In Wake of Recession, Homeless Forced to Move

It’s something that most people don’t think about. The recession has affected the entire country. The rich must spend more modestly, and limit themselves to one private jet per household. The middle class must stop giving their kids presents for both the holidays and their birthdays. But what most people don’t realize, is that the poor have been affected by the recession as well. Specifically, the homeless.

It’s not that people don’t give money to the homeless anymore. Let’s be honest, people never really gave much to the homeless even in times with money, so that’s nothing new to people who live on the street. What has changed, is that homeless people are being foreclosed from the alleys and street corners where they reside.

“What people don’t realize with this recession” Ronald, a man who has lived comfortably with a shopping cart and a cardboard box behind the Waldorf in New York City for somewhere between 5 months and 16 years, “is that we homeless people are being forced to move from where we currently reside. I used to be one of the most fortunate homeless people in this city. The things that I would find in the alley of this here Waldorf would make even Gerald, who lives on 5^th Ave, the street, not in an apartment, jealous.”

What’s happening is a ripple affect. People’s economic statuses are like a pyramid. Those at the top are the richest, and those at the bottom are the homeless. When the lowest class people, the penultimate piece of the pyramid, lose their jobs and become homeless, they become some of the most respected homeless people. They push the most well off homeless, such as Ronald, to move from the most extravagant outdoor livings into subpar areas such as Hotel Carter located on 43^rd street. The thought of moving to such an area put tears in Ronald’s eyes.

“My friends, what will they think when they hear the news in 1 to 5 years. And the people who I see every morning, the ones from the hotel who tell me every single day, ‘Ronald, you need to leave and not come back’, they will be devastated when I’m not there. I used to take this place for granted,” Ronald said, looking around at the Dumpster he used to call his Dining Room “but this new place shouldn’t be so bad. I’m sure the people at the new hotel throw out boxes of half eaten pizza and socks with holes in them too.”

“This recession has been really bad on me,” said Ronald as he packed up his thing before leaving. “But I pray that one day things will go right for me. So right that I’m back here at the Waldorf to live”. Just to clarify Ronald said “not to live inside. That place is expensive as shit and I’m, well I may be homeless and have some dreams, but I’m just a realist”.

Andrew M. Steinbach©2012