22 points of view: Homeless bloggers speak out

Once a year, at Christmastime, housed people give homeless people a little more thought-- and a little more charity-- than usual.

As appreciated as that charity is, the end of December and the beginning of the New Year is sometimes bitter and sometimes sweet for homeless people and their closest allies.

On or near the longest night of the year, cities and towns around the country commemorate the lives of homeless people who have died. The Nashville Homeless Power Project lost one of their own leaders this year so their memorial on Dec. 13 was especially poignant. The New Hampshire Under the Bridge Project has a list of people who have died in New Hampshire every year since 1994. This year's list has 36 names.

Many homeless groups are organizing and fighting back against community antipathy. In Sacramento CA, the People Project reports on a Deccmber 23rd march organized by the homeless themselves against discriminatory laws that make their lives miserable. Take Back the Land in Miami, FL is reveling in some good publicity about their movement, has been liberating public and foreclosed land and homes since 2006. The 13th Juror reports on a lawsuit filed in Laguna Beach CA charging the city with a campaign of harassment against homeless people. Ordinances prohibit homeless people from sleeping out anywhere within the city yet Laguna Beach only provides an overnight shelter between december and March. Save Feral Human Habitat is supporting an effort by the homeless and advocates to seek an extension to the city's planned January 23rd ordinance forbidding the city's homeless from sleeping out on the grounds they have nowhere else to go. Victoria BC,'s A Room of My Own is posting the minutes of organizing meetings to get a tent city established. But in the tradition of "One step forward, one step back," Chosen Fast lambasts Des Moines IO's destruction of wooden huts built by Hope Builders and the homeless themselves, because one of the huts was slightly damaged by fire.

Again, this time of year, homeless blogs pull their thoughts together to think about the policy-- and lack of policy-- that affects homelessness. Diane Nelin at Invisible Homeless Kids discusses a new report on the increase in child and youth homelessness. Wandering Vets has the 2nd part of an in-depth look at homeless veterans. SLO Homeless has a painful look at increasing family homelessness. The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty analyzes how Ontario's government "has led the way in the deterioration of income adequacy for people on assistance. "

Is passing out $13,000 in $10 bills to residents of LA's Skid Row doing people any good? Joel John Roberts at LA's Homeless Blog doesn't think so, and he explains why. Tim Harris at Apesma's Lament remarks on how policymakers just have to stay positive about the progress being made to end homelessness, even when they have to stretch the truth, and the Homeless Family's Blog isn't buying the line that homelessness is decreasing, either.

Last but not least, this is at least one time of the year when homeless people allow themselves to wax philosophical about the ending of the old and the beginning of the new. At The Adventures of Homeless Girl, the author thinks about the pursuit of happiness and what it takes to catch it. Kevin Barbieux at The Homeless Guy is not feeling too good about his life these days. Jamie's Big Voice from London has a poem to share, as does an anonymous author at Stone Soup Station. Ryan Garou at On Homelessness in America looks at an article about how to democratize powerwhile Homeless in Abbotsford BC explores the idea of generosity. Finally, the author of Homeless Man Speaks posts the plain words of his homeless friends and paints a picture with them.
Please take the time to learn something directly from homeless people by visiting these incredible blogs. Remember that thoughtful comments are always appreciated. It means somebody is listening.

Photos: Tony shoveling snow from Homeless Man Speaks; mourners from Nashville Homeless Power.

When will Victoria's homeless finally get a break?

Victoria's Mayor-Elect Dean Fortin says that his landslide election, along with six others on a green and progressive slate of nine, shows is a clear mandate to get moving to tackle homeless and environmental issues in Victoria. He wants housing solutions for homeless people and those at risk. Janine Bandcroft at A Room of My Own doesn't feel very positive about his election, though, and says that only two of the councilors elected support a Dignity Village-style community as part of the solution, a solution that homeless people themselves favor.

One piece of good news for Victoria is the recent ruling by Judge Ross in support of homeless people's right to shelter themselves if the city fails to do so. You can read her ruling here.

A new mayor takes over in Vancouver, also, who is making a similar pledge about homelessness. Vancouver is particularly cash-strapped right now because the cost of security for the 2010 Olympics which Vancouver is hosting keeps on mounting. David Eby's blog has been tracking the impact of the Olympics on housing and homelessness.homelessness and security.

Graphic from StreetNewz, Victoria's street paper.

Not everyone can walk their way out of hunger

For every mile you walk, you burn about 250 calories. How much do North Koreans take that into account as they attempt to walk into South Korea and China? Surely they are aware of the shoot-to-kill orders issued to North Korean border guards. On the Chinese side of the border, Chinese border guards invade the homes of ethnic Koreans living in China who may be harboring refugees from starvation.

Biofuels, increased food demand in developing countries and the high cost of fuel are taking the blame for the current world crisis but there are many reasons more people are hungry right now.

Global warming may very well bear the blame for the cyclone that destroyed 65% of Myanmar's rice fields. That same area is responsible for 50% of its poultry and pork production and 85% of its aquaculture.

Global warming is definitely one of the factors responsible for the salmon shortage that is leaving the Stellat'en people in British Columbia with only one salmon for every twenty-five people, not enough to meet their caloric needs. Warmer waters mean fewer salmon spawn. The salmon shortage has involved the region in difficult discussions over catch-sharing and fishing practices. The Tyee.

The 1,100 inhabitants of Christmas island shouldn't be hungry, but the company the island contracts with to deliver food hasn't made a delivery since January. Planes fly over from Australia once a week with small amounts of fresh produce; lettuce is selling for $11 a head.

While the U.S. may be coming to think of the typical Indian as working in a call center, India still has more poor people-- some 600 million-- than any country on earth. Yet farmers are abandoning their farmland and rice fields because they cannot recoup the cost of seeds, fertilizer and pesticides, much of it a result of patented seeds from multinationals like Monsanto, which forbids farmers saving seeds from one harvest to the next. More than 36,000 farmers have committed suicide in the years from 1997 to 2006, the last year for which statistics are available.

Other people around the world are still (and increasingly) dealing with the shortage of rice and the cost of food, exacerbated in many places by poverty and unstable governments. Boarding schools in Zimbabwe are so short of food they are asking students to bring their own groceries. The Ugandan government said this week that increasing competition for scarce food supplies in Kenya and Sudan are leading to shortages in Uganda, also.

Finally, a full belly is one of the first casualties of war. 130,000 Iraqi refugees in Syria received subsidized food aid last month, but the U.N. agency that provides the food is running out of money.

Solutions to hunger exist, but the longer we wait, the more difficult it will become.

Death comes more often for homeless people

If you are homeless in the U.S. and Canada, depending on what city "live" in, you are 2 to 8 times more likely to die than your housed neighbors. Untreated illness, drugs and violence stalk you. Sometimes you fall asleep and just don't wake up

That's what happened to Ken Blackburn, 59, Springfield, Missouri, who was found dead Saturday in a small homeless encampment. The medical examiner ruled he died of "natural causes." Mary Ann Morgan, 61, was found dead in an alley in Palo Alto, California after a long struggle with alcoholism. The cause of her death was undetermined.

In Richmond, California, Jimmy Carter and his buddies were standing outside a church on March 30 waiting for breakfast and Bible study when they were caught in cross-fire between two shooters and Jimmy was killed. A week earlier, a homeless man was shot and killed while riding a bicycle but police don't believe there's a connection between the deaths. In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, two as yet unidentified men presumed to be homeless, one white and one black, were found shot to death in an alley near the Grace Rescue Mission. In Calgary, Alberta, an unnamed homeless man was beaten to death following a fight over $20 of rock cocaine.

An inquiry into the death of Frank Paul in 1998 is finally taking place in Vancouver, British Columbia. Mr. Paul was arrested for being drunk but then not allowed into the jail. A police officer -- helped him walk, the officer said; dragged him, the evidence implies-- to an alley where he was found dead several hours later.

Rarely any photos; rarely any flowers.

Photo: friends grieving, Holly Pickett, The Spokesman-Review