This rather sensational story making the rounds on the internet these past few days is useful for highlighting several SRV-related issues. As Wolfensberger posthumously points out in the latest issue of the SRV journal (December 2011), one devalued class of people may be subjected to the same particular wound. In the case of the article above, the wound is the stripping of the home ownership role from working and middle-class Americans so as to make people virtually homeless overnight. Since the housing crash of 2008, millions of Americans have been stripped of the highly valued role of home owner and have found themselves pushed into other more devalued roles, such as public housing resident, homeless person, or even the role of “squatter”. The title of this article from the Los Angeles times aptly describes the situation for many: “Squatters say foreclosed homes beat homeless shelters”
For more on the systematic stripping of roles, along with many other fascinating articles, see the latest issue of the SRV Journal.
Steve Tiffany
During the great recession the banking system presented their case to the government that without aid the banking system in the United States was in emminent risk of failing and sending he economy into a deeper depression than ever seen in the history of the United States. Yet when a citizen makes the same plea to the government these pleas are falling on deaf ears of the government and the banks holding the mortages. We now have a situation were foreclosed houses and buildings are left abandoned and over time will depreciate and deteriorate from lack of care. Instead of leaving these buildings to chance their is a great opportunity for the government and the bank to work together to provide a housing program that benefits the people and the community as a whole.
In fact according to Matt Apuzzo, of USA Today “After receiving billions in aid from taxpayers, the USA’s largest banks say they can’t track exactly how they’re spending it. Some won’t even talk about it. “We’re choosing not to disclose that,” said Kevin Heine, spokesman for Bank of New York Mellon (BK), which received $3 billion.” How many homes could the US government bought and managed with only half of that money? How many programs could have kept people in their homes with only a portion of these funds?
Works Cited
Apuzzo. Matt. (2008. Dec 26). Where’d the bailout money go? Banks aren’t saying. Retreived from: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2008-12-22-bailout-money-where_N.htm
The government instead of tending to the rich why don’t they tend to the people who are struggling to make ends meet. When a person loses their house it’s not because they just decide they don’t want to live in a house it’s because the government is taking away that role that they earned. It’s not right for the government to just take this from a hardworking family they earned that and it’s terrible to see people facing these hardships because no one will help them or listen to their requests. By stripping people of these roles they are devalued and then treated differently by people and the sad part is they can’t even defend themselves because they didn’t choose to be kicked out of their home.
It’s hard to believe that the government would evict a 101-year -old woman and put her out on the street. In my course with Dr. Neuville, we have spent a great amount of time discussing social devaluation and the wounding effects it has on a person. This woman, being that she is an elderly 101-year-old woman, was already devalued in society. Removing and banning her from her home only adds to the social devaluation she is faced with. As Brittany commented above, it’s not as though she decided that she did not want to live in her house any longer and chose to stop paying for it. Although she was stripped of her valued role in society as a homeowner, it is nice to see that there are people in the world who are understanding and have a heart. Many people would overlook the situation that this woman was in and would blame and judge her without knowing the complete truth. I think there needs to be more people in the world that are not as judgmental as many are in today’s society, and there needs to be more people willing to help people overcome social devaluation in society.
I found it heartbreaking that the government would evict a 101 year old woman and essentially leave her on the street. They stripped her of her valued role in society as a homeowner and has now caused her to become a devalued member in society because she is homeless. People are going to look at the situation and blame her for not making sure that her bills were paid, but in reality she is not the one who decided to be homeless and to not go back to her house. People are going to make such harsh judgements and continue to look down on this poor woman without a second glance at her. All they will see is what is on the outside and that is that she is elderly, and homeless. People need to start looking past the outside and stop looking down on people. If we could all do this at least one time it may create less social devaluation in society.