Read my articles about travel and /or my dog travel blog Have Dog Blog Will Travel
According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, more than 3.5 million Americans are homeless. And of these 3.5 million, between 5 and 10 percent have dogs and/or cats, some places even 24.
We believe that safe, decent, and affordable housing is a human right (as written in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article Twenty-Five, Section One).
A lack of affordable housing and the limited scale of housing assistance programs have contributed to the current housing crisis and to homelessness. Recently, foreclosures have also increased the number of people who experience homelessness.
Five states, California (22%), New York (16%), Florida (6%), Texas (4%), and Washington (4%), accounted for more than half of the homeless population in the United States in 2016.
For many homeless people, their only friend and family member is a beloved animal companion.
in many cases the animals are the lifeline and reason for living for these people without a home, human beings living in a stigmatized and marginalized environment in which few if any would choose to live.
What CORONAVIRUS Proved About Homelessness
Housing is Healthcare
50% of those without homes in the USA are seniors age 50-80+.
40% of homeless in America comprise of women and children
More than 1 million homeless children per U.S. Department of Education and National Center on family homeless data.
85% of homeless families are headed by single mothers.
…A book by University of Colorado sociology Professor Leslie Irvine is the first to explore what it takes to live on the streets with an animal. Using interviews with more than seventy homeless people in four cities, My Dog Always Eats First reveals what animals mean for homeless people and how they care for their four-legged friends. You can read the introduction to this landmark book here. Dr. Irvine’s book provides rich descriptions of how animals provide social and emotional support and protection from harm (see also “My dog feels my pain“), and, in some cases, even helped turn around the lives of people who had few other reasons to live.
…Homeless people told her how their dogs encouraged interaction with others and kept them from becoming isolated. Former addicts and alcoholics described how their animals inspired them to get clean and sober.
“In surveys, homeless people report levels of attachment to their animals that may surpass those found among the domiciled public. They frequently refuse offers of shelter or housing that require them to give up or separate from their animals.” (excerpt from the first chapter A Good Life for a Dog? of the book, “My Dog Always Eats First.”
Feeding Pets of the Homeless is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit volunteer-based organization that is dedicated to collecting food for animal companions of the homeless in the United States and Canada, as well as administering veterinary care. Its home office is in Carson City, Nevada, with collection sites all over the USA. They provide crates, wellness clinics and more.
Why do the homeless have pets when they can barely take care of themselves?
Pets provide a deep comfort. Pets are non-judgmental. They are loyal. They provide warmth and security. The homeless get a type of normalcy by providing food and water for their pets. In some cases, they provide them with reality.
Some homeless would sacrifice their own food for their pets. Then there is the protection factor. Living on the streets is dangerous especially for women and the disabled.
For many on the streets these animals provide them with security from other homeless or from those that discriminate against the homeless with beatings or from others who may steal their modest possessions.
In an article by Danielle Wolffe, “8 Reasons Homeless People ‘Deserve’ to Have Dogs”:
1. Who are we to judge?
Finances don’t indicate who a person is, what they are capable of, how much love they deserve or where it should come from. Poverty is not a character trait. A struggling person deserves the same intimate connections as everyone else.
More importantly, having money doesn’t give us the right to make those decisions for others — doesn’t give us exclusive dominion over animals or children. When somebody makes that argument I want to tell them to get over themselves. Seriously.
2. This is the world that we live in.
In this strange world we often see as many people living on the streets as those walking it. Alleviating problems that cause homelessness is a good goal. However, if these scenes are so commonplace; we might also accept the fact that they mirror our own lives.
Homeless people we live alongside deserve to live (as we all do) free from judgment. They are out there in plain sight, but that doesn’t mean they volunteered to be guests on a talk show; that we’re allowed to be the audience, sheepishly shaking our heads and mouthing our disapproval to the cameras.
3. Dogs are hearty, resilient creatures who come to us when we need them.
I worked for one season as a sled dog mushing guide in Wyoming. Those tough dogs slept in houses made of huge, hollowed out, straw filled cable spools. Temperatures regularly dipped well below zero. The dogs were built for that weather. We often were surprised to see a few of them lounging on top of their houses on the coldest days.
Some retired sled dogs became house dogs. The house dogs were spoiled and sometimes refused to go outside. Still, when out in the yard, they were fine. Dogs are adaptable, and only as fragile as we make them out to be.
Homeless people’s dogs are appropriately chosen. I am relatively certain most street people’s dogs are not the miniature poodles that wealthy women on the Upper East Side dress in sweaters and push around in baby carriages. They are mostly mutts of hearty winter faring stock, giant dogs that offer the extra measure of whoop ass protection people might need on the streets.
4. People who love their dogs, find ways to care for them.
While it is true that homeless people may struggle to find food; in this country, people don’t generally die exclusively from diseases related to starvation. I personally went hungry a day or two in my life so my dog could eat (I had housing at the time). I assume homeless people do the same, and are as tenacious about finding food for their dogs as they are for themselves. Likewise, they probably know ways to stay warm, and find good spots to snuggle.
Housing people saves lives, human and canine and feline.
“The experiment is a powerful reminder that the homeless are people, just like us, with one exception. They are in trouble and in pain. And they are someone’s uncle or cousin or wife.”
My dog Cici kept me sane during the time I was without a home and beyond. She kept me warm, protected, laughing and was my beloved family member and companion.
My sweet dog Cici and I met in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2007. She went over the rainbow on September 12, 2019. We traveled to 29 Palms, Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree and Sequoia National Park and came back to Carson City, Nevada where we lived on a farm in Genoa. The farm had chickens, cows, horses, llamas and sheep. After several months, we traveled to Ashland, Oregon and eventually found a new home in Gardnerville, NV.
Our adventures continued in 2008. We left Gardnerville, NV for greener pastures including Bullhead City, Green Valley, Sedona and Tucson, Arizona, and Jean and Primm, NV outlet malls and Laughlin and Mesquite, Nevada. The summer of 2008, we spent ruffing it camping and stayed in motels and yurts in Ashland, Crater Lake, Eugene, Florence, Klamath Falls, Grants Pass, Lincoln City, Newport and Medford. The summer of 2009, we camped out and stayed mostly in Mendocino and Monterey. The summer of 2010 was spent at a horse ranch in Vacaville, Ca. We have stayed at the Ritz Carleton, Hilton, Best Westerns, Luxury Spas, LaQuinta and Motel 6’s and all types of pet friendly hotels in between.
In California, some of the places we’ve traveled to include Ahwanee, Arnold, Big Bear, Bodega Bay, Calasbasas, Calaveras, Calistoga, Cambria, Cameron Park, Carmel, Crescent City, Desert Hot Springs, Dutch Flat, Eureka, Garberville, Guerneville, Half Moon Bay, Healdsburg, Huntington Beach, Idyllwild, Indio, Irvine, Jenner, Lake Oroville, Mendocino, Menlo Park, Monterey, Napa, Nevada City, Newport Beach, Orick, Pacific Grove, Palm Springs, Paso Robles, Philo, Rutherford, San Diego, Santa Rosa, Sebastopol and Sonora, CA.
Such travels with your sweet baby. God bless you with everything you'll ever want or need. 🙏 (Edited to correct grammar. Evidentally, I can't type and cry at the same time.)