In his Oct. 22 column “Homeless by Choice,” Jason Willick describes a population of young people coming to Berkeley who are part of a youth subculture just wanting to travel around from place to place — more or less having adventures. As someone who has worked with homeless youth in Berkeley for 10 years, setting up the Telegraph Avenue homeless youth drop in center back in 1996 and now working as director of Youth Spirit Artworks, one of the two groups specifically working with homeless youth here in Berkeley today, I would like to address this giant myth.

Jason, if someone you meet on the street asks you how you are doing, what do you tell them? You say, “fine” right, even if you aren’t? If you talk to them for two hours, or maybe two weeks, would you still even then tell them your deepest secrets? I very much doubt it! In 1998 — and things have not changed in who is out there on Telegraph Avenue since 1998 — the city of Berkeley carried out a significant study of homeless youth in Berkeley by hiring veteran social worker Wendy Georges. Georges now runs Alameda County’s TRUST Clinic, which works with hard to reach homeless people. Georges’ results from months of talking with youth showed that an estimated 44 percent of Berkeley’s homeless street youth were victims of either sexual abuse or physical violence. 4 of the 27 youth surveyed in the study were experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder. One hundred percent were medicating the pain related to their trauma with drugs and alcohol.

On the one hand, youth out there have little fishing rods and pails saying “Spare change for pot and alcohol” and seem to be having a grand time. But beneath that surface of “constant partying” there is a very different reality. It isn’t fun being homeless — it’s lonely and extremely dangerous — and people don’t leave “okay” homes to live on the street because it’s fun. Two plus two is still four.

I want to challenge Jason and everyone considering how they are going to vote on Measure S to throw away this often repeated falsehood about why youth are homeless in Berkeley and that it is a “groovy lifestyle they’ve chosen.” That depiction is utterly untrue.

When you see a youth on the street, imagine, instead of their having a sign that says “Spare change for pot,” if he wore a sign that said, “My stepfather raped me for 10 years straight and I couldn’t take it anymore so I left.” The youth on Berkeley’s streets have faced serious abuse and trauma and badly need help.

— Sally Hindman,
Executive director of Youth Spirit Artworks

Contact the opinion desk at [email protected]

Correction(s):
In a previous version of this letter to the editor, the writer said that according to a 1998 study, 85 percent of Berkeley’s homeless street youth on Telegraph Avenue were victims of either physical abuse or violence. In fact, an estimated 44 percent were victims. The letter also stated that 100 percent of Berkeley’s homeless street youth were experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder. In fact, only 4 out of 27 youth surveyed were found to have had post-traumatic stress disorder.

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