Street Life: Faces Uncovered
By Neal Karski, George Min, Tyler Dubiak and Scott Hilburn (2016)
Film Review
Street Life is a portrait of the Chicago’s homeless population. It begins by demolishing the myth that homelessness is a lifestyle choice. In addition to a wealth of statistics, the documentary includes interviews with homeless Chicagoans, social service workers, homeless advocates and random passersby. I found it intriguing that none of the women interviewed blamed the homeless for their predicament – while more than half the men did.
On any given night 750,000 Americans are homeless, and yearly 25-35 million spend some nights on the streets or in shelters. Worldwide 100 million people have no housing at all while one billion have grossly inadequate housing. Last year, over a million American children were homeless at some point.
In examining the causes of chronic homelessness, filmmakers identified the following breakdown (in Chicago):
- 48% suffer from chronic drug or alcohol addiction
- 32% are mentally ill
- 25% are victims of domestic violence
- 15% are unemployed veterans
- 4% have HIV or AIDS
Because the homeless make huge demands on the public health system, it costs taxpayers far less to pay for their housing than to leave them on the street. After starting a Permanent Supportive Housing program two years ago, Illinois lawmakers reduced emergency room visits by 40%, nursing home days by 975%, inpatient days by 83% and psychiatric services by 66%.
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Vote for Trump! Bring back the American Dream and make the country great again! 😉
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If only blue collar white men weren’t so easily deceived.
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Men my age and older have been enslaved by the corporate-capitalist system-propaganda in a different way than women have. We had to be the fucking “bread winners”, and if we weren’t, then we were “lazy bums”.
But I burn when I hear anyone, male or female, slamming the homeless, especially today, with this “economy”. I have departed from old friends over this issue.
Will be reblogging this!
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Your comment reminds me of a recent feminist article about needing to end patriarchy to help men. From an emotional perspective, men are far more damaged by patriarchy than women are.
This isn’t the article I read but it’s written in a similar vein: http://www.bustle.com/articles/124983-6-ways-the-patriarchy-is-harmful-to-men-because-feminism-isnt-just-for-women
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Reblogged this on An Outsider's Sojourn II.
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Reblogged this and ‘Colorado’s Legal Pot Sales are So Successful, They are Now Providing Solutions to Homelessness’ at ‘Finding Truth in an Illusory World’…. Thanks!
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Thanks for reblogging these posts, lozzafun.
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Reblogged this on James Davie.
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