A week in the Tenderloin
Last week I led a group of adults on an immersion experience
to the Tenderloin, focused on the ministries and services of the St. Anthony
Foundation. We worked in the dining
room, the clothing program and visited seniors in the Madonna and Presentation
Centers. On the last day, we were able
to visit the Gubbio project at St. Boniface Catholic Church room where the homeless
sleep during the day in the pews after a long night of vigilance to avoid being
beaten or robbed. St. Anthony’s provides
excellent orientation and education on poverty, homelessness, and other
challenges faced by the guests that use their services. We stayed at the Maryknoll Mission House and
began each morning with breakfast and prayer before traveling on BART to San
Francisco and St Anthony’s. Each late
afternoon we returned to the house for Mass and dinner followed by small and
large group reflections on the day.
The Tenderloin is not entirely unique; there are pockets of
poverty in nearly every large city. But
some particular realities contribute to the situations of suffering in which
people find themselves. Rent is
extremely high in most of San Francisco.
The average rent exceeds $2800 for a one-bedroom apartment (June
2014-rentjungle.com). An SRO (single-room
occupancy) hotel room 10’ X 8’ can cost as much as $1,000 per month and most of
the city’s 500 units offer abysmal conditions with leaking pipes and infested
with mice, cockroaches and bedbugs. Affordable
housing is becoming increasingly rare as more developers cater to the highly
paid high-tech industry. As a result,
people continue to struggle to find shelter; for the very poor, unemployed,
mentally or physically disabled, it is an impossible task without subsidized
housing. Being homeless contributes to a
multitude of health related problems.
The poor tend to use the emergency room as a primary care provider,
driving up the cost of healthcare.
Studies show that providing people with housing reduces costs to
taxpayers. One such study in Utah
revealed that providing the homeless with an apartment and a social worker cost
taxpayers $11,000 per year as compared to $16K annually in emergency room and
hospital stays (stanthonysf.org: July 2014).
Poverty is a very complex subject and there is a nearly
endless amount of research going on in an attempt to understand and alleviate
its effects on society…too much on which to elaborate here. Taking part in an urban immersion experience
can reveal more than mere statistics however.
Eating with the guests in the dining room at St. Anthony’s put a human
face on poverty, mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse, and homelessness by
providing the opportunity to hear personal stories and to realize that we are
all part of the one human family. I
heard stories of lost jobs due to depression following the loss of a loved one. In an attempt to block out the pain, many
turned to alcohol, then lost employment, leading to eventual homelessness. There were stories of injuries leading to
permanent disabilities, loss of income, health insurance and eventually
housing. I learned that the poor spend
entire days waiting in line: waiting for a meal, to see a free clinic doctor,
to get a change of clothes, to take a shower, to get a shelter bed, etc. For any service, there is a long line. It is tiring, dehumanizing, and sets up a
situation that makes it difficult to look for work, if there was any work to be
had in today’s economy.
So I wonder, how many of our societal structures essentially
“pull the rug out” from under people? Healthcare that is priced above most
people’s ability to pay without insurance and jobs that provide no benefits, wages
that do not provide a decent living, rents and home prices that cater to those
earning six figures all contribute to the homelessness and poverty I witnessed
in the Tenderloin. I heard stories that
could have come out of my own family: mistakes, some bad decisions, a victim of
circumstance or economics, and of a world that values the success of the
individual and spurns the vulnerabilities of the person.
Despite these dire circumstances, I discovered that the
people of the streets have hopes, dreams and find joy in the little things of
life like a sunny day, a smile from a stranger and a pew to sleep on in a quiet
church. I was told countless jokes,
observed artistic and musical talents, met a few friendly dog companions and
looked into countless eyes yearning for some dignity and happiness. I am being careful not to “romanticize” the
poverty of the Tenderloin…it is a rough section of San Francisco peppered by
the drug trade, prostitution, human trafficking, where human prey on each
other. But people also protect each
other, share resources, form community and attempt to make the best of a
insufferable situation.
Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium urges the Church to "take on the smell of the sheep" meaning we are to go outside of our own familiar circle of friends and churches and look for Christ in others. I found Him everywhere and my heart was
greatly moved. I saw in a very concrete way that there is no “us and them,”
there is only us!
For more information on immersion experiences and mission
education, please contact Kris East at (510) 276-5021 or keast@maryknoll.org
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