| March 01, 2019 

By Jeffrey Stanley
Giving Voice

They are old and young, male and female, educated and unskilled, single and families. They are with and without mental health issues, and with or without substance abuse issues. They work, or are in search of services in hopes of stabilizing their lives enough to find and more importantly keep, employment. Many may not be capable of work even under the best of circumstances, but they are all our neighbors.

Homelessness doesn’t wait for good weather, it doesn’t wait for housing vouchers to be available or apartments or homes to rent. It is a scary thing to think about but, depending on the study quoted, 60% or more of the population would be forced into homelessness with an unexpected bill of $1000.

Society is judged by how we treat the most vulnerable among us. Do we turn a blind eye when we see someone in need? How many of us have been in a tough situation and unsure how to proceed? If we were lucky we had a strong family support system. If we were lucky we found help, shelter and, more importantly, confidence to right our own ship and again be a productive member of our community.

Some of us however need more support. Not too long ago my family was homeless. Serious injuries led to medical bills, physical therapy and loss of the ability to work during a less than robust economy.  I have spoken at length about my story in the past so I am going to challenge you to re-think some of your perceptions about the homeless.  When we casually accept ignorant narratives about the homeless, it allows us to ignore reality and dismiss the suffering of our neighbors.

No longer should we as a community blindly accept the false narratives that allow for the systemic mistreatment of those who are in need.  To that end I would like to tell you a true story, not unlike many others I have listened to over the last few years working among the homeless.  I will spare you from some of the more horrific details, but trust me this is not a rare story. I will call him “Bob”.

“Bob” was born healthy in 1981 into a very unstable and abusive household  He searched out acceptance and found it among the wrong crowd.  As the youngest of the crew, “Bob” got in trouble with the law and was sent to juvenile detention for something he got caught up in.

Skip forward.  It’s 2010. “Bob” is 29, he has his GED and has been working on an associates in hospitality management. He works a front office job at a resort hotel.  No one notices that he is dealing with all the issues from childhood by abusing drink and drug abuse. He’s functioning in the 9-5 world as far as anyone can tell. “Bob” has  been in and out of shelters and he has succeeded at times and failed at times. A confluence of events causes his life to spiral out of control.

I knew “Bob” for the last five years of his life, five years of his life as the drug and alcohol abuse ravaged him, until, at the age of 37, he died from complications of the long term abuse.   “Bob” was working, and homeless, and he was flawed. He was our neighbor here in Brunswick.

The conversation Brunswick is having surrounding homelessness is important.  The decisions our community makes concerning building a new shelter will write the story we will be remembered by. Just remember “those people” you are referring to, who need our community’s support, may just be the child that raked your lawn, the barber, the teacher or even the firefighter.

Jeffrey Stanley is a former firefighter who works with the homeless for various community organizations and is currently on the Board of Directors of Pine Tree Legal Assistance.