Let me preface this with a plea: I need help, I desperately need support that I'm not insane, I need feedback and I need the right kind of humans to supply that. Homelessness is something I've gotten very very familiar with over the last year, but not as an actual homeless person myself. I know for sure and for certain that ANYBODY can become homeless and that the vast majority of the homeless do not in any way deserve what they are experiencing. Housing first and Low Barrier shelters are a necessity for our epidemic of homeless to be healed. We as a society allow, ignore, tacitly condone and contribute, or more often cause, homelessness to be a horribly unavoidable reality that constantly threatens a disturbingly massive part of our population.
That said….
I work with the homeless population (I'm officially called a “Emergency Services Coordinator” lmao) and we have no support from any of the non-coordinator people who make the real money that also “work” there, but stay in the safety of the back office area, where no guests can ever go. They are so disconnected, misinformed, out of touch, unreachable and, terrifyingly, completely unable/unwilling to sympathize (much less empathize) with those of us on the front lines, being abuse sponges day after day… with no ability to defend ourselves.
Rules and policies are changed and determined on a whim by the individuals in the organization who know the LEAST about the daily functioning of the Shelter. These decision makers never interface (much less assist or get to know) the guests they make their gratuitous paychecks and bonuses off of (in 2020, a SINGULAR director a got 118k bonus. Have any Coordinators ever been given a bonus of any kind? Absolutely not) and somehow don't find that reprehensible. These almost exclusively white and 100% extremely affluent individuals have no interest whatsoever in assessing the needs of their unimaginably demoralized, exhausted and horrifyingly underpaid staff. We can barely staff one person for each shift and there is NO one to call if you're ill or have an emergency.
Were our massive board of directors, who are paid many MANY times more than the actual staff (who keep the Shelter functioning to make them their money), to take a pay cut…the staff shortage would a simple fix. Sadly, even if we get applicants, much less ones who stick around for more than one training shift (before they stop showing up after they bear witness to how badly we are treated by guests), see that there IS no backup, and get freaked out… and never return. It's just you and 70 desperate people in dire straits and a whole building to try and keep safe and functional. We're just thrown to the wolves, every day, with no recourse.
As the backbone of the organization, we're traumatized, harassed, threatened, verbally and sometimes physically abused on a daily basis and stalked with terrible frequency. Then, we make $15 an hour to do what is supposed to be a two person job by ourselves 75% if the time. Of course, we COULD give the Coordinators some authority to make decisions that would help give us solutions to the various problems we face, but instead our teeth have been slowly yanked out to the point the now guests all KNOW they can get away with anything.
Or only real option to deter antisocial behavior is that we can exit them, but even for assault, our manager let's them appeal immediately and return… usually to have them do the same violent shit again. We can't get more staff because they refuse to offer better pay to entice new prospects in and to make up for the awful work environment that those poor, unsuspecting fucks will witness as soon as they walk in and/or begin training.
You can work fast food or a gas station right down the street and make more $$ and not have nearly the same drama and madness in your life as the Shelter provides. In fact, many guests make MORE than we do. All this to say: nurses, social workers, nursing home staff, etc, get some of the worst working environments and scariest people and situations possible dumped on them EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. But are we worth a living wage? A safe work environment? Recognition from those above us that involves any sort of incentivization that truly incentivizes? RAISES??
Of course not.
You don't work a homeless shelter because they pay well, you do it because it's a calling… but one cannot live on fulfilling callings if they pay you like you're not an adult trying to support a family and build a career.
Or pay off that BS in psych you got to try and help people just like you'd expect to do in a homeless shelter.
For months and months, we have been dramatically understaffed. Not once have they tried upping the wage or rewriting the job description to make the reality of what you will be asked to do clear to applicants. If a realistic job description scares everyone away, maybe the job needs rethought and made less blatantly awful. But we do ourselves no favors by not being up front about it, as so many would be hires don't last more than a single training shift after witnessing the chaos and violence we must throw ourselves as staff into to “do our job” and attempt to deescalate.
Horrifyingly, I was told, point blank, until one of the staff is seriously injured or killed, no policy changes concerning the amount of authority we are given to remove violent people will be made and we are NOT allowed to defend ourselves. When i see the shit nurses go through, i understand how mortifying it is to realize your literal life is worth less than making sure guests retain the ability to do as they please, up to and including: verbal abuse, intimidation, threats of violence or death, sexual harassment (he's just drunk/high/mentally ill/harmless/too old to change/just trying to get a reaction ETC ETC), threats against you, your fam, your pets, your friends.
Sorry for the massive rant, I've just become so burnt out at a job i used to love that i needed to vent. Please, if you can donate to a homeless shelter near you, we always need undies that are new, belts, Razors, ear plugs, head phones, backpacks (or any sort of luggage) flip flops or “house shoes,” clothing of all types for larger people, baby items (especially Lotion and soap) normal sized shampoo, body wash, conditioner, Lotion, shoes in larger sizes for men… the list goes on and on but those are things i know my shelter struggles to have in stock for guests.
If you've read this far, thank you. Thank you for letting me get this off of my chest.