NIMBYs Strike Again Against Homeless Neighbors
The growing population of homeless senior citizens continues to increase, but that doesn’t mean all seniors are housing advocates.
In Manchester, New Hampshire, a group of senior citizens has banded together to reject the city’s plans to use their Senior Activity Center as a warming shelter for the homeless community. This move is the latest in a long line of hostile actions taken against Manchester, NH’s growing homeless population. As shelters reach capacity and a tent encampment sprawls the streets, tensions rise.
Here’s a look at what happens when people in positions of power, aided by the media, perpetuate harmful narratives around homelessness.
Manchester Homelessness Reaches Crisis Levels
According to Manchester Inc. Link, homelessness in the bustling New Hampshire metropolis reached crisis levels, spurring requests for political action. The local “Families in Transition Shelter” sits at capacity. In response to the overcrowding, a robust overflow of people experiencing homelessness formed an encampment on the streets outside.
From Merrimack Street to the intersection of Pine and Manchester Streets, tents lined the pavement. And what was a cry for help from an unnecessary social injustice was perceived as nothing more than an eye soar or safety hazard.
Informed by toothy TV personalities and misled by mass media, the general public reacted precisely how they were told to.
The Media Feeds the Public a Bias Story, Leaving Out the True Cause of Homelessness and the Extreme Pain of the People Struggling Because of It
As the streets grew wrought with unrest, the media was quick to fan the flames of cynicism. One mainstream media outlet opened its segment on this story from the perspective of disgruntled business owners. Then it continued with a quote claiming “grave risks to public health and safety.”
The key message delivered by the news team seemed to be, verbatim, that “the people living there are unwilling to use alternative shelter available to them.”
From there, the story defeated its purpose as officials openly admitted no shelter was available. Chief Allen Aldenberg explained the bleak situation with the following statement:
“There has to be a bed available. Alright? If they don’t take the bed, then they can be issued a city ordinance. If they then refuse after they get issued that city ordinance, then, yes, technically, I can move them. Move them where?”
While not expressly stated in that quote, the underlying answer appears to be prison.
Despite not having adequate shelter available to provide the hundreds of encampment residents, officials made 150 arrests and issued 200 citations to residents within the encampment. And that was only the beginning.
Oddly enough, the mainstream news story never addressed rampant homelessness from a human rights perspective or even a housing perspective. Instead, it was littered with shaming tactics about the alleged crime, safety, and health concerns and a narrative that homeless people are “service-resistant.”
This is important because it shows how the story was framed for the public and explains these seniors’ reactions to the warming shelter and the local homeless community.
Before you feed into the carefully crafted misconceptions about addiction, mental health, and crime, it’s important to remember that the leading cause of homelessness across the board in the United States is a lack of affordable housing.
According to WMUR9, housing prices in Manchester have skyrocketed by a whopping 69% in the past five years, spawning an influx in family homelessness and making housing unaffordable for most. The average market price for a home in this region is $450,000, while the average median household income is just $66,705 a year. Almost 10% of the population here is living in poverty, and low to middle-income earners are financially locked out of the housing and rental markets altogether.
But let’s zoom out and look at the bigger picture. Stats provided by WMUR9 also show that New Hampshire saw the fifth-highest year-over-year rent increase in the entire country. Yet, for some reason, when mainstream media picks the story up, they focus on the discontentment of nearby business owners and turn a blind eye to the human misery waving visibly in the tents before the camera.
We have seen this before, but what happens next is a prime example of how that initial hatred can spread and eventually infect a whole community.
Online Hate Mimics the Media’s Sentiments
A Facebook page established anonymously (of course) spews online hate reflecting similar sentiments to these media lies. The page features numerous unflattering photographs of people experiencing homelessness that were almost certainly taken without permission. Abhorrent comments posted beneath pictures and videos say things like:
“The homeless are most of calls for police. Put them in prison….”
“Residents of this city have seen first-hand that by far, the lion’s share of homeless folks are addicted.”
“So many homeless folks plaguing our city have no respect.”
“Please think before you donate. Your generosity could be deadly!”
While there were some comments in defense of homeless community members (one of our faves – Caitlin McLean writes, “Wow, you guys are making fun of homeless people, what a completely non-psychotic hobby to have.”), the vast majority of the statements are negative. Furthermore, the account continues to grow in popularity, enjoying a tally of 1.8 thousand followers and an ever-growing presence on Facebook with virtually no bans.
Seniors Follow the Disturbing Trend of Hating Encampment Residents by Not Wanting Their Center Turned into a Temporary Warming Shelter
Pressed for solutions, The City of Manchester moved to transform the local senior center into a warming shelter after hours. Under this strategy, the shelter would be open to people experiencing homelessness between 7 pm and 7 am. But several senior citizens, having also been influenced by the mainstream narratives, expressed staunch opposition.
“I’ve got about seven emails today and about three phone calls from senior citizens who are terrified of going in there because they don’t want these people hanging around here. They’re afraid of them,” proclaimed Attorney Joseph Kelly Levasseur.
Clearly, this irrational fear of uncleanliness and a lack of safety comes from a long line of hateful stances, the seniors simply being the last to toe that line. Later in the interview, Levasseur revealed the real reason so many corporate leaders are enraged.
“It’s costing us a ton of money,” he said.
Neither Side Appears to Have the Genuine Best Interests of Homeless Community Members in Mind
By early January, the tug-of-war was over, and the warming shelter opened its doors, making it possible for officials to punitively vacate the homeless encampment that wealthy business people were complaining about, almost as if that was the whole point.
While officials claim services are available through the warming shelter, this is still a temporary fix. There have been press conferences discussing “progress,” but strangely, there has been no talk of permanent housing placements.
Talk to Your Representatives About Making Housing a Human Right
Warming shelters are seasonal. Homelessness is year-round. In its current state, Manchester City would need at least 20,000 affordable housing units to meet demand. Meanwhile, the average wait time for securing housing through Section 8 in this region of the United States is now 5-7 years.
Talk to your representatives about making housing a human right, so nobody is left out in the cold.
