Response to Article, “Fargo Police Arrest Man for Attempted Sexual Assault”: Focus on Homelessness Misplaced
March 19, 2009
This was written in response to a letter published in The Forum, regarding a sexual assault allegedly committed by a homeless shelter guest. The response was submitted to The Forum to be published as an editorial, but was never published, so thought it should be provided here:
Rape and sexual assault can happen anywhere, to anyone. It is unfortunate that this situation needed to involve people staying at a homeless shelter, for (reading many of the comments listed), the result is a perpetuation of negative stereotypes related to homeless persons.
Homeless people are people, with the same foibles and character defects and positive attributes as the rest of us. This doesn’t make them better or worse than the rest of the population; instead, they are a part of the same population made up of you, me, and our neighbors. Homelessness affects people who are young and old, of all races and backgrounds. Approximately 75% of homeless people suffer from a serious mental or physical disability, yet many work in part time or full time employment positions.
Homelessness doesn’t only affect adults; children suffer as well. This most vulnerable section of the population has a right to a safe and permanent residence, no matter the choices made by their caretakers, or the stereotypes perpetuated in society. Homeless children don’t deserve to be homeless, and need to be protected.
For many, homelessness is not a choice. It is the result of an illness, a handicap, the loss of a job, the inability to make home payments, and yes, sometimes, poor decisions. The events that lead to homelessness are prevalent in society, especially in today’s economic climate, and can affect many of us. How long would you need to be in the hospital before you were unable to make your home payment? How many weeks would you need to be without work before payment of rent becomes impossible?
There are over 500 homeless persons in the Fargo-Moorhead area each and every night. Homelessness IS a problem here, and rather than placing blame, let’s try to solve the problem. How do we provide more affordable housing? How can we get people into living-wage jobs? What types of services can be offered to treat the severe disabilities suffered by a large portion of the homeless population?
Yes. There was an alleged, attempted rape, committed by someone staying at a shelter. There are many people who stay at shelters every night who do NOT commit crimes, and there are also many people who are not homeless who DO commit crimes. The fact that this man was homeless is a coincidence, and is not indicative of the homeless population in the area.
Homelessness is a problem that needs to be solved. How can we make that happen?
Bekah Krueger
Executive Director, FM Coalition for Homeless Persons
