Throughout my life, I learned of people who were homeless. One person was an employee from a public school in which I taught for 10 years. She and her children considered the car a home for several weeks.
There are 1,500 shelters for battered women in the US. There are 3,800 animal shelters. (Schneider, 1990) Numbers have increased in the same proportion since then.
A woman is seen in a shelter built by California artist Gregory Kloen.
Then, a young adult student whose father couldn’t pay the rent for an apartment they occupied entered the studio looking agitated. I asked “Are you living in your car?” He, reluctantly replied, “uhmhm, yes, I am”. My poignant and persistent question led him to ask if I knew of a place for him to stay. Well, there was space . . . in the basement of my studios. He stayed till he found an affordable apartment.
After opening a coffeehouse, another young person came for help. He (an avid reader) had frequented the public library. The government-funded entity added a coffee shop (8 months after mine!) in the space this fellow took refuge. He crashed on sofas in friend’s homes. I could only offer a bar of soap and towel to freshen up in the not-yet-opened pottery painting place. He eventually moved 35 miles away to live with an aunt/uncle.
Empathy has always been part of my nature. My kindness however was used to provide identity and income for illicit indigents. I housed a family-in-law for 18 years in property I owned. They needed assistance. It seemed like the right thing to do . . .
Then — I finally woke up from the controlled cash captivity. The harm and hurt had to stop. I couldn’t live in fear anymore, nor be a slave-tenant in my home. MANipulated to pay to live and work in my own home, I was able to support myself, business, employees. The fact that my family was covertly robbed and my community company was embezzled to support a con-X and HIS family — that was inconceivable.
The basement that once provided refuge to a former student became my only option. The x-CON who I graciously agreed to house after his release — was fired from his job — replaced me in my own basement refuge. I am shocked and dumbfounded that I was forced to leave my home and self-sustaining career. MANeuvered by a Con, his Counsel and the Court.
Even Safety and Security take precedence over Shelter.
The costs of intimate partner violence in the US exceeds $5.8 billion per year: $4.1 billion are for direct medical and health care services, while productivity losses account for nearly $1.8 billion.
California artist Gregory Kloen, who builds small portable homes using salvaged materials, says an inexpensive structure is a way to keep someone safe and out of jail.
How many of these shelters fit in one Pro-athlete, Politician, Lawyer or Hollywood home?
Leave it to a creative entrepreneur to solve a serious concern over shelter. Government can’t do it — they’re too CONcerned about their own paychecks and trips to paradise island.
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