Source: http://www.speakup.com.br
Source: of the picture simviaje.com
Imagine having no home, no job, no family and no friends. Imagine that you are so addicted to drugs, that you would prefer to sleep in a cardboard box (and not in a bed). Imagine trying to survive on the streets of one of the world’s most dangerous cities.
Bruce Turner doesn’t have to imagine any of this. He spent two-and-a half years living on the streets in Skid Row, Los Angeles, an area full of homeless people, drug addicts and prostitutes.
Bruce Turner, who is originally from Los Angeles, was addicted to drugs for 40 years, before becoming homeless. He survived on the streets by selling drugs and cheating people out of their money.
Then one day he decided to change his life. He stopped taking drugs and started working with the Los Angeles Mission, an organization that has been assisting homeless people in LA for more than 70 years.
LIFE ON THE STREETS
Bruce started living and working at the Mission two years ago. He recently got a second job and will soon get his own apartment. He spoke to Speak Up about life on the street:
Bruce Turner: “It was rough, but it was fun because I could go anything that I wanted. I had no bills. I didn’t have to do anything I didn’t want to do you’re getting high, you’re drinking. There are women out there too, so you’re involved with women. Skid Row in the last: there’s nowhere else to go. People think that the highest percentage of people out there have mental problems. Some of them are lost and don’t want to be found. They are in their own world.”
MISCONCEPTIONS
Speak Up: “What is the biggest misconception about homeless people?”
Bruce Turner: “People think homeless people are dumb and dirty. But homeless people are not. There are a lot of smart people out there. Some homeless people walk around looking sharp every day, you can never tell they’re homeless. Sometimes, when homeless people die, other people go through their baskets and they find thousands of dollars. People misjudge the homeless. They’re not dumb: you need to be smart if you want to survive out there.
FACTS AND FIGURES
WHO IS HOMELESS?
About 3.5 million people in the US experience homelessness every year.
About that a million people sleep on the streets in the USA every night.
43% of homeless people are female and one third of the homeless population is made up of families with children.
About 40% of homeless people are under the age of 18 and almost half of homeless children are under five.
42% of homeless people are African American, 39 per cent are white, 13 per cent are Hispanic, 4 per cent are Native American and 2 per cent are Asian.
WHY ARE THEY HOMELESS?
The biggest causes of homelessness include unemployment, lack of government support, lack of housing, lack of affordable health care, domestic violence, mental illness and addiction to drugs and/or alcohol.
20% of homeless females say they became homeless as a result of domestic violence.
73% of homeless people don’t have jobs.
