Homelessness Myths, Misconceptions, and Stereotypes
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Stereotypes of Homeless People Harm the Homeless
For many years I worked with homeless people in shelters and soup kitchens. I also worked in literacy and skill-teaching programs for homeless and nearly homeless people. I was homeless myself many years ago. I've also taken many homeless teens and young adults into my home over the years. From these experiences I have learned a lot about homeless people and a lot about what average Americans think about homeless people.
There is a perception of homeless people in our society that is created and held up by a vast collection of myths and assumptions, most of which are wrong. These myths and stereotypes of homeless people are dangerous and they seriously interfere with attempts to help them.
Myths about homeless people are so ingrained into our society that even people who are trying to help homeless people may believe some of them. Many of these stereotypes of homeless people make people who would otherwise want to help unwilling to help. Here are just a few of those myths, misconceptions, stereotypes and assumptions about homeless people.
Photo by Emiliano Spada
There is a perception of homeless people in our society that is created and held up by a vast collection of myths and assumptions, most of which are wrong. These myths and stereotypes of homeless people are dangerous and they seriously interfere with attempts to help them.
Myths about homeless people are so ingrained into our society that even people who are trying to help homeless people may believe some of them. Many of these stereotypes of homeless people make people who would otherwise want to help unwilling to help. Here are just a few of those myths, misconceptions, stereotypes and assumptions about homeless people.
Photo by Emiliano Spada
Contents at a Glance
Stereotype: Homeless People Are All Drug Addicts and Winos
One of the most common stereotypes of homeless people
Many homeless people are neither drug addicts nor alcoholics. While close to half of adult homeless people currently struggle with addictions or have struggled with addictions in the past many homeless people don't have and have not had a drug or alcohol problem.This is a harmful homeless stereotype because it closes many doors for homeless people. Employers and landlords that believe this are unlikely to hire or rent to homeless people. Even some homeless shelters are hampered by this misconception. Some homeless shelters require substance abuse counseling for all who use their services, even those without addictions, taking up valuable time that homeless people could use to seek employment or to work odd jobs.
Fact: Many Women and Children are Homeless
Forget about the stereotype that all homeless people are drug addicted criminals. Most homeless people are normal, decent people like Cecilia and her children.
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Stereotype: Homeless People Are All Criminals
One of the most dangerous stereotypes of homeless people
Most homeless people are not criminals and many of those who are technically criminals have only committed what are called status crimes. Status crimes include getting arrested for loitering, sleeping in public, or trespassing. Those are called status crimes because they are things impossible to avoid doing if one does not have a home.This stereotype is one of the most harmful stereotypes of homeless people because it creates an unreasonable fear of homeless people. It makes many who would probably help homeless people afraid to do so. It prevents homeless people from getting hired or from renting a place to live. This homeless stereotype also makes it difficult for charitable organizations to open or expand homeless shelters due to objections from nearby residents.
Homelessness Stereotypes in the News
- Blockbuster director turns his lens on homelessness
- From hearing his stories and watching the finished product, I learned (or rather had confirmed) that local movie stereotypes of the homeless as lovable eccentrics or pathetic losers didn't fit the complex reality. Outdoor types: Homeless but determined ...
- Lone Sellwood parking spot for homeless may stir up City Hall
- "I think we've all been somewhat surprised by how many stereotypes about homeless people have become unleashed in this debate," said City Commissioner Nick Fish, who led the effort to get the program passed. "I'm not critical of people for having their ...
- This friend of homeless out to find solutions
- ?It's very costly if they're relying on emergency systems.? Part of what Grier wants to accomplish is to dispel stereotypes about why people become homeless. ?With the majority of homeless, very few are panhandlers,? says Grier.
- Homeless youth have options on the Westside
- According to the homeless youth of the Westside, they are not offended by such accusations of criminal behavior or stereotypes that portray them as social nuisances. "I feel like in a way though, that I can relate to these people out here, ...
Stereotype: Homeless People Are All Mentally Ill
This stereotype of homeless people is dangerous because it, again, creates fear and leads to suggestions that homeless people be rounded up and institutionalized instead of helped.
Stereotype: Homeless People Are All Too Lazy to Work
Perhaps number one of the homeless stereotypes
Those homeless people well enough and young enough to work have many high barriers to employment. They may be putting in a dozen applications a day but never get a bite due to the commonly held stereotypes about homeless people.
Why "Hey, Buddy, Get A Job!" Is an Ignorant Thing to Say
Misconception: Homelessness is Always the Result of Poor Choices
Since many people become homeless due to disability, illness or injury, mental illness, learning disability or other mental impairment, parental abandonment, old age, and corporate downsizing the answer to this myth is a definitive no. No one chooses to become disabled, sick or injured. No one chooses to become mentally ill or to be born learning disabled. No one chooses to be born to abusive or dogmatic parents. No one chooses to lose a job through corporate downsizing.Here's a sobering thought for you - about 1.5 million of America's homeless population are children. Do you think they made bad choices?
Misconception: If a Teen Gets Kicked Out It's Always His Own Fault and He Deserves Homelessness
Many homeless teens have been discarded by their parents and for the most appalling reasons. Yes, some teens get kicked out for out-of-control behavior such as drug abuse and criminal activities but their numbers are relatively small.As many as a quarter of homosexual teens in America will be kicked out when their parents or guardians discover their sexual orientation. Sometimes teens are kicked out on the mere suspicion of a non-heterosexual orientation. Homosexual and bisexual teens account for up to 40% of the teen homeless population. Another group of teens particularly at risk of parental ejection are transgender teens.
Other reasons parents give for ejecting teens from the home include suspected pre-marital sex, poor performance in school, teen pregnancy, and contact with a non-custodial parent. For others, expulsion from the home is just an extension of child abuse and domestic violence. In my experience, many teens are not so much kicked out as abandoned. The parents or parent leave the home, never to return.
Myth: Homelessness is Freedom and a Life of Leisure
One of the stranger stereotypes of homeless people
Many people seem to think that being homeless is the result of a choice to be free from the pressures of a nine-to-five job and the stress of paying bills. Many homeless people still work and pay bills with the added stresses of humiliation, fear of violence, and worries about where to sleep at night. Even those homeless men, women, and children who don't work or pay bills feel the stresses of insecurity, sleep deprivation, lack of cleanliness, and the ever present danger of violence.Homeless people are constantly on the move, getting rousted by police or threatened by civilians. They don't get to participate in the leisure activities that homed people do. If you see a homeless person sleeping on a lawn looking peaceful it doesn't mean it's like he's on vacation. He's just getting a few minutes or hours of sleep and has nowhere else to do it.
Homelessness is not a carefree existence, it is a miserable one.
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What Myths, Misconceptions, or Stereotypes Have You Heard About Homeless People?
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mcs06278
May 23, 2012 @ 9:52 pm | delete
- Thanks for exposing these myths of homeless people. I'm very close to someone who was homeless and believe me, it's not a choice you'd make if you had better alternatives.
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survivoryea
May 20, 2012 @ 9:31 am | delete
- When my daughter was in college in Philly she worked at the homeless shelters tutoring the children, most were good people who were down on their luck-terrific lens that will maybe open some eyes to the problems ~blessed~
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davespeed
Apr 27, 2012 @ 11:09 pm | delete
- I must confess that I once believed most of the myths and stereotypes that you list here. I'm afraid that these wrong beliefs about the homeless are so pervasive that it may take a long time for all of us to come to know the truth about homeless people and the causes of homelessness. Thanks, Kylyssa, for sharing from your experience so that may all learn the truth about this important issue.
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bloomingrose
Apr 10, 2012 @ 11:12 pm | delete
- Back to this great lens. Out to my Facebook fans so that other people can see the important information.
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bloomingrose
Feb 9, 2012 @ 7:20 pm | delete
- You always find some more new information about this important topic to share with us. I liked this a lot, and Angel Blessed!
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About the Author
by Kylyssa
Kylyssa Shay is a formerly homeless person now working as a freelance writer and anti-homelessness activist.
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Lives Turned Upside Down: Homeless Children in Their Own Words and Photographs
Lives Turned Upside Down: Homeless Children in Their Own Words and Photographs
Amazon Price: $7.12 (as of 06/01/2012)
This book shows the reality of homelessness in the words and photos of homeless children. I don't think that the myths and stereotypes of homeless people can survive a reading of this book.
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