With all of the hubbub about a strengthening economy, Vincentians need to tell the other side of the story.

I have known four adults over the last ten years who in spite of their diligence and integrity financially “bottomed out.” Two lost their government jobs due to cutbacks; two were woodworkers whose steady cash flow trickled to nil during the Great Recession. I knew that each was receiving unemployment benefits because they called me privately asking if I knew where they could find work.

 

I eventually discovered that each of them had resorted to living in their cars, while spending an occasional night at a shelter. Call them transient. Call them “residentially challenged.” Or call them homeless. They preferred as few people as possible to know they were “on the street.”

 

One homeless friend told me over a meal that I purchased for him that he believed that if employers knew the truth they would be less likely to offer him a steady position, making him less likely to return to solvency. He told me that while his very close “real friends” would stand by him, his contacts and connections would shun him. He suspected he would receive less sympathy from society – not more. Even the help he received from social programs, such as $194 a month in food stamps, was a pittance that would not compensate for the stigma.

From, “Poverty Is Rampant In The U.S., But We Pretend It’s Not”(HuffPost)
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