists of the Savyolovsky district. A sad, though somewhat predictable reaction once again shows that in Russia the loss of a place of permanent residence is still perceived as a one-way ticket: many still do not believe that homeless people can again become full-fledged members of society - even when organizations appear ready to help them with this.
Homeless people can be demonized as people with alcohol or drug addiction, mental disorders, as carriers of dangerous infections and potential criminals. But just such an attitude towards them precludes any chance of a return to normal life and ultimately pushes for antisocial behavior. Vicious circle. Nevertheless, there are many social integration programs for the homeless in the world (or, more precisely, reintegration: people almost always get thrown into the streets, not born).
Social adaptation of the homeless is a complex, multi-step process, and the provision of basic things - a roof over your head, food, medical care is a necessary, but only the first step. The principle “Do you want to feed the hungry - do not give him fish, give him a fishing rod” (which is given for Jewish proverb, or for a quote from Lao Tzu, although its author, apparently, was Anna Isabella Thackeray) in this case more than is fair. It is important to save a person from starvation or frostbite, but research shows that this alone is not enough for a full return to society.
Even the most elementary employment, which brings legal income, can play a crucial role in social integration. On the one hand, it helps the homeless again to feel like a sought after, necessary, useful person; on the other hand, it partly relieves its marginal stigma in the eyes of other people.
A simple example is the British newspaper The Big Issue: retail publications, which publish exclusive interviews and columns of famous authors, are homeless who have previously undergone a training course. This approach, though not conducive to comprehensive rehabilitation, ensures the involvement of not a dozen, but hundreds of homeless people. And although The Big Issue is often criticized for being too glossy, the other social media publishers have adopted the proposed model of social business.
Many charitable organizations that work with homeless people convincingly ask not to give alms on the streets: begging is just the kind of occupation that volunteers try to wean people who are in trouble. Similarly, the employment of former homeless people should not be like alms - and many social reintegration funds keep this in mind. For example, Accueil Bonneau, an organization with over 100 years of experience helping homeless people, gained the support of French apiaries in 2014 and now teaches its wards the basics of beekeeping.
Returning to the "big world" can be fraught with great stress: weeks and months of vagrancy strongly affect both communication skills and self-esteem
Although work for the homeless most often means low-skilled physical labor, there are quite a few programs whose curators manage to arrange their wards for positions that bring in a very decent income. Among them is the organization Code Tenderloin (named Tenderloin, a San Francisco area with a traditionally high percentage of homeless), which conducts programming training among local homeless people. Acquired skills turn out to be the most appropriate way: Silicon Valley with the offices of many high-tech giants is located in the neighborhood. Working in a tech support service or developing software can bring a six-figure dollar salary to yesterday's homeless person.
Another important element of integration is direct socialization. A homeless person is an outcast person, overwhelmed by a sense of shame, and returning to the “big world” for him or her can be fraught with great stress: weeks and months of vagrancy strongly affect both communication skills and self-esteem. Special attention to this was paid to the organization Business Action on Homelessness (BAOH), which not only finds work for its wards, but also deals with their psychological preparation. Its adaptation scheme assumes that, going on an internship (for example, a sales assistant in the Marks & Spencer chain of stores), each protege of the organization receives a more experienced employee as a partner.
Practice shows that the psychological adaptation of the former homeless may be delayed and support is needed even for those who, it would seem, have already returned to normal life. The same BAOH reported cases when their wards left the new job after six months: “They got a job, they were integrated into the work environment, but when they came home, they felt as socially isolated as they used to be when they lived in shelters. "
Attitude towards homeless people as hopelessly lost is difficult to change overnight. And even those who returned to society can still be haunted by fear - the fear of being back on the street. That is why any initiative of social reintegration is so important, any example confirming that the status of “without a specific place of residence” does not mean complete and irreversible dehumanization. That is why it is important to remember that any of us may be on the street.
Cover:Xavier MARCHANT - stock.adobe.com, Michalis Palis - stock.adobe.com