Perspectives on Shelter Life from Residents and Staff
What's it like to live in a shelter under someone else's rules? From the perspective of shelter staff, what are some problems in operating shelters? This section presents some first person comments of people who have stayed at shelters and staff comments on communication between residents and staff.
Comments from
residents on living in shelters
(mostly from homeless listservs)
On the hours of shelters:
- not open until late, requiring people to be on the streets well after dark
- requiring people to check in at 5PM or 6 PM, too early for those who work, in some cases interfering with class or church or other self-help activities
- no daytime hours for sleep-shelters; no nightime hours for activity-shelters; no provision at all for people who work nights kicking people out at 5AM, 6AM, 7AM often well before any daytime center is open
- kicking people out early in the day is supposed to be so that they will go to work, or look for work; yet most shelters do not have shower or laundry facilities, or provision for ironing, or even a place to hang your clothes overnight so that you look like you can go to an interview in the morning. Most of our shelters make a fuss when people are caught trying to bathe in the bathrooms.
"No storage. You can't even leave a bag behind if you're signed up for the same shelter that night".
"No way to store or cook food on the premises. You get served a meal by kind-hearted folks, or nothing. And one of our shelter hosts won't even allow the shelter to be brought food anymore, because one delivery was intercepted by neighborhood youth and distributed to neighborhood doorsteps (without containers)".
"I stayed in one shelter where you couldn't have any food in your room (common) and you couldn't go into the kitchen after 7:00 p.m. except to get a bottle for a baby. I had a two-year old who was hungry all the time. I'm expected to tell him at 7:30 that he can't have anything to eat until morning, and you expect me to get that kid to go to sleep"?
"There's such a lack of privacy. When I was in shelter, I slept on a mat on the floor in a big room, with thirty other people. Laying awake and cataloging twenty-nine varieties of snore is kind of interesting".
Shelter directors/workers
comments
on ways that shelter staff treat residents
(taken from homeless listserv comments)
"There is a failure to fully train shelter staff in power/authority abuse and misuse; bias (against homeless) recognition and resolution, and, most important: interrogation of one's self as staff member, re: what am I doing, and what am I up to (with this decision, attitude, action, etc.)"
"Many providers feel the power they possess, especially in some shelters. As in any dualistic total institution, they distance themselves and develop contempt for the very people whom they are ostensibly to help. Client-provider becomes an antagonistic dyad, and heterogeneity among the sheltered population is forgotten (or simply ignored). "Hoops" are invented through which all clients must obediently jump regardless of their individual circumstances, and the penalty for disruption/disobedience is expulsion . . . back to the streets. After all, there is a more compliant person waiting for '3 hots and a cot.'" "The worst offenders of power are often those who are unfortunate enough to have been homeless and then fortuitously attained a semi-staff position in a shelter. Their good fortune seems to be interpreted by them as a personal moral victory of sorts, and they soon forget the humiliation of homelessness. Their attitudes were at times so irrational and abusive toward those who merely sought a mat on the floor that I successfully sought their dismissal. I did not want them back on the streets, but I believe the dignity of "clients" is sacrosanct. After all, the self-esteem of a homeless person is frequently crushed by circumstances, and providers should be the first to offer a kind word and a welcome."
"In my ten years as the director of a shelter I have often witnessed the egregious behavior of staff whom I have hired from the street. I've heard it referred to as the "he forgot where he came from" syndrome. Given a tiny bit of power many people who are very insecure will often use that power to make other's lives miserable. What I try to do is first through my own behavior try to create a culture of caring in the shelter. I rarely shout at anyone (probably because I'm a Quaker and relish silence and quiet talk) and repeatedly explain to staff that we are here to help, care for and treat with dignity all who come in need. That's the ideal, of course; the one we all strive to attain, but sometimes don't get quite right."
RESPECT AND FILTERS WE USE
Another potential problem on a list like this is that people are coming from various perspectives (homeless, academic, social worker, politico, etc) rather than having a common base of experience. This is compounded by the fact that some folks have places in society which are generally given respect (academics, social workers, eg) while others (homeless) are in positions which society generally treats with disrespect (to say the least) often by people in former positions. If you are used to being disrespected, you tend to hear things through that filter, whereas if you are used to having your opinions treated with respect you tend to assume that disagreement is not a put-down.
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Last Updated January 24, 2001
