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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Donald Whitehead
Aired December 21, 2003 - 09:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: There is no easy way to say it. The list of homeless in America grows longer in 2003. A survey by the Conference of Mayors finds these statistics that can only be called disappointing. Forty percent of homeless people are families with children. Requests for emergency shelter up 13 percent this year. Alas, request for emergency food up 17 percent in 2003, and 39 percent of adults requesting food do have jobs. They are employed, and most of the cities surveyed expect requests for emergency food and shelter to rise again next year.
Well, that statistic is telling. Nearly 40 percent, 40 percent requesting food assistance are employed. They are called the working poor. Today marks National Homeless Persons Memorial Day. It is organized by the National Coalition for Homeless. Donald Whitehead is the agency's executive director, and Donald is joining us from Cincinnati, Ohio. Donald, thanks very much for being here on this day.
DONALD WHITEHEAD, EXEC. DIR., NATIONAL COALITION FOR HOMELESS: Thanks for having me.
CALLEBS: Let's talk about that. Do you think that people realize that basically four out of the 10 adults that you see walking the streets are gainfully employed?
WHITEHEAD: No, they don't. And the other statistic that I would add to that is that the largest growing sector of the population is women and children.
CALLEBS: And what about this? The living wage, that has to frustrate you to a degree. I mean, it's been bumped up in the past several years, but still people making below the poverty level, trying to eke out an existence with families. What's the answer?
WHITEHEAD: Well, we do need something that we worked on called the universal living wage, which indexes the wage in a community to the cost of housing in that community. There isn't one state in the entire country right now, today, where a person earning minimum wage can afford a one- or two-bedroom housing unit at fair market rent. And we believe if you work every day, if you work full time you should be able to afford a place to live in the richest country in the world.
CALLEBS: Donald, how frustrating is it for you in this environment where people may just turn a cold shoulder saying, you know, get a job. These are people who simply don't want to work. That has to be very, very tough. WHITEHEAD: Well, it is very tough, and it is in essence, the problem. The attitude about homeless people has drastically changed over the last 20 years or so, and people do have this conception that homeless people are people that are worthless. They're bums, they're lazy, and that's just not true. They're people just like me and you. People who have been a valuable resource to their community and just have fallen on hard times.
CALLEBS: Yes, for many people, they were living paycheck to paycheck, and when you see an adult on the street, oftentimes there are children who are homeless as well.
WHITEHEAD: Exactly. Again, that's the largest growing sector of the homeless population. Actually, 39 percent of the entire population are children. We're not housing children in the richest country in the world, and I think we really need to do something right away, and we do have, I think, the solution to the issue.
CALLEBS: How much worse do you think it is going to get? I mean, we heard some positive news about the economy. The jobless rate going down. But many people say that doesn't tell the entire story. There are many people who have been unemployment for so long they're not even on the unemployment list anymore.
WHITEHEAD: Exactly. And you're exactly right. There is many people that aren't on our unemployment lists. There are more jobs that are going to be lost in the near future, and the problem will continue to grow. We need to have a dramatic expansion of the production of housing in this country, and until we do, we'll see these numbers continue to climb and we'll see people dying on the streets.
We are memorializing. We just looked at 13 communities, 1,500 people died this year on the streets of America.
CALLEBS: Simply health care, the conditions, things of that nature?
WHITEHEAD: Well, there is a number. They all -- they died for many different reasons. Exposure, hypothermia. Those are things that are very common. In Washington, already this winter we've had two people die from exposure, but they died many different ways, and, you know, again, it's incredible that in the richest country in the world people are dying on the streets.
CALLEBS: Living below the poverty wage.
WHITEHEAD: Exactly.
CALLEBS: Donald Whitehead, the director, thank you very much for joining us here this Sunday, and if you can't think of the homeless in terms of the financial aspect this holiday season, let's hope they at least turn a kind word to folks this time of year.
WHITEHEAD: Thank you very much for having me.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 21, 2003 - 09:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: There is no easy way to say it. The list of homeless in America grows longer in 2003. A survey by the Conference of Mayors finds these statistics that can only be called disappointing. Forty percent of homeless people are families with children. Requests for emergency shelter up 13 percent this year. Alas, request for emergency food up 17 percent in 2003, and 39 percent of adults requesting food do have jobs. They are employed, and most of the cities surveyed expect requests for emergency food and shelter to rise again next year.
Well, that statistic is telling. Nearly 40 percent, 40 percent requesting food assistance are employed. They are called the working poor. Today marks National Homeless Persons Memorial Day. It is organized by the National Coalition for Homeless. Donald Whitehead is the agency's executive director, and Donald is joining us from Cincinnati, Ohio. Donald, thanks very much for being here on this day.
DONALD WHITEHEAD, EXEC. DIR., NATIONAL COALITION FOR HOMELESS: Thanks for having me.
CALLEBS: Let's talk about that. Do you think that people realize that basically four out of the 10 adults that you see walking the streets are gainfully employed?
WHITEHEAD: No, they don't. And the other statistic that I would add to that is that the largest growing sector of the population is women and children.
CALLEBS: And what about this? The living wage, that has to frustrate you to a degree. I mean, it's been bumped up in the past several years, but still people making below the poverty level, trying to eke out an existence with families. What's the answer?
WHITEHEAD: Well, we do need something that we worked on called the universal living wage, which indexes the wage in a community to the cost of housing in that community. There isn't one state in the entire country right now, today, where a person earning minimum wage can afford a one- or two-bedroom housing unit at fair market rent. And we believe if you work every day, if you work full time you should be able to afford a place to live in the richest country in the world.
CALLEBS: Donald, how frustrating is it for you in this environment where people may just turn a cold shoulder saying, you know, get a job. These are people who simply don't want to work. That has to be very, very tough. WHITEHEAD: Well, it is very tough, and it is in essence, the problem. The attitude about homeless people has drastically changed over the last 20 years or so, and people do have this conception that homeless people are people that are worthless. They're bums, they're lazy, and that's just not true. They're people just like me and you. People who have been a valuable resource to their community and just have fallen on hard times.
CALLEBS: Yes, for many people, they were living paycheck to paycheck, and when you see an adult on the street, oftentimes there are children who are homeless as well.
WHITEHEAD: Exactly. Again, that's the largest growing sector of the homeless population. Actually, 39 percent of the entire population are children. We're not housing children in the richest country in the world, and I think we really need to do something right away, and we do have, I think, the solution to the issue.
CALLEBS: How much worse do you think it is going to get? I mean, we heard some positive news about the economy. The jobless rate going down. But many people say that doesn't tell the entire story. There are many people who have been unemployment for so long they're not even on the unemployment list anymore.
WHITEHEAD: Exactly. And you're exactly right. There is many people that aren't on our unemployment lists. There are more jobs that are going to be lost in the near future, and the problem will continue to grow. We need to have a dramatic expansion of the production of housing in this country, and until we do, we'll see these numbers continue to climb and we'll see people dying on the streets.
We are memorializing. We just looked at 13 communities, 1,500 people died this year on the streets of America.
CALLEBS: Simply health care, the conditions, things of that nature?
WHITEHEAD: Well, there is a number. They all -- they died for many different reasons. Exposure, hypothermia. Those are things that are very common. In Washington, already this winter we've had two people die from exposure, but they died many different ways, and, you know, again, it's incredible that in the richest country in the world people are dying on the streets.
CALLEBS: Living below the poverty wage.
WHITEHEAD: Exactly.
CALLEBS: Donald Whitehead, the director, thank you very much for joining us here this Sunday, and if you can't think of the homeless in terms of the financial aspect this holiday season, let's hope they at least turn a kind word to folks this time of year.
WHITEHEAD: Thank you very much for having me.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
