SO WHO IS JAMES ABRO?
A review on Amazon about his book "Facing Homelessness" stated
:
In 2009, James Abro became homeless and destitute. His was not what we have come to think of as the typical story of becoming homeless after ‘hitting rock bottom’ by losing battles with addiction or some devastating personal setback. In that sense, Mr. Abro’s story is the new typical and one he shares with millions of Americans who through no fault of their own find themselves in similar circumstances.
As Matthew Desmond reports in his new book, "Evicted": “Every year in this country families are evicted from their homes not by the tens of thousands or even the hundreds of thousands, but by the millions.” Desmond’s book relies heavily on interviews with people who lost their homes. As Mr. Abro, and others like him will tell you: “When you are in a desperate situation and asked to describe it your instinct is to tell a version of that story that will help you survive and that often means not being totally honest about it. It’s human nature. “
Mr. Abro had no such incentive for writing A Guidebook for Surviving Homelessness. In fact at the time he wrote it he was undergoing treatment for an acute anxiety disorder that resulted from his experience. He felt that the only way to understand what happened to him in order to quell his anxiety and get on with his life was to write about it honestly. And it worked. Mr. Abro has gone on from his experience to become a leading activist for homeless rights in his community, as well as a thought-leader on the subject of poverty.
Mr. Abro is often asked if he could provide a blueprint for someone going through what he did. “No,” he answers. “Social services programs and policies on homelessness vary greatly from state to state and even within counties of a state. But what I can offer is a personal guidebook for getting through what is universal to this experience: trauma, doubt, fear, resiliency and recovery. “
TRISH GOODALL, former Director of the Hope Center, wrote of his book in this way:
"James Abro speaks in a candid and clear voice in his latest book, Facing Homelessness. He is without a doubt a talented and fearless writer; and I truly appreciated that he shared the utter darkness of his experience, not just the light at the end of the tunnel. We as readers have much to learn from him as he shares his perspective and personal story. James grew up in a secure family, but then experienced the sudden loss of his support system when, as an adult, he suffered the loss of a dear family member. He then found himself alone, unemployed, and detached from the world -- facing poverty and homelessness. Through his honest, authentic story-telling, James is able to evoke our empathy and compassion as he shares how he came to inhabit a strange and hostile reality of economic and social poverty."
And James shared his own thoughts about his memoir:
According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, “On a single night in January 2009 there were an estimated 643,067 sheltered and unsheltered homeless people nationwide."
I was one of them. I lost my home in January 2009 after spending more than two years caring for a terminally ill parent. At the age of fifty-five, I was exhausted physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially, and yet I had to go about finding a place to live and a way to restore my life.
This, unfortunately, is no longer uncommon. According to the public policy organization, Demos: one in seven Americans will face homelessness at some time during their lives. Additionally, 10,000 Americans turn 65 every day and will continue to do so for the next fifteen years (MSN). Americans nearing retirement age are looking at the prospect of not being able to retire because they will be unable to afford housing on the benefits provided by Social Security. For many who are unable to extend their careers past the standard retirement age, the financial and personal challenges are daunting.
Facing Homelessness is one of the most dreaded experiences a person can have. Having sociologists interview people struggling with housing issues is not the same as having a professional writer write about their actual experience.
According to a 2016 Marketplace Economic Anxiety Index report, the same percentage of Americans who were experiencing heightened levels of anxiety about the economy and their personal financial well-being during the Great Recession remains the same today, roughly about one-third of the population.
I feel that this persistence of anxiety is due in large part to the fact that for the last 40 years the American ‘Safety Net’ has been so strained and tattered by contentious political ideological battles about its purpose, and even necessity, that it is now frayed so badly that it is a net in name only.
Adding to the dilemma facing someone confronting the possibility of becoming homeless is that charitable religious groups that in the past offered assistance to the needy without asking for anything in return, now in many instances have been replaced by a growing number of Evangelical faith-based groups that subtly, and not so subtly, demand recognition and allegiance to ‘a power greater than oneself that will save you from your plight if only you will let it’. If you are a non-religious person in a vulnerable condition, this can be both a confusing and seductive proposition. I address the dilemma in my book this way: “… in part, I am writing this book for people who, like me, try to find tools – secular and spiritual -- for getting through trying times in their lives without creating another crisis of belief or dependency within them that they will inevitably have to deal with and unburden themselves from at a later date. When you are struggling, your goal is to lighten your load, not add to it.”
Because the social services system in America is so convoluted and varies not only from state to state but even counties within states, there is no way for someone who has successfully faced homelessness to offer a blueprint or guidebook to someone else dealing with this terrifying new norm in American life. But what I can offer is a personal story about how I faced the universal aspects of this experience -- trauma, denial, doubt, fear, resiliency and recovery – as well as a few practical tips culled from my experience.
Excerpts from James Abro's book
FACING HOMELESSNESS
James Abro's Address
at the First United Nations Commission
on Global Homelessness
