Who’s to blame? How Relational Poverty puts people on the streets
There’s a far too common misconception around homelessness that people who end up on the streets do so willingly. Some believe that a chain of bad decisions can put you there, while others assert that bad luck plays a role. However, the reality is often much more complex.
Homelessness is typically the result of a multitude of factors, including issues like poverty, lack of affordable housing, and inadequate mental health services. Many individuals experiencing homelessness face additional challenges such as job loss, domestic violence, or health crises that can lead to further instability. Another notable observation is that once individuals experience homelessness, it becomes increasingly challenging for them to escape their circumstances, even when receiving external help from shelters, much less when trying to do so on their own.
But Kevin Adler, the founder of Miracle Messages, argues that homelessness is caused by a more abstract problem, what he calls Relational Poverty. As he defines it, “Relational Poverty, or the profound lack of nurturing relationships which, when combined with stigma and shame, leads to nearly unimaginable levels of isolation and loneliness among many individuals experiencing homelessness.” He also emphasizes the importance of a healthy environment, community, and religion to sustain a healthy state of self.
Adler broke up the population into two groups, those experiencing Relational Abundance and those experiencing Relational Poverty. He found through his organization that most of the Homeless he was supporting only truly felt homeless once they no longer had a support system behind them, a term Adler calls Relational Poverty. Adler also concluded that the majority of those Americans not on the street had a Relational Abundance, and were far from Relational Poverty. With a stable family, community, and network of friends behind them, people were better able to recover from the financial and emotional burdens of these emergencies, saving them from the streets.
His research has found that over 40% of Americans reported that if they found themselves in an emergency, they wouldn’t know how they would get the money to pay for the emergency bill. However, compared to the countrywide homelessness rate of around 1-2%, it’s interesting to see how little the homelessness rate is, when compared to the amount of Americans who couldn’t pull themselves out of an emergency. With such a high rate of Americans who couldn’t pull themselves out of an emergency, you would expect rate that of homelessness to be closer to 20-30%.
Homelessness rate (red) vs Percentage of Americans who CAN'T pay emergency expenses (Yellow)
But this builds on Adler’s ideas, as only those who are in Relational Poverty become homeless, as poverty itself won’t be enough to put someone on the street.
So when looking at homelessness from a Relational Poverty point of view, it’s easy to discover the importance relationships play in helping individuals avoid the streets. With this knowledge in mind, it is easy to understand why Homeless Shelters need to put such a huge emphasis on building a community for their clients, as rebuilding community is the first of many steps for the homeless to return to society.
So when examining events that leave people homeless, you need to look past the quantitative reasoning that you would typically receive and take a look at the emotional side of things, as sometimes the true reasoning is hiding just under the surface.