Imagine there's no bottom...

"Our State is in moral free fall."

From Rev. Duane Clinker, Open Table of Christ, United Methodist Church, Providence, Rhode Island

The freezing happens slowly at first. There are no shelter beds open to you. Your tent and meager belongings were destroyed weeks ago by the authorities in violation of the Rhode Island Homeless Bill of Rights. It is night, and you are cold. You try to keep moving to stay warm. Then, a sharp wind begins. It quickly cuts through anything you have found to wear. It goes right to the bones. The shivering starts and spreads quickly. You can’t stop it. Your whole body shakes. You’ve got to get inside, but all doors are closed to you now. There is no rescue. Then, the whip of the wind begins its final work, lashing at you. Your feet and hands hurt and then go numb. Your fingers don’t work. Then the shivering stops, and you realize your body is freezing. You have already tried everything. You couldn’t walk it off. That doorway didn’t help stop the wind. That dumpster is locked. You can’t break into the back of that truck. The terror and disorientation takes over. The heart slows, and it seems the nerves themselves freeze in what almost feels like comfort before the end.  

We who are older remember what young and middle-aged adults have never experienced: a time when unhoused persons were rare on public streets. It was a time before people begging at intersections were a common sight.  

In those days, there was still a kind of safety net for the people. If the unthinkable disease, job loss, or disability happened, your economic fall might be stopped before you hit the street. You might at least be able to rent a low-cost public housing unit to help you survive. Now, such things are all but forgotten.  

Today, the historical and economic causes of the housing crisis are ignored. Cuts in government housing programs began in earnest in the 1980s. In the 1990s, perhaps, the biggest fell quietly. The United States government banned new HUD public housing units from being built, leaving things to the “free market.” But free markets seek the highest profit, and there are more profits in expensive housing than in poor.  

Now, mega-wealth balloons at the top while any effective actions on the problems at the bottom are endlessly postponed in avalanches of meetings with no action. So, the wealthy gain new power and take even more.  

Today, most young working people cannot even dream of affording a home. (When did that become acceptable?) Those who experience a job loss or health failure may find themselves caught in economic free fall as rent prices skyrocket. 

Our supposed moral compass as a society has been reset by the government by the  rich to navigate us away from the “common good.” Instead, it points to the right of excessive wealth by the few at the expense of the all.  

A kind of moral cord, a certain human and social obligation (always frayed in the best of times), has completely snapped.  

Our State is in moral free fall.  

There are not nearly enough shelter beds for the unhoused, and the waiting list for new homeless seems endless, and the Governor refuses to act.  

Even the few new shelter beds already built are left unoccupied as people huddle in the cold because of pointless delays. The Governor won’t work to cut the red tape.  

With nowhere but the street left, the Governor permits the raiding and seizing of personal property and the destruction of temporary tents. The Governor refuses to enforce the Homeless Bill of Rights.  

Vacant public buildings are available for remodeling as emergency shelters, which could provide the hundreds of extra emergency shelter beds needed now. The Governor refuses to act.  

In the midst of skyrocketing rents and evictions, families live in terror of losing the ability to find housing of any type. Cities and towns refuse to open zoning to allow more real low-income housing, and the Governor fails to act. 

The housing shortage threatens the lives and wellbeing of thousands. People will freeze and will die from sickness made worse by the street. Living without shelter can take decades off the lives even of those who survive. The Governor’s Department of Health doesn’t even identify and count the deaths caused by the crisis.   

Is it we who have gone numb?  

Rhode Island Governor McKee won’t declare a state of emergency to give him the power to address this problem effectively.  

This Rhode Island wealth system pushes new people onto the street daily. We are in a time of great danger, not just for those now unhoused.  

The Governor won’t act.  

We are all at risk unless WE do.  

And, if not, there will soon be no bottom to how far we can fall.

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The Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project (RIHAP) just sent out this press advisory:

• What: Vigil for those who have recently died while living outside or who are living unsheltered and unhoused.

• Where: South Steps of the Rhode Island Statehouse, Mall Side.

• When: Monday, December 23rd at 5 PM.

• Details: The Rhode Island Homeless Advocacy Project and its supporters will hold a candlelight vigil to honor those who have recently died while living outside, as well as those who are currently living unsheltered. Leaders of the religious community and individuals with lived experience of homelessness will speak at the vigil.