Lose If You Do, Lose If You Don't

I've always felt self-conscious about being seen with my cell phone, especially while panhandling. There have been numerous times that I've been in the median holding my sign when the phone in my handbag would start to ring. Maybe it's just me, but I was always afraid that motorists would view me as a fraud for being out begging for money while owning a cell phone.

However, the truth is that basic utilities such as cellphones, running water, and garbage services are necessities for homeless people too.

I've never met a homeless person with an expensive IPhone, though. Most of us have free government phones, prepaid disposable phones, or basic monthly plans with companies like Boost Mobile or Metro PCS.

In Palm Beach County, homeless people seeking shelter need a phone to call the Lewis Center — a homeless resource center — and leave a message to obtain services. A navigator returns the call within 48 hours to assess them for shelter and place them on the waiting list. Then, they need to receive another return call for when a bed is available.

We also need to provide a contact number to potential employers and the food stamp and social security offices. Additionally, cell phones can be lifelines for the homeless in the event that we're in danger or experiencing a medical emergency.

Unfortunately, it can be extremely difficult to find outside outlets to charge our phones. Many restaurants have even disconnected indoor outlets presumably to deter loiterers and homeless people. Even if we have a cell phone, we are often unable to use it without a place to charge.

I'll admit that some homeless people have made it bad for others by leaving trash around businesses, stealing, or panhandling in the parking lots. I can't blame business owners for not wanting us to hang around their stores. But it still leaves the homeless with a very real dilemma of needing to charge our phones to get off the streets.

One homeless friend of mine, Dilo, has proposed a solution to the problem.

"There needs to be charging stations where we can sit and charge our phones. Each person should be allowed thirty minutes at a time and needs to watch their phone and be responsible for it while it charges," he told me.

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I attended Palm Beach State College while homeless and the Lake Worth campus provided a charging station for students, similar to the one that Dilo suggested. Students would be required to set a combination lock to secure their phones and return to retrieve them once they were charged.

I personally believe that such stations should be provided for the homeless, so we would be able to charge our phones without loitering or taking the chance of our phones being stolen while charging.

Theft presents another huge communication barrier for the homeless. On the streets, cell phones are a huge commodity and not everyone has the means to get one, even though they need one. Often, when a homeless person has a cell phone, they won't have it very long. If they take their eyes off it for one minute, it gets stolen.

The Lewis Center requiring homeless people to have phone access prevents many of us from being able to obtain shelter. If our phone is stolen or we're unable to charge it, we may miss the call back from the homeless resource center and have to start the process over again, returning to the bottom of the waiting list.

Affordability is an even bigger issue. A person needs to receive SSI, food stamps, or Medicaid to be eligible for a free government phone. This renders many able-bodied homeless people who are under the age of fifty ineligible for this benefit.

However, they may be able to get around this rule if they have proof that they are low-income. Since most homeless people are unemployed, this documentation would need to come in the form of an income statement from Social Security. This is a catch twenty-two situation as you need a phone number and email account to log into My Social Security online services.

Inflation has made it more difficult for homeless people to afford phones from places such as Boost Mobile and MetroPCS despite the low cost of basic monthly service. Alternatively, many homeless people have resorted to buying prepaid phones from Walmart and convenient stores, but even that cost is hard to afford on a panhandler’s budget.

I think it's ridiculous for PBC Homeless

Outreach to expect a homeless person to have a working cell phone. Although some of us do have one, most of the homeless people I know struggle to obtain a phone and struggle even harder to hold onto it and charge it.

Dilo has had numerous phones stolen.

"I need my phone. I don't know why people keep taking my phone, but I need it back," he adamantly told me — and everyone who would listen — the last time his phone was stolen. He literally begged me to help him get his phone back, but there was little that I could do. His friend, who preferred not to be named, thought that it was cruel for someone to steal his phone: "What if there was an emergency back here and he needed to call for help? That phone could save someone's life."

Sometimes that scenario does happen amongst the homeless population. I've called 911 a few times when someone overdosed on drugs or had a medical emergency. Just a few months ago, the woods caught on fire and I had to call for help. Thankfully, my phone still had four percent charge or else the fire could've spread to nearby homes.

Although cell phones are the primary public utility that homeless people are in need of, outside water spigots are also becoming increasingly scarce in spite of summer approaching and temperatures rising. This doesn't make much sense to me as most outside water spigots are on the backside of buildings, thus their usage doesn't contribute much to loitering.

Dilo thinks that the cost of electricity and water is a factor in this, explaining that people take advantage of it, and the stores are “tired of paying a higher bill for us using their lights and water.”

This could very well ring true even though water bills are typically not as high as electric bills. Nevertheless, homeless people need to have access to water to prevent dehydration and practice good hygiene. While there are homeless ministries that provide showers, most of them are only open on certain days except for St. Ann's Place — and you need to catch the bus to get there, another monetary barrier.

It goes without saying that you need to look — and smell — presentable to get a job, but in Palm Beach County, I’ve known people to be denied bus service if their hygiene wasn’t up to par. This can sense especially in light of the pandemic, but it can inhibit homeless people from being able to get to ministries that provide food and showers.

I'm not saying that local businesses need to tolerate loiterers or provide utilities for the homeless, but the lack of access to phones and running water is only further contributing to that homelessness. We truly need charging stations, public restrooms, public water spigots, and even public trash cans.

Many businesses and property owners complain about homeless people littering, but at the same time, some business owners are strangely protective of their dumpsters. Recently, a store manager came out the back door with a baseball bat because I was placing a bag of garbage in his dumpster. It seems like we can't win either way because someone would have surely complained had I left the trash laying around.

There's already an issue with limited services for the homeless in Palm Beach County — the Lewis Center is the only place for homeless services that the county website points to — and the lack of cell phone access makes it nearly impossible for homeless people to obtain those few services.

Although some restaurants and convenient stores will give people a glass of water for free or as little as fifty cents, the lack of access to running water impedes proper hygiene and further inhibits the homeless from applying for jobs or even getting on a bus.

As far as garbage disposal goes, we either need to be allowed the free usage of dumpsters or be left alone about the litter. The world can't have it both ways.

Homeless people need food, shelter, and a few bucks in their pockets, but until they're able to get into a shelter or transitional housing, they also need access to basic public utilities in order to ever overcome homelessness and obtain a job and a place to live.