By Power Puffs: Jenny Lozano, Jayli Smith, and Julia Povich
Hello and welcome to the Soc. Club, you are tuning in with Jenny Lozano, Jayli Smith, and Julia Povich for your daily scoop! We are a group of students who are dedicated to informing you on topics that not everyone wants to dive into, so with that being said, today’s overall topic is homelessness.
Food Insecurity In The Homeless and Lower Class Populations
Food insecurity is defined as “The state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable nutritious food.” Some causes of food insecurity are an inadequate source of food, insufficient purchasing power, inappropriate distribution of food, or insufficient use of food within a household. As Dr. David Meek mentioned in his presentation, food insecurity is very stigmatized in today’s society and what makes it even worse is that you cannot always see the signs of it in other people. There is a drastic difference in what high food security would be described as and what low and or very low food security would be described as. High food security means that there is no problem or anxiety about where the next good meal will come from, while very low food security is described as eating patterns and or food intake being disrupted due to a lack of money or resources for food. As mentioned by Sentient Media in their 2018 blog post titled: “Food Insecurity: What It Is & What Is Causing It”, “those who suffer from food insecurity often face poverty, homelessness, lack of medical care, and other issues in their lives and either do not have a job or are so underemployed that they can’t meet their family’s needs.” Now let’s pause for a second and think about what that can do to one’s physical and mental well-being. Can you imagine someone feeling as though they have to stuff their mouth or eat as much as they can because they do not know where their next meal is coming from? That experience alone does not increase their outlook or quality of life, nor their health, nor their happiness. The best way that I believe we can overcome food insecurity as a team is to donate to our local food banks and food drives, volunteer at a shelter, or write to your elected officials about food policy. With all of this being said, I have a question for Jenny! Jenny, do you believe that racial disparity plays a part in food insecurity at all, and if so, do you believe that it plays a part in homeless food insecurity specifically?
Understanding Racial Disparity
Thank you Jayli! According to lecture, racial disparity refers to the gap and incongruity among races. Some of these aspects include economic status, social treatment, safety, and housing to name a few. Native, African, and Latin Americans unfortunately make up the high percentage of deprivation.
However, realistically speaking, anyone can experience food insecurity and inequality. The chilling part would have to be that this form of insecurity isn’t always visible to the naked eye.
Based on personal experience, I have witnessed first hand that families who come from a low income household have a higher chance of health concerns causing them to limit their choice of food intake. This is clearly another form of food insecurity that many may not have known.
To answer your question, I do believe that racial disparity plays a part in food insecurity. A great example of this is our ongoing issue with the COVID pandemic. According to American Progress, Ryan Zamarripa and Lorena Roque come to mention that African Americans and Latin-Hispanics were reported to have been affected by employment loss much more than any other community of race. All these factors can ultimately lead to inadequate housing. The lack of community and security can cause distress especially to those who have lost their jobs and have families that depend on them financially. Overall, this is affecting more than just the homeless community.
With that said, I have a question for Julia. How does racial disparity affect the mental health and well being of people who may be experiencing displacement?
Mental Health & Well-Being
Hi Jenny, thanks for this question! I believe the idea of community is essential to human well-being. To begin I want to address what specifically defines a community, and when in our lives do we need to build one? Early on in my life, multiple communities were established. A few of them included soccer, school, and my neighborhood growing up. These were places where I had a sense of belonging and a feeling that I was needed and served a purpose to others. As discussed in this class the link between mental well-being and social and community factors is well documented. Integrating and becoming part of a community can prevent and reduce feelings of isolation, anxiety, and even depression. When we feel like we belong, and we feel a sense of membership, the sense of community becomes a basic human need. Just like in this class, knowing that others are cheering you on and supporting you through stressful times helps us all reach the finish line. When applying the idea of community to homelessness we see interesting results. As tent cities pop up all over North America, individuals living in them have developed long-lasting friendships and connections with fellow neighbors. Many refer to fellow campers as their family, and some even claim that life in a tent city was the first time they lived somewhere where they felt a sense of community. Assisting victims of homelessness should spark and inform others of the development of ongoing strategies we need to protect them. As Michah Bertoli, a researcher focusing on helping displaced people settle into their new environments stated “humanizing marginalized members of society turns them into us”. Another topic I want to touch on today is ontological security, a mental state derived from a sense of continuity in regard to the events in one’s life. As a result of homelessness, an individual’s ontological security is threatened. People need confidence, continuity, and trust in the world, and when they attain these things they develop ontological security. One major factor impacting this security in homeless populations is homeownership. People talk about ontological security in terms of the home being a site of constancy, a place you can return to where you feel safe and secure. As homeless people jump from place to place to try and find stability there ontological security is threatened. The social stress theory is another sociological concept that can help us explain the link between social inequality and mental health disparities. Research has shown that people who are chronically homeless are assumed to have higher rates of mental health problems than those who are episodically homeless. These individuals experience frequent moves, family structure changes, parenting distress, and a lack of continuous resources. This accumulation of ongoing negative stressors can precipitate mental health problems, and cause people to become extremely vulnerable to clinical depression and other mental health issues. Tying all of this together, it’s easy to see that homeless individuals as they continue to be neglected in the care they should receive, are at risk of mental health issues, and more importantly, decreased well-being.
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