The Working Homeless

It is probable that many people in and around Sheridan are under the impression that homelessness is a big-city problem.
Not so.
I can count one person, an old veteran, in the past year who I have seen pushing a grocery cart on Sheridan’s streets. We have no one sleeping in our post office, and all other public nooks and crannies are devoid of sleeping or passed-out people.
We have had two people in the last year camped out at an exit off Interstate 90. Both incidents drew a lot of attention.
Because we have a homeless shelter, such as it is, in Sheridan, it could also be presumed that all the homeless in Sheridan are taken care of.
Not so.
The homeless in Sheridan are unseen, and many have jobs.
They will be in front of you in line at Wal-mart, and you won’t know they are homeless. They work behind a desk in a nice facility, but they are homeless. They are on your construction crew, but they can’t find a place to live. They are janitors, mill workers, the people who take your order at a fast-food restaurant, cooks in nicer sit-down places, CNAs, small-scale contractors, painters, your cashier at Kmart – homeless. Lost between the cracks.
Most are not without shelter. They are living on the couch at their brother’s place, or crashing at a friend’s place subjected to a lifestyle involving drugs or other weirdnesses. They may be one of eight people living in a two-bedroom trailer house. They may be staying with a different person each night.
God help them, some of them are staying at the Sheridan Community Shelter. They will either endure the director’s intrusive, authoritarian ways; leave because of same; or get kicked out for reasons undetectable with a good microscope. Not a good option, in any case.
They are the working homeless.
They are here.