Tangentially, I learned something about 211 this year that I didn't know before.

Locally, social service orgs prioritize the most vulnerable people. That's as it should be - it's a kind of triage. The people most in need get help the most quickly.

However, services are stretched so thinly that "quickly" is on the order of weeks, sometimes months, even for those in greatest need.

One of my friends has called 211 a number of times for rental assistance, when they were at risk of losing their housing. 211 advised them that there was nothing local orgs could do if they were *still housed*.

211 told them to put all their stuff in storage & live in their car, if they wanted help.

I wasn't aware that, ironically, local services contribute to the homeless crisis here because of advice like this.

There is effectively NO social safety net here. That isn't the fault of 211 or the orgs people use.

So I can't fault 211 for this. I'm big into root cause analysis & it's clear to me that other, bigger, more powerful factors are to blame, from profit-hungry landlords & the opioid crisis & the lack of jobs & a general attitude of scarcity & lack of giving a shit about one's fellow human beings.

There is *some* help available from a state or federal level, for the truly indigent.

You have to have *nothing* to get there though. You have to lose your housing, job, medical coverage, health, retirement funds... you can't have much more than the clothes on your back, it seems. This forces people who need help to get rid of anything that might keep them afloat, or provide dignity.

More personally, I'd love to marry my SO. But I can't, because if I did, then he likely wouldn't be able to receive benefits that depend on *household* income instead of *individual* income.

He's got a TBI, can't work & is fighting to get SSDI right now, fwiw.

I can support us, if we want to be working poor.

I don't really want to be, thanks.

I think about all these things a lot, especially when I see right-wing religious authoritarians in the US pushing hard to shame everyone into marrying. Or when I think of trying to climb out of poverty, & how the system is stacked against people doing better, & even deliberately keeps us poor.

Ppl in poverty are set up to fail, in the US. Simple as that.

Set up to fail, & then blamed for failing.

@Impious_Jade Truth.

@Impious_Jade Yes. It's expensive to be poor.

@Impious_Jade I wish we could have a conversation. I think we see eye to eye.

@Impious_Jade Not sure where "here" is but I am a senior citizens living on Social Security. I've been living in subsidized housing for almost 5 years now. There are others in my bldg who have zero income of any kind. Here doesn't sound near as volatile as where you are does. I'm even allowed to work part-time to supplement my income.

@small1ldy That's pretty awesome - it's good to know that it works somewhere! "Here" is South of Seattle.

@Impious_Jade @small1ldy when i read your post i thought to myself.. “they’re probably local.”

Hi from PDX! :)

The systems are shit. My roommate was going to either be trapped in a bad situation with her domestic abuser and exploiter when I moved out, and I tried to get her help so she wouldnt end up back on the street, fuck. Ultimately we did open a case w/APS and best they could do was a referral to the Bybee Lakes facility.

Fortunately she found a roommate situation and she’s safe now.

@silent_dystopia Hello from SEA-ish!

Ugh, that sucks so hard. We find ourselves cobbling together some kind of less-than-ideal solution just to survive. I'm so glad your roomie was able to find something and is safe.

@silent_dystopia @Impious_Jade

That did sound like a horrific situation for her. I'm happy she's found a better situation. As a DV survivor turned advocate, she needs to do some personal work to build herself up. The day she is able to do that is the day she'll l realize that she should never allow herself to be abused. Typically we break free from one bad situation, only to seek out another, over time.

@small1ldy @Impious_Jade yep. He constantly told her she was worthless and stupid and it was.. sickening to me to see him tear her down like that. I’m continuing to work with her to get her hopefully a diagnosis on the spectrum, and health coverage, and get her the helps she needs to build herself up. Getting her away from him was the big step.

@silent_dystopia @Impious_Jade

This is very encouraging to read, I participated in serious self-worth and self-esteem building groups. Self-awareness is key and it really is a lifelong process to keep our skills sharpened. 30+ years later, I serve as an example of the potentials that await us when we release the old toxic messages which found a place in our psyche. I wish her and you nothing but the best. It will be hard work to endure her recovery, but it will be hella worthwhile!

@Impious_Jade where is here? And yes, the American "safety net" is horrible and has been for decades.

@GalibyGolly A smallish city south of Seattle, so Pacific NW. West side of WA state.

I'm a bit paranoid, which is why I'm not saying which specifically, just region.

@Impious_Jade the problem with that is that everyone is in the same boat. The people's power bills are getting shut off and winter is either approaching, or already here, some are old, or have kids, some are disabled, etc, but mitigating circumstances aside, they are all going to lose their utility services, that's why we need to tax the rich

@PaintedMask Right, that's why services are stretched so thin: almost everyone is in need right now, a bigger % of the population than... I dunno, 20 years ago, needs help *now*. More people, less money, & less money to go around.

I'd like to tax the fuck out of the rich. Then eat them.

@Impious_Jade Too fatty.

@Impious_Jade Just in case your trying to cast some thinly veiled dispersions against my generation. You need yo realize you have no clue what anyone else's life has been like. I was the one calling 211 20 years ago.

@Impious_Jade sorry maybe I,am too sensitive coming from Twitter about ageism

@PaintedMask It's OK, I can understand that. No aspersions on age or anyone's circumstances at all - I pulled "20 years" randomly out of my brain, just to illustrate "at some point in the past dire straits weren't as widespread as they have become" using fewer characters.

@PaintedMask So just a rhetorical device, nothing more. & of course the widespread-ness of poverty & stresses now doesn't erase that the same has been with us in the past. Whatever led you to call 211, I hope they were able to help you & that your circumstances are light years better now than they were then.

@Impious_Jade we have a lot of homeless people now here in Worcester county, Massachusetts. People are spending the winter outside. I'm afraid of their situation this winter, because we might have a bad winter. It would be better to house them - cheaper even - than the costs to our emergency rooms and hospitals.

@AlbertCashiersCousin I hear that. We have something like tens of thousands of empty housing units in the area, more than enough to house everyone on the street. Housing is there, but logistics are the challenge. You can't just compel someone to live in an empty house, or compel a landlord to house someone. There are no solutions in place.

@Impious_Jade ah yes. Some who are homeless are paranoid of the sysem that would help them.

@Impious_Jade I'm in NE Ohio, & have been homeless several times. I can tell you stories. That it's much the same here. "We can only 'help' you if you're already homeless" 1 time I even spent 24 hrs on a mental ward as a way to speed up the process (on my case managers suggestion). As to homeless shelters. There are fewer & fewer due to gov & $. Then there's no privacy, no safety of your items, & often issues of bed bugs, fleas, etc. Many places don't take whole families.

@Impious_Jade

I've even been to one shelter where you were kicked out at 9am & not allowed to return until 3pm, so if you had kids with you, you were expected to drag them around in an attempt to find housing/job. Which could be a real challenge if you didn't have a vehicle of your own.