With the economy dwindling in the face of war with Iraq, the 5,200 homeless of Boston and 16,800 across the state have a very difficult winter ahead of them.
And while the economy was booming in the late 1990s, the number of homeless families and individuals increased 100 percent and 70 percent respectively, according to the BU Bridge web site.
“The shelters are not doing enough,” said David Shaw, who was previously homeless for 18 years, wandering the Kenmore Square area.
“We have a governor who doesn’t care about the homeless,” he said while receiving change from passersby in front of the Kenmore Square Barnes and Noble. “She was born with a silver spoon. People who were born with a silver spoon have no idea what it’s like on the streets.”
The number of homeless people in the United States is increasing by about 5 percent per year, according to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. On any given night, approximately 700,000 people across the country are forced to huddle inside bus stations and boxes while the rest of America sleeps.
According to Friends of Boston’s Homeless, 83 percent of Boston’s homeless residents stay in shelters for less than six months.
Shaw, a self-described recovering addict, said he likes hanging around the Boston University campus.
“The BU kids have a positive attitude, and they’re not out shooting up in an alley,” he said.
“Some people walk by and don’t care; [as if they’re thinking,] ‘Hoorah for me and F-you’,” he said.
Shaw said on a good day, he could make up to $50 or $60, which some students said they believed. School of Management junior Justin Swartz said he recalled an article published in his hometown of Toronto about how panhandling could actually be profitable.
Now that Shaw is no longer homeless, he said he tries to help out those who are not as fortunate.
“[The homeless] don’t [me] ask for food, they ask if I can get a drink or a drug,” Shaw said. “If they’re sick, I’ll get it. But otherwise I won’t do it.”
Thirty-seven percent of Boston’s homeless abuse drugs or alcohol, according to Friends of Boston’s Homeless, but Shaw he believed the figure was much higher.
“About 80 percent drink and do drugs. If you go to the hospital, you’ll see them,” Shaw said. “The only way I keep my place is to stay away from drugs and alcohol. It’s been four years without.”
Students said homeless people on the university campus were rare, but added many were visible at other parts in the city.
“I see homeless around Faneuil Hall, the Federal District and Harvard Square, but not so much at BU,” said George Sajonian, a School of Management sophomore.
“I finally got off the street because the street is no place for a human being to be at, especially during the winter,” Shaw said.
For six or seven years, he kept warm in the winters by sleeping next to the massive heaters at BU’s School of Theology.
“They call it the fallout center.”
One of the reasons more are forced to face the streets of Boston is the number of single room occupancy dwellings have decreased by 96 percent since 1980, according to Friends of Boston’s Homeless.
“When I go home at night, I still feel bad, but I realize some want to be out there. I feel bad for the ones that don’t,” Shaw said. “I guess it’s guilt.”