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A close friend of mine in Atlanta works w/the homeless population, and one of his clients is a single mom w/3 kids. They've all been on the streets for 2 years b/c no one will rent to a person w/a previous felony conviction. Our society is endlessly punitive to people w/trauma.
We didn't know how bad it was until we became friends w/someone w/an old felony conviction and saw how difficult it was for him to find steady employment and housing. We've walked w/him for 5 years & have seen him go through hell b/c of all the roadblocks to re-enfranchisement.
A lot of these folks, w/their kids, end up in extended stay motels, where they're exposed to more dangers. Also, the people who run such motels often to find unfair ways to squeeze more money out of them through threat of eviction. These tenants are so unprotected.
In the midst of the pandemic, when so many people have become unemployed or underemployed, making it difficult for them to pay their rent, entire families have been evicted. My friend texted me photos of parents w/young kids sitting on blankets on the sidewalk after eviction.
Attorneys doing pro bono legal work have been working overtime to secure pandemic protections for them. It's been really hard to witness this much suffering.
I mean, when you get evicted from an extended stay motel, your only options are homeless shelters (many of which are full right now) or the streets. But on the streets, they worry about confrontations w/law enforcement doing "quality of life" policing for the folks who own homes.
Fortunately, there are kind-hearted people working for organizations that are actively working to shelter people in situations like this. It's just hard to keep up w/the demand. One guy who lost his housing b/c of a sad combination of policy flub-ups ended up back on the streets.
The organization was working feverishly to help resolve his situation, but after 3 weeks, he succumbed to despair (the cumulative trauma over the course of his life overwhelmed him) and took his own life.
I care about social justice as a Christian b/c I'm relationally connected to these stories and have seen how injustice ravages people made in the image of God. It's evil and demands a response.
