THE HIDDEN HOMELESS

She is 25 years old. They have never quite settled on a mental health
diagnosis. She has been on so many medications she can not name them all.
She and her daughter are second and third generation public housing residents.

She tries to control her temper.

With therapy and medication, it has gotten better. For the first time, she
is working steadily. Stability seems around the comer.

There have been one too many verbal confrontations with neighbors. She has
been warned. She may have to leave. Where will she and her daughter go. Can
she afford any other place.

He is twenty years old. Like most other inner city males, he has had
trouble with the law. He has been arrested twice for selling rocks. For
society it is an abomination. For him it seemed an economic necessity. It
seemed so easy. The ramifications were severe.

When his Mother was first told he had to leave or the entire family would
be removed, she cried. "They want me to throw away my baby." She fought his
removal and won. She died soon after. Banishment occurred. The rest of the
family did not have the strength or knowledge to fight.

Now he is labeled. Police see him and suspicion arises. If it is a slow
day, he will be stopped and searched.

Being caught at his family's apartments will lead to a charge of
trespassing. He has been arrested countless times on this charge. He knows
the drill. Spread 'em one more time. His family will take him in from time
to time. Their housing could be jeopardized by his mere presence.

He has become a vagabond, drifting from family, to girlfriend, to friends,
to the park some nights. He has no official residence. It would be great if
he would go to school or keep a steady job. Right now neither seems likely.

She is a young woman who made a crucial mistake. She became involved with a
man who sold drugs from her apartment. As often with love, she turned a
blind eye. No warnings were heeded until it was too late.

Per housing policy, she was told to leave. The housing authority has to
keep the units as clean and crime-free as possible. Now she drifts from
place to place, to whoever will take her and her kids in for the night.

Maybe the week -- if she is lucky. She has already had to place one child
in her mothers' custody. Moving from pillar to post caused too many
traumatic effects. Her stay in a shelter still causes nightmares. She fears
DSS will find out and take the remaining two. She will try to hold on till
she re-qualifies for housing placement.

These are some of the hidden homeless. They have no advocates lobbying
Congress. They are not even aware of their own rights. Some would have you
believe banishment from public housing ends the problem. The problem only
becomes camouflaged.

Housing authorities and managers have little choice. Ten years ago, public
housing became open war zones. Drug activity consumed many

communities. No one felt safe. Measures were taken. They made a difference.

There was an underside. An underside which has never been solved. It would
be pollyannish to think these people just disappeared. They can be found
choking the ranks of other systems. Unless we find a solution, further
multigenerational problems will occur.

No one wants a renewal of the war zone era. Instead, attention should be
paid to the quiet war occurring; a war in which families are doubling up in
areas barely meant for single families. A war in which children live in
fear friends will find out.

Get-tough policies are all the rage.

Too often these policies leave us awash in oversimplification. Yes, one
problem is better. It has come at a heavy, albeit hidden, cost.

Readers can write Kaiser c/o Editorial Dept., P. O. Box 2090, Asheville,
N.C., 28802.