Why Homeless People Don't Use Shelters

As someone who has worked in homeless shelters I am very aware that the vast majority of homeless shelter workers are good people who are doing their best. I am glad that homeless shelters exist to help people without homes. However, it would be an injustice to pretend that homeless shelters in America are plentiful enough or that all of those shelters that exist are safe enough, or free from downsides.

Contrary to popular belief, many homeless people have jobs. Because check in hours for shelters are often rigid and the process of waiting in line and checking in usually takes hours, most working homeless people cannot use them. Other homeless people work evening or night hours which don't allow them to get into a shelter before curfew. People who work from nine to five usually can't use homeless shelters, either; by the time they get off work, it's usually too late for them to get in line to check into a shelter.

Another reason some homeless shelters are incompatible with having a job is that they require the shelter users to attend AA or other drug abuse rehab classes (often held during normal work hours) every day they use the shelter - whether those people have a drug or alcohol problem or not.

By the time I had a regular job, I had decided to sleep outside exclusively so this was not a problem for me.

I was shocked and sickened to see a man turned away from a homeless shelter because he was in a wheelchair. Another person and I offered to pull his chair up the stairs and help him inside the shelter if he needed it. They told us it had to do with insurance concerns and said that they were sorry but, no, he couldn't use the shelter. That was the first time I saw a handicapped person turned away from a homeless shelter but sadly, it was not the last.

Many homeless shelters are in old buildings re-purposed to fit a bunch of beds. Sometimes their beds are located above the first floor and they have no elevators. Some shelters don't have railings in the restrooms or ramps into the rooms or buildings either. While it is not the fault of those who run the homeless shelters some shelters are unable to accommodate people in wheelchairs.

Regardless of what the Americans with Disabilities Act says, some shelters turn away people in wheelchairs or with other mobility limitations such as the need to use a walker or crutches to get around. While sometimes they will offer a hotel voucher to the disabled person that doesn't always happen.

Homeless shelters and the areas around them are often hunting grounds for human predators. Some of the craftier ones get jobs at homeless shelters while others just watch for individuals departing the shelters. It's not just rapists, either. Predators in search of "excitement" will track a lone person leaving a shelter so they can beat him or harass him for fun.

Also, though there are usually attendants of some kind on watch almost none of them are trained to deal with violent behavior making homeless shelter users vulnerable to other shelter users who are predators.

For me, this was the number one reason to avoid homeless shelters. Once you get raped or assaulted in a homeless shelter or because you were trailed after leaving one you just don't want to try it again no matter how hot or cold or rainy or otherwise unpleasant it is outside.

Criminals are well aware that police take seldom complaints from homeless people seriously. Many people avoid shelters because pretending to not be homeless (which means avoiding homeless shelters, missions, and soup kitchens) is one of the most effective ways to avoid such predators.

One reason it's hard to fall asleep in a homeless shelter is the almost endless coughing. There's always at least one person in a homeless shelter with a cough. Many of those with chronic coughs have chronic illnesses, transmissible diseases. Tuberculosis is frighteningly common among homeless people. When you may have to sleep out in the elements on any given night (there's no guarantee you'll get into a shelter every night) even the flu can be a dangerous disease to contract.

Keep in mind that many homeless people are homeless due to ill health and you'll see why homeless shelters full of sick people pose an even greater risk to them.

I honestly hadn't thought about this until I volunteered in a shelter and it was strongly recommended that I get a tuberculosis vaccination and a flu shot.

This answer has gotten me a lot of flack. Even though it played only a minor part in my decision not to use shelters, I feel it is an important part.

The check in process in some but not all homeless shelters is sometimes humiliating and dehumanizing.

I was asked questions such as "Do you have any sexual partners you could stay with?" as well as other questions about my sex life on more than one occasion. One shelter worker even suggested that I find a boyfriend to stay with; basically she was suggesting I exchange sexual favors for a place to sleep. Keep in mind that I, like most women homeless more than a few weeks, had already been the victim of sexual assault. I felt violated.

This is a biggie and it's pretty horrible when you think about it. Most homeless shelters separate families.

Women can bring their pre-teen children into most women's shelters but teenage male children (as young as 13) may be required to go to a men's shelter which they may not even get into. Can you imagine a mother leaving her young teenage son to sleep alone on the street without her protection while she sleeps in a homeless shelter? Most don't so the whole family sleeps in their car or outside.

Men and women usually cannot be in the same homeless shelter so husbands and wives are separated, knowing their spouse might not get a bed in a different shelter. These people are often elderly or disabled and depend on each other for safety and care. So again, most of them will forgo the use of homeless shelters so they can take care of each other.

Also, children cannot stay in the vast majority of men's homeless shelters. This leaves homeless single fathers in a very difficult spot. This seems not only heartbreaking but criminal.

No matter how clean a homeless shelter is kept, the danger of getting parasites by using it is still very high. Homeless people carry a lot of parasites, likely because they tend to share bedding a lot. So if you sleep every night in a different bed that a long string of other homeless people have slept in, eventually you are bound to get head lice, pubic lice or scabies. And it's hard as heck to get rid of them when you are homeless.

Bedbugs are another biting parasite that can easily infest a homeless person's bedroll even if it doesn't get opened in the homeless shelter.

The parasites commonly present in homeless shelters were my second most important reason for avoiding them. I'm itching right now just thinking about it.

While it was not often said aloud, some shelter employees and volunteers regard all homeless people as drug addicts and criminals.

When you are homeless, many people will automatically treat you as a criminal and a drug user. This is another barrier to employment for homeless people.

Many people are unable to comprehend that a person without a home may just be someone down on his or her luck without any wrongdoing on his or her part.

While I'm sure they mean well, many shelters and shelter employees or volunteers take it upon themselves to cure homeless people of their sometimes non-existent addictions and criminal ways. Some shelters put a lot of pressure on people who use them to attend alcohol and drug abuse counseling even if they are not alcohol or drug abusers.

I remember the smirks and questioning looks when I insisted I had no drug or alcohol abuse issues. One shelter employee actually asked me, "Well, then, why are you so skinny?"

Forced participation in substance abuse counseling even for non-abusers takes time away from job searches and current employment which the average homeless person cannot afford causing most employed homeless people and those actively seeking employment to avoid homeless shelters that require it.

Yes, some people avoid homeless shelters because of drug addictions- their own or those of other people.

Since many homeless shelters have signs insisting they are drug free zones, some drug users will avoid them. However, many drug users and dealers do not, making some homeless shelters hot spots of drug activity.

People frightened by drug related activity may come to avoid shelters because of this, fearing for their safety or their children's safety. Still others are themselves trying to get off drugs and being around other users makes it very difficult for them to do so, so they avoid homeless shelters while trying to kick their drug or alcohol habit.

While most homeless people are not thieves, a few of them are. It only takes one jerk to spoil a shelter for everyone else. When you are homeless, your little bit of stuff is precious; it's all you have.

While I was not robbed inside a shelter, I heard stories from many who were. They stopped using homeless shelters to protect their meager possessions from theft.

Service dogs other than Seeing Eye dogs and hearing assistance dogs are sometimes denied entry to homeless shelters. Mobility dogs (dogs that help you stand or get into your wheelchair, assist you up stairs, etc), dogs that provide assistance for mental conditions such as anxiety or agoraphobia, and other service dogs are even more often denied entry.

Even in the case of Seeing Eye dogs and hearing assistance dogs, if the person has lost the dog's paperwork or doesn't have an official harness, the dog will not be allowed inside the homeless shelter. Few people in that situation will abandon their service dog.

Most shelters and kitchens have some sort of religious service you are required to sit through to eat or sleep there. I'm an atheist but this didn't bother me much. Frankly, I was pleased to be in a climate controlled room and sitting at rest somewhere without fear of getting harassed by gangs or police no matter what I had to pretend to believe. However, some people object to this, often people with strong religious beliefs of their own. I met a decent number of homeless people unwilling to sit through shelter services.

Many homed people would argue that people who are down on their luck are not deserving of privacy. However, the complete lack of privacy in a homeless shelter can be especially difficult on people with mental disorders that make them fear crowds. I encountered several crowd phobic people who could not be convinced to use a homeless shelter even though they were sickly and ill suited to outdoor sleeping.

Homeless shelters try to make the most of their square footage by squeezing as many beds into their shelter as possible. That makes shelters frightening to people with claustrophobia, social anxiety, or fear of crowds.

By the time a person is on the street his or her life is usually already careening out of control. That feeling can be enhanced by the regimented check in times, eating times, prayer times, sleep times, and check out times in a homeless shelter. Some people avoid homeless shelters so they can feel like they have some vestige of control over their own lives.

After I was hospitalized after a brutal assault I required the use of a walker. Sleeping on the ground was agony while still healing from multiple fractures so I decided to try to use a homeless shelter again, even though I'd sworn I never would again.

I was allowed entrance to the homeless shelter, but I was told I had to give my walker to staff for "safety." Apparently, they were afraid that either someone would trip over it or that I would use it as a weapon. Since it could easily slide under a bed when not in use, the former was not a real concern and because I weighed less than a hundred pounds and was still suffering from multiple injuries the latter was highly unlikely. But I surrendered my walker in exchange for shelter.

I felt so helpless because I literally could not get around without my walker unless I crawled. About an hour before checkout I had to use the bathroom. I couldn't get to the restroom without my walker so I had to hold it until checkout. Another homeless person was nice enough to ask the shelter attendant to get me my walker. They gave her a hard time about it and wouldn't give it to her to bring to me. She waited with me until they brought my walker out. The attendant chastised her for staying past checkout and urged her to get going.

I couldn't bring myself to stay another night in that shelter.

Walkers, crutches, and canes are sometimes taken from users of homeless shelters at check in. Sometimes even appliances such as leg braces are also taken away for "safe keeping" in homeless shelters. It is frightening to be left without your mobility in a strange place. So some people who have need of medical appliances or mobility assisting devices forgo the use of homeless shelters.

No matter how many homeless people choose not to use shelters there are still not near enough beds available for those who would like to sleep indoors despite the risks involved.

In most cities in America there's space in homeless shelters for less than 25% of the homeless people living in that city. In other cities there is only enough room in homeless shelters for less than 5% of their homeless population. There's not enough funding to provide shelter beds for every homeless person in America.

Additionally, many areas in America have made ordinances limiting the number of people a shelter may serve. In some cities, homeless shelters may not provide beds for more than 20 people! Additionally, some cities have created ordinances preventing homeless shelters from being in or near the downtown area (where the churches and other organizations likely to provide shelter are most likely to own property) or laws preventing two homeless shelters from being within a certain distance of each other.

These reasons are why lines to get into homeless shelters form so early in the day and why staff is often so quick to deny entry to people for the most trivial of reasons. This may be why some homeless shelters have made their requirements for use so restrictive. In fact, they've made their requirements so strict in some cases that despite a line of a hundred people trying to get a place to sleep they don't even fill the 20 beds they have.

In my opinion, the ordinances are a bigger issue than the lack of funding because the ordinances have prevented people with funding from opening or expanding existing homeless shelters. So what you can do about it is find out what your local laws regarding homeless shelters are and write to your congressmen and representatives as well as donating to local shelters and helping to fund new homeless shelters.

Some people are denied entry due to mental illness even if caregivers have given them paperwork stating that they are not a danger to themselves or others. Since homeless shelter workers are not trained to distinguish between violent criminals and harmless people with mental illnesses the tendency is to be overly cautious and refuse anyone with any mental health issues entry at some (but thankfully not all) shelters.

Think about your family dog, the one you've loved for years who is a member of your family. Now imagine that you become homeless and all you have left of your old life is that faithful, lifetime companion. He is your only source of affection and companionship. Could you abandon him without a second thought?

Pets are not allowed into homeless shelters so homeless pet owners often choose to sleep outside with the only friends who haven't deserted them, their pets.

A few people have asked me "if homelessness has affected you so deeply, why don't you donate your lens earnings to charities that fight homelessness?"

I would love to donate the proceeds of this lens and all of my others to help homeless people. Unfortunately, I'm on the very edge of homelessness myself due to illness and disability.

You can read about why I'm in financial difficulty here.
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