Turning A Blind Eye

A recent proposal by former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos, my father, to forcibly relocate a portion of San Francisco’s citizens who happen to lack a home to live indefinitely on a Navy ship should have us looking deep within ourselves at our own conscience. For how we treat the most vulnerable among us is how we define ourselves as human.

Tired of seeing the desperation on the faces of these human beings in need day in and day out, many San Franciscans have taken on the tried and true method of reducing human beings to mere labels such as “the homeless”, “derelicts,” or “undesirables”. Instead of seeing a real person with human needs, people see the label, and it is far easier to get rid of a “bum” than it is to overlook a human being that is just like you.

We can no longer afford to walk past and pretend that the problem doesn’t exist.

The Housing Crisis

Let us not forget that all of us are social beings. We are all hard-wired with mirror neurons that make us feel the suffering or joy of another. When we see the suffering of people on the street, we, too, feel their pain, whether we acknowledge it in our conscious minds or not. And who wants to feel that pain everyday as they go about their lives?

But rather than do the hard, personal work as citizens to organize and address the needs of the homeless population – not only for housing and other basic human needs but also for friendship and connection – we have proposals like putting the homeless on a military ship “until there is enough permanent housing”. And, let’s face it, during this unprecedented time of economic growth in the Bay Area if suitable housing was going to be built, then it would have happened by now.

Every human being wants to look up and feel the safety of a roof over their heads.

Homeless But Still Human

My father knows better. In fact, I’ve seen him do better. I’ve seen him try to help those in need by hiring them to wash his car or do other chores around his house. Many times, people really don’t want a handout. They want to feel useful. They want to matter to someone. My father looks them in the eye and sees them as the human beings they are. The mayor of Albuquerque has even implemented a successful program based on this idea.

There are roughly 7,000 people lacking a home in San Francisco, a city with over 830,000 inhabitants. That’s one homeless person for every 120 people that live in the city. Somewhere in those statistics is a solution that doesn’t involve forcibly moving people against their will.

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While it is commonplace in our society, it is actually very unnatural for human beings to have power over other people. Where that power exists, it should to be used with care and consideration for the needs and feelings of the powerless who have long been forgotten by a society focused on creating economic growth at all costs. These costs now include our humanity as we discuss ways to remove the suffering of others from our sight. “Out of sight, out of mind,” the saying goes.

Human beings without a home are still human beings. Let us not forget that. They have families just like you. They have feelings just like you. They have desires and dreams just like you. They are scared, vulnerable, and in desperate need of your generosity and kindness, even if all you are able to do is stop for a moment, look into their eyes and say with sincere compassion, “I see you. You matter to me”.

Homeless people have needs, dreams and desires just like you.

The Way Forward

On a systemic level, can anyone else see how proposals that forcibly move people are treating the symptom rather than the cause? The truth is our present economic system is not doing what it is supposed to do – meet the needs of its people. No matter how much additional economic growth the city of San Francisco or the United States as a whole creates, very little of it will reach the people who need it the most.

Human beings without a home are still human beings. Let us not forget that. They have families just like you. They have feelings just like you. They have desires and dreams just like you.

So what is the solution? We could start by demanding as a nation that our resources be used to provide basic needs for everyone. Perhaps, in the beginning, it might take the form of a universal basic income for every citizen. But first we must be willing to acknowledge that the present system just isn’t working. As technological unemployment kicks into overdrive with driverless cars and 3-d printing making 4 million drivers and 14 million construction workers obsolete, we will need an entire fleet of ships to deal with the issue.

There is hope for the homeless if we actively seek creative solutions.

Calling For Creative Solutions

The San Francisco Bay Area is home to some of the most creative minds in the world. Facebook, Google and others have changed the way people interact and communicate around the world. They are not only companies. They are think tanks, constantly dreaming up new ways to change the world. Perhaps instead of funding and creating the next consumer gadget that sells millions of units and creates ever more wealth for those who already have it, they can put this amazing intellect towards the goal of reducing the suffering of the least among us.