What goes through your mind when you are driving or walking around, generally in an urban area, and someone with a cardboard sign comes up to you? They may not say anything to you. But you know they are asking you for money whether they speak it or not. You probably don’t want to give them money because of course they will likely spend it on drugs. Or it will only encourage them not to get a real job.

But what do you really know about the person in front of you? You probably know they aren’t as well off as you. Beyond that, you have a lot of assumptions about what they would do with the money and about how they got there in the first place. Meanwhile, in your own life, you have certainties. You know you are busy going somewhere and doing something important and don’t have time or enough rapport to hear their backstory. This imbalance of knowledge and awareness creates a large obstacle to engagement. Thankfully if we are willing to invest the time, like reading this blog, we can make more informed assumptions about people we don’t know.

This blog will explore four assumptions I have had in the past that perhaps you can relate to when thinking about the homeless. I invite you to compare your own assumptions to what I share and the information from this report about homeless people in the Boston area – where I drew the statistics that follow.

Assumption #1 – They will use the money I give them to buy alcohol.
The study says – Binge or excessive drinking happens at similar rates between unhoused and housed. – The percentage of unhoused adults in Boston who reported binge drinking in the past 30 days (17%) is similar to the percentage of Boston housed adults who reported binge drinking in the past 30 days (23%). Binge drinking is defined as drinking more than 4 drinks on a day when alcohol was consumed for women and drinking more than 5 drinks on a day when alcohol was consumed for men.

Assumption #2 – They are in this position because of their own poor choices.
We all have agency and some people’s poor choices contributed to their condition. However, the study says the average unhoused person had at least four or more types of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and one or more related to emotional and physical abuse. Those types of events can have real negative impacts on someone. Or consider how “Homelessness represents a societal and systemic failure. Housing is a basic need. While there are many factors that may contribute to homelessness, such as behavioral health issues, the lack of affordable housing is the most significant structural barrier to ending homelessness.” This overlapping of personal and systematic changes makes it difficult for some people to avoid homelessness.

Assumption #3 – Once you are homeless, it is easy to get a job and escape homelessness.
The study says – 59% of unhoused people have a prior conviction along with many barriers to re-entering the workforce. 64% are sleep deprived (less than 7 hours a night) and 51% have trouble with transportation. That doesn’t even include being threatened and harassed like 31% experience multiple times a month. These threats sometimes are all too real, since 62% have experienced physical violence since turning 18. All these compounding challenges take a toll on you. Your mental capacity becomes focused on your next meal or a safe place to sleep. As Andrew Desmond writes in Poverty, by America, “Poverty can cause anyone to make decisions that look ill-advised and even downright stupid to those of us unbothered by scarcity. Have you ever sat in a hospital waiting room, watching the clock and praying for good news? You are there, locked on the present emergency, next to which all other concerns and responsibilities feel (and are) trivial. That experience is something like living in poverty.” So the barriers to breaking free from homelessness are often greater than they first appear to us and I only highlighted a few of them. I left out getting an ID or job without a permanent address and so many more obstacles.

Assumption #4 – I am NOT responsible for this homeless person.
Unless you evicted someone and kicked them out onto the street. You are right, you are not directly responsible for making someone homeless. However, we are all a part of the system that perpetuates inequity. For the most part, we personally benefit from this system in various ways. I encourage you to explore books like Poverty, by America to explore that further.

However, if we are Christians, we are responsible for that homeless person. Because that person is a human being, made in the image of God. God loves and died for that person. We don’t share the same obligation for them as our family but it is false to say we have no responsibility for that person. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbors, housed and unhoused.

• Love might be a smile.
• Love might be a few minutes to listen.
• Love might be a Dunkin’ Donuts gift card, which also gets them the opportunity to use the bathroom.
• Love might be taking action by raising funds and awareness through an event like WinterWalk.
• Love is not averting our eyes and ignoring the plight of our neighbor.
• Love is not thinking the worst of the person in front of us.
• Love is not diminishing the value and personhood of someone based on their temporary condition or past choices.
• Love is not absolving ourselves of all responsibility for the suffering of others.

Homelessness is a large and complicated issue. It will remain confusing and persistent in the face of local, national, and global housing affordability issues. However, it is easy for us as individuals to make a change in how we think and treat the people we encounter. Taking time to reflect on our assumptions about people and give them the benefit of the doubt is a good first step. A second step is treating them differently when we encounter them, even if it just means looking them in the eye and smiling. A third step is participating in WinterWalk or some other tangible collective action to go beyond our individual actions. It could also be donating to organizations helping the homeless directly like Pine Street Inn, MANNA, Common Cathedral, and more. Hopefully, this blog gets you thinking and influences how you respond to homelessness and the homeless.