Square's Homeless Face New Challenges

"Juan" huddles outside of Store 24, shivering. His thin leather jacket offers no protection from the 20-degree weather. He wears earplugs--the kind sold at CVS, six for $2.

Juan says he wears the earplugs so he can tune out snide comments made by passerby.

"Every evil thing that you can possibly imagine has been said to me," Juan says. "They spit at me, tell me I'm going to be dead or say they're going to kick my face in."

"See the spit on the windows here?" Juan asks, pointing to streaks of mucous plastered on the Store 24 window. "People spit on me and at me quite often."

Homelessness is never pretty, but it has long been thought things were better in Harvard Square. The people who work and study in the Harvard area were thought to be kinder, more generous and more liberal than most.

That impression, however, doesn't square with the experience of the Square's homeless. In interviews, they describe almost constant harassment.

"People tell me, "Why don't you go into detox?' I've never drank in my life," Ed A. Springman, homeless for two months, says while selling Spare Change outside of Bay Bank. "[People say] 'Get a job.' This is my job."

"Sal," another Spare Change vendor, agrees.

"I've had people throw hot coffee on me, spit on me," he says. "They say 'Drop dead' or 'I don't give a shit about the homeless.'"

Negative remarks are devastating for the homeless. "They make me feel like shit, worse than I already feel," Sal says.

John B. Hayman, who works regularly as a panhandler in front of the Coop, says the people he sees on the street seem very concerned with material things.

"Everybody will look [in the Coop] more than they will say 'Hi' to me," Hayman says. "They'd rather look at something inside the window."

"Let Him Eat Cake"

Many of their tormentors, the homeless say, are Harvard students.

"[Some Harvard students] have spit on me, some have thrown their snot rags on me," Juan says. "There were some female Harvard students who told their boyfriends not to give me a dime when they were going to give me a dollar. [The girls] said 'Let him eat cake,' you know, the famous words of Marie Antoinette."

Hayman says he thinks Harvard's insular nature contributes to students' ignorance of the homeless. "Harvard students have been conditioned in classes to think of people as less intelligent then they are," he says. 'If [I] say 'Hi', they don't say 'Hi' back."

Levon Hailey, a panhandler on Church Street, says that although some Harvard students are kind, others shun the homeless because of their upperclass backgrounds.

"Their parents had money," Hailey says. "They've never experienced life on the street."

Springman says he uses humor to counter sneers he receives from Harvard students. "A lot of [Harvard students] act like I have typhoid, they look the other way," he says. "I'll tease them and say 'Smile' or tell them 'It's only a hundred-dollar donation.' That gets a laugh."

Many of the homeless people interviewed say pedestrians who do not have money should respectfully decline a panhandlers' request.

"[If people don't have money] they should just say they don't have it and move on," says John K. Johnson, who panhandlers outside of Store 24. "They should do it with respect for the individual who's asking."

Springman wishes people would acknowledge his existence. "A lot of people try to make believe that they didn't even hear [my solicitation]," he says. "[I want them] to acknowledge that I'm alive, [they should] at least nod their head."

The Square's homeless people say that while life is hard for all, it's especially hard for homeless who are minorities. Johnson, who is Black, says he experiences racism everyday.

"If I'm a Black in a white-dominated area, I'm going to experience [racism] because I'm a Black individual who stands out," Johnson says. "I get the looks and I can tell there's lot of racism."

"I get a lot of people calling me out in my name, my race's name," Hailey says. "Boston is a racist town."

A Lucrative Occupation

The homeless people interviewed for this story emphasize that they are not bums. Soliciting donations is their occupation.

"I'm a salesman," Springman says. "I like selling, period, plus [I'm selling] for a good cause."

"You gotta have a heart for these types of things," Johnson says.

There are side benefits to the job. Each day, Square homeless get to meet new people, they say.

"You get to meet a lot of people, women friend, guy friends, there's people who care out there," Johnson says.

Panhandling can be a lucrative occupation for some homeless people. The average income per day of those interviewed ranges from "pennies" to $65. The panhandlers interviewed for this article worked for six to 14 hours a day and from one to seven days per week.

Location is a major factor in the amount of money a panhandler earns. Areas where people are bound to have money--such as ATM machines and supermarkets--are good places to solicit donations.

"Store 24 has a lot of people coming in and out," Johnson says. "Hang around here and you're going to get a lot of change."

"Ideally I try to find supermarkets and places like that where people may be more prone to share their bounty," Sal says.

Technique is also critical in winning donations. A friendly attitude is vital, the homeless say.

"Even though I'm homeless, people are amazed at how friendly and outgoing I am," Springman says.

Juan says the amount of money he receives depends on the type of sign used.

"If I were to hold out a sign saying 'Spare change for marijuana,' all the people who smoke pot would give me money," Juan says. "If I were to hold out a sign saying 'Donations for a six pack,' all the people who drink beerwould give money."

Then, he points to a sign saying "Phantasmagorical Review."

Juan says: "For 'Phantasmagorical Review,' all the people who don't know what that means will give me money."

'Rich Kids Go to Harvard'

While they aren't always treated well when they get here, many homeless people come to the Square because of its reputation for having generous and wealthy students and professors.

"Harvard Square has money," Johnson says. "A lot of rich kids go [to Harvard]."

Some people drive in from other towns to work the crowd in Harvard Square, says Kristen T. Sudholz, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association.

"There are people who are scammers," Sudholz says. "They live in Lexington or Concord or Waltham, drive to Alewife and take the train in and panhandle in the Square all day."

Homeless people are also drawn to Harvard Square because of the high volume of pedestrian traffic, Sudholz says. "If only three percent of pedestrian traffic gives money to the homeless, the higher pedestrians you have, the higher chance you're going to get money," she says.

'Phantasmagorical Review'

National statistics say that many homeless got that way because of substance abuse, mental illness, or both.

Homeless people in the Square, however, maintain that they are victims of bad luck. Asked how he got to be homeless, Juan says chillingly, "Evil happenings, phantasmagorical, evil, evil."

Hailey says he has been homeless since he lost his job with Digital Equipment three years ago.

"I went through a divorce and then Digital transferred to the West Coast," he says. "I don't want to move to the West Coast--San Francisco's too expensive. I can go back if I want to."

Several homeless people said they blame their current condition on work-related injures. Springman, for example, says he sold furniture in the Midwest until he broke his back.

"I broke my back in two places and broke my ankle and was unable to work," Springman says. "Social Security denied me [coverage], saying I wasn't disabled, so I'm fighting them now. Until I get that straightened out. I don't have the money to live anywhere."

Hayman says he became homeless after his wallet was stolen on a return trip from Washington, D.C. "I got robbed on the train," he says. "Someone took my wallet."

'A Regular Guy'

Despite their misfortune, the Square homeless say they are not without ambition.

"I want to get my life back on track, try to get a nice place to sleep and live," Sal says. "I just want to be a regular guy."

Hayman says what he wants more than anything is to make a connection with pedestrians. He tries to feel an unconditional love for even those who pass him by, he says.

"As long as we live in a materialistic era, people are always going to be mean," he says. "You just got to go over that. People are going to be mean but I'm going to be nice anyways."

Many people interviewed say homelessness has taught them a lot about life. Sal says his experience as a homeless person taught him humility.

"I've gotten to look at life from both sides: having money and not having money," Sal says. "People should be happy with what they have, you can reach for it all and never attain it, you'll be frustrated."

"The most important fundamental principles in life are being able to take care of yourself and love."

Charity Capital of America

Homeless people and local officials are careful to note that in Cambridge, both the government and the citizenry look out for them.

"Massachusetts has the highest number of charities per capita in the nation and Cambridge has the largest number of charities in the state," says Sudholz, the business association director. "You're talking about a community that's extremely socially conscientious."

Harvard students play a large part in the community tradition of generosity extended to homeless people. A group of Harvard students run the 23bed homeless shelter at the University Lutheran Church on Winthrop Street.

Student volunteers provide a friendly environment for homeless people, says Patrick S. Yachimski '96, administrative director of the shelter. "Guests like the shelter because of student volunteers," he says. "You tend to get a lot of the same guests coming back so you get to know them very well."

Yachimaki says homeless people give students fresh insights on life. "One woman who was at the shelter for several winters died," he says. "Whenever anything like that happens, there's a chance to pause and reflect how we knew the woman, how we tried to help her and how she helped us."

Harvard is also trying to end discrimination against homeless people on University property. Several years ago, the University signed an agreement with homeless activates ensuring equal access to facilities, said Beth A. Wald, a vice president at the Harvard Real Estate office.

Susan E. Mintz, director of the Cambridge Multiservice Center For Homeless People, says such an agreement guarantees homeless people equal rights.

"If a homeless person comes [into a restaurant] and buys a cup of coffee and gets asked to leave, then if a Harvard graduate student comes in and buys a cup of coffee then [the restaurant] has to ask that person to leave also," Mintz says.

Mintz says the homeless population increased significantly after the 1970s, when many people were deinstitutionalized.

"At the time people thought it was humane to take people out of hospital settings and put them in community settings," she says. "There weren't enough community settings and there was nowhere else for people to go."

The homeless population has shifted towards younger people, Mintz says. "We're seeing more people in their late teens and early 20's," she says.

According to Mintz, most homeless people are not a threat to the public. "I think people confuse different social problems," she says. "Mental illness, alcoholism and other diseases homeless people suffer from aren't diseases that make them violent or lead them to crime."

The effect of homelessness on Harvard Square business is negligible, Sudholz says.

"Sometimes, unfortunately, [panhandlers] can be very aggressive in their panhandling and that can be a turnoff for the customer," Sudholz says. "It depends on how aggressive the homeless person is and how sensitive the customer is to panhandlers and how sensitive the customer is to panhandling.The customer may feel affronted."

Coop President Jeremiah P. Murphy '73 says the homeless in the Square do not affect business. "To date, I've had very few complaints about homeless people in front of the Coop," he says. "In general they don't bother customers."

A Matter of Life and Death

For people like Juan who are truly homeless, life on the streets can be harrowing.

"I sat out here for a week one time, no money, no food. [I survived by] not eating," Juan says. "I starved, that's all could do."

Springman reflects on the loneliness, rejection and inconvenience homeless people encounter.

"I get lonely a lot, knowing I have no place to hang my clothes; every time you leave the shelter I got to take all my clothes with me," he says. "I'd rather be able to go home when I want to, sit down and watch some TV."

While some people dismiss donations to panhandlers as trivial, a small donation can be a matter of life or death for the homeless.

"[Homeless people] are under a lot of pressure to survive, it's not some thing we can take a day off from," Sal says. "It's something we have to do everyday to survive, [not panhandling] would be like not eating or sleeping one day. We all assume it's the next person's job to take care of the homeless."CrimsonCurtis R. Chong'I've gotten to look at life from both sides: havingmoney and not having money.' Sal

Negative remarks are devastating for the homeless. "They make me feel like shit, worse than I already feel," Sal says.

John B. Hayman, who works regularly as a panhandler in front of the Coop, says the people he sees on the street seem very concerned with material things.

"Everybody will look [in the Coop] more than they will say 'Hi' to me," Hayman says. "They'd rather look at something inside the window."

"Let Him Eat Cake"

Many of their tormentors, the homeless say, are Harvard students.

"[Some Harvard students] have spit on me, some have thrown their snot rags on me," Juan says. "There were some female Harvard students who told their boyfriends not to give me a dime when they were going to give me a dollar. [The girls] said 'Let him eat cake,' you know, the famous words of Marie Antoinette."

Hayman says he thinks Harvard's insular nature contributes to students' ignorance of the homeless. "Harvard students have been conditioned in classes to think of people as less intelligent then they are," he says. 'If [I] say 'Hi', they don't say 'Hi' back."

Levon Hailey, a panhandler on Church Street, says that although some Harvard students are kind, others shun the homeless because of their upperclass backgrounds.

"Their parents had money," Hailey says. "They've never experienced life on the street."

Springman says he uses humor to counter sneers he receives from Harvard students. "A lot of [Harvard students] act like I have typhoid, they look the other way," he says. "I'll tease them and say 'Smile' or tell them 'It's only a hundred-dollar donation.' That gets a laugh."

Many of the homeless people interviewed say pedestrians who do not have money should respectfully decline a panhandlers' request.

"[If people don't have money] they should just say they don't have it and move on," says John K. Johnson, who panhandlers outside of Store 24. "They should do it with respect for the individual who's asking."

Springman wishes people would acknowledge his existence. "A lot of people try to make believe that they didn't even hear [my solicitation]," he says. "[I want them] to acknowledge that I'm alive, [they should] at least nod their head."

The Square's homeless people say that while life is hard for all, it's especially hard for homeless who are minorities. Johnson, who is Black, says he experiences racism everyday.

"If I'm a Black in a white-dominated area, I'm going to experience [racism] because I'm a Black individual who stands out," Johnson says. "I get the looks and I can tell there's lot of racism."

"I get a lot of people calling me out in my name, my race's name," Hailey says. "Boston is a racist town."

A Lucrative Occupation

The homeless people interviewed for this story emphasize that they are not bums. Soliciting donations is their occupation.

"I'm a salesman," Springman says. "I like selling, period, plus [I'm selling] for a good cause."

"You gotta have a heart for these types of things," Johnson says.

There are side benefits to the job. Each day, Square homeless get to meet new people, they say.

"You get to meet a lot of people, women friend, guy friends, there's people who care out there," Johnson says.

Panhandling can be a lucrative occupation for some homeless people. The average income per day of those interviewed ranges from "pennies" to $65. The panhandlers interviewed for this article worked for six to 14 hours a day and from one to seven days per week.

Location is a major factor in the amount of money a panhandler earns. Areas where people are bound to have money--such as ATM machines and supermarkets--are good places to solicit donations.

"Store 24 has a lot of people coming in and out," Johnson says. "Hang around here and you're going to get a lot of change."

"Ideally I try to find supermarkets and places like that where people may be more prone to share their bounty," Sal says.

Technique is also critical in winning donations. A friendly attitude is vital, the homeless say.

"Even though I'm homeless, people are amazed at how friendly and outgoing I am," Springman says.

Juan says the amount of money he receives depends on the type of sign used.

"If I were to hold out a sign saying 'Spare change for marijuana,' all the people who smoke pot would give me money," Juan says. "If I were to hold out a sign saying 'Donations for a six pack,' all the people who drink beerwould give money."

Then, he points to a sign saying "Phantasmagorical Review."

Juan says: "For 'Phantasmagorical Review,' all the people who don't know what that means will give me money."

'Rich Kids Go to Harvard'

While they aren't always treated well when they get here, many homeless people come to the Square because of its reputation for having generous and wealthy students and professors.

"Harvard Square has money," Johnson says. "A lot of rich kids go [to Harvard]."

Some people drive in from other towns to work the crowd in Harvard Square, says Kristen T. Sudholz, executive director of the Harvard Square Business Association.

"There are people who are scammers," Sudholz says. "They live in Lexington or Concord or Waltham, drive to Alewife and take the train in and panhandle in the Square all day."

Homeless people are also drawn to Harvard Square because of the high volume of pedestrian traffic, Sudholz says. "If only three percent of pedestrian traffic gives money to the homeless, the higher pedestrians you have, the higher chance you're going to get money," she says.

'Phantasmagorical Review'

National statistics say that many homeless got that way because of substance abuse, mental illness, or both.

Homeless people in the Square, however, maintain that they are victims of bad luck. Asked how he got to be homeless, Juan says chillingly, "Evil happenings, phantasmagorical, evil, evil."

Hailey says he has been homeless since he lost his job with Digital Equipment three years ago.

"I went through a divorce and then Digital transferred to the West Coast," he says. "I don't want to move to the West Coast--San Francisco's too expensive. I can go back if I want to."

Several homeless people said they blame their current condition on work-related injures. Springman, for example, says he sold furniture in the Midwest until he broke his back.

"I broke my back in two places and broke my ankle and was unable to work," Springman says. "Social Security denied me [coverage], saying I wasn't disabled, so I'm fighting them now. Until I get that straightened out. I don't have the money to live anywhere."

Hayman says he became homeless after his wallet was stolen on a return trip from Washington, D.C. "I got robbed on the train," he says. "Someone took my wallet."

'A Regular Guy'

Despite their misfortune, the Square homeless say they are not without ambition.

"I want to get my life back on track, try to get a nice place to sleep and live," Sal says. "I just want to be a regular guy."

Hayman says what he wants more than anything is to make a connection with pedestrians. He tries to feel an unconditional love for even those who pass him by, he says.

"As long as we live in a materialistic era, people are always going to be mean," he says. "You just got to go over that. People are going to be mean but I'm going to be nice anyways."

Many people interviewed say homelessness has taught them a lot about life. Sal says his experience as a homeless person taught him humility.

"I've gotten to look at life from both sides: having money and not having money," Sal says. "People should be happy with what they have, you can reach for it all and never attain it, you'll be frustrated."

"The most important fundamental principles in life are being able to take care of yourself and love."

Charity Capital of America

Homeless people and local officials are careful to note that in Cambridge, both the government and the citizenry look out for them.

"Massachusetts has the highest number of charities per capita in the nation and Cambridge has the largest number of charities in the state," says Sudholz, the business association director. "You're talking about a community that's extremely socially conscientious."

Harvard students play a large part in the community tradition of generosity extended to homeless people. A group of Harvard students run the 23bed homeless shelter at the University Lutheran Church on Winthrop Street.

Student volunteers provide a friendly environment for homeless people, says Patrick S. Yachimski '96, administrative director of the shelter. "Guests like the shelter because of student volunteers," he says. "You tend to get a lot of the same guests coming back so you get to know them very well."

Yachimaki says homeless people give students fresh insights on life. "One woman who was at the shelter for several winters died," he says. "Whenever anything like that happens, there's a chance to pause and reflect how we knew the woman, how we tried to help her and how she helped us."

Harvard is also trying to end discrimination against homeless people on University property. Several years ago, the University signed an agreement with homeless activates ensuring equal access to facilities, said Beth A. Wald, a vice president at the Harvard Real Estate office.

Susan E. Mintz, director of the Cambridge Multiservice Center For Homeless People, says such an agreement guarantees homeless people equal rights.

"If a homeless person comes [into a restaurant] and buys a cup of coffee and gets asked to leave, then if a Harvard graduate student comes in and buys a cup of coffee then [the restaurant] has to ask that person to leave also," Mintz says.

Mintz says the homeless population increased significantly after the 1970s, when many people were deinstitutionalized.

"At the time people thought it was humane to take people out of hospital settings and put them in community settings," she says. "There weren't enough community settings and there was nowhere else for people to go."

The homeless population has shifted towards younger people, Mintz says. "We're seeing more people in their late teens and early 20's," she says.

According to Mintz, most homeless people are not a threat to the public. "I think people confuse different social problems," she says. "Mental illness, alcoholism and other diseases homeless people suffer from aren't diseases that make them violent or lead them to crime."

The effect of homelessness on Harvard Square business is negligible, Sudholz says.

"Sometimes, unfortunately, [panhandlers] can be very aggressive in their panhandling and that can be a turnoff for the customer," Sudholz says. "It depends on how aggressive the homeless person is and how sensitive the customer is to panhandlers and how sensitive the customer is to panhandling.The customer may feel affronted."

Coop President Jeremiah P. Murphy '73 says the homeless in the Square do not affect business. "To date, I've had very few complaints about homeless people in front of the Coop," he says. "In general they don't bother customers."

A Matter of Life and Death

For people like Juan who are truly homeless, life on the streets can be harrowing.

"I sat out here for a week one time, no money, no food. [I survived by] not eating," Juan says. "I starved, that's all could do."

Springman reflects on the loneliness, rejection and inconvenience homeless people encounter.

"I get lonely a lot, knowing I have no place to hang my clothes; every time you leave the shelter I got to take all my clothes with me," he says. "I'd rather be able to go home when I want to, sit down and watch some TV."

While some people dismiss donations to panhandlers as trivial, a small donation can be a matter of life or death for the homeless.

"[Homeless people] are under a lot of pressure to survive, it's not some thing we can take a day off from," Sal says. "It's something we have to do everyday to survive, [not panhandling] would be like not eating or sleeping one day. We all assume it's the next person's job to take care of the homeless."CrimsonCurtis R. Chong'I've gotten to look at life from both sides: havingmoney and not having money.' Sal