Visibly Invisible: Mark Horvath
Sometimes we’re too busy trying to solve the problem in someone else’s backyard to have a closer look at what’s wrong in our own. There’s hardly a better example than the new front page story that’s now all over the place: American House of Representatives finally reached an agreement about sending more financial aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. It’s a bit like one of those Hollywood stars with a lot of child support sitting on his checkbook. If you don’t look close enough, you could almost miss another critical issue that hits much closer to home for many. However, it doesn’t have a global appeal. There are no charismatic leaders in military uniforms, no apocalyptic ruins and blood. But it’s suffering nevertheless.
In an article published in the New York Times, Mark Horvath, the man behind the project Invisible People, writes about the issue at the core of his work: homeless Americans, their stories and problems. Some outsiders will tell you that being homeless is a choice: it’s not. All of us need a roof over our heads. This can’t be found in tents, shelters or motels where a family shares a queen size bed. Some hide from the rain in a place that’s one step above a kennel. Now there’s a controversial legislation proposal on the mood board: criminalisation of homeless people allowing the police to fine them up to 300 dollars for it. If you had 300 dollars to spare at any given time, you wouldn’t be using a public bathroom but your own ensuite.
There are many reasons why people end up on the streets and it’s rarely something that happens by a single stroke of bad luck. During Covid, the job market turned into a tree from which apples suddenly started falling, dragging many livelihoods down with them. People like Mark Horvath remind me that no matter what social media tells you, few have a lifestyle that looks good in real life. For every IT engineer using a beach bar in Brazil as his office there’s a million of those serving him frappucinos and that’s not exactly something a filter can zhush up, to quote Jonathan Van Ness. Even if they tried, a classic tv makeover can’t solve this glaring issue.
According to New York Times, on Monday the Supreme Court will be hearing the case of Johnson vs Grant Pass, according to which homeless people are subject to arrest or fine even in a situation when shelters are unavailable. We need to read the writing on the wall: this isn’t a lifestyle, because it’s rarely a choice. Rather a painful necessity where many things we take for granted are no longer easily available. If you don’t have a home, you don’t have a permanent address either so healthcare can be unavailable as well. Some of us have a family willing to help but sooner or later you overstay your welcome, no matter your situation.
There’s no telling what would happen if the legislation comes to pass. Rough sleepers tend to be ashamed of their circumstances or asking for help as such, and this would turn Horvath’s invisible people into a visible nuisance or trespassers at worst. It would do you good to think about this if you should run into a homeless person. In Europe, the situation is different. While there is a part of the population in dire circumstances, I rarely see them around. On Facebook, there’s the Manchester’s Homeless Group. They’re very active helping the local homeless community with food, blankets, sleeping bags or medical aid. Their work is invaluable.
Mark Horvath’s own background story isn’t that different from those in his videos, a channel that by now has over a million subscribers. He worked in Hollywood for 25 years until it all suddenly fell apart due to, as he put it, addiction and bad choices. It turned him into one of those this new lagislation will be mercilessly targeting. In the end, his predicament turned into his mission. A spotlight to shine on invisibles and give them a public platform. In a certain way, every time we ignore homeless people we participate in this looming legislation without ever realising it. However subconscious, yet very real in its detriment. Blink and you’ll miss it.
All we can do is hope that the plight of the involuntary homeless gets the same treatment like American foreign policy, but I won’t keep my fingers crossed. Not just because the young activists currently protesting all over the country don’t seem very affected by those who are suffering on the front lawns of the middle class. Or at least they will before the police chases them away. You won’t see the keffiyeh crowd protesting in Washington against this. Casualties of wars deserve our sympathies, but those you pass by should take precedence. If you’re all about the Middle East but your own family member is sleeping rough in a tent somewhere, you’re plain stupid. Wake up, smell the coffee and snap out of it.
I don’t care what the reason is, but blood is thicker than water. There were cases of boys who, barely 18, get kicked out by their own parents because that’s supposed to be the first step to your American Dream. If you end up in a shelter with your veins full of heroin or robbed of your posessions, it’s not a problem of theirs. How cruel and moronic do you have to be to do this? Parenting isn’t a yoghurt and it shouldn’t have a limited warranty. No matter where your child is, you’re still a parent. Sometimes it’s better to be an orphan than a parent who lost a child. And that’s what we tend to forget. Don’t wait for it to happen to learn why. I’ve seen it, it’s real and it hurts.
The housing crisis doesn’t help this avalanche to stop. Soon you’ll have to be a millionaire to be a homeowner in America. That’s an unsettling thought. The only thing more expensive than being single is divorced. Instead of alimony, you pay for couples counseling before she finally kicks you out into the guest bedroom provided you have it to begin with. If you don’t, count your blessings if there’s an inflatable matress in the basement. This makes Horvath’s work all the more important. Not just to save their face, but to give it to them. Because we can only comprehend things we see and name. It’s not very difficult to identify what this is when you see it. It’s impossible to unsee it and that’s when the tide starts changing for real.
Let’s hope the Supreme Court makes the right decision and doesn’t make their lives more undignified than they already are anyway. Out of sight is out of mind for a reason. Unfortunately, even when you can’t see the trash, you can still smell it, it doesn’t go away. It sticks to your nose. The same is true of tent towns. You may be disgusted or indifferent, but it doesn’t help either way. They need better and they need it now. Especially in winter, when the degrees go down and people are wrapped up in blankets like a sushi. If it doesn’t break your heart, it’s because you don’t have one. There are too many invisible people out there. No matter if they’re squatting on the streets or just passing by. There’s always a story to be told and Hovarth provides the platform for it. It’s good to know his gospel is spreading out.
He’s good at this because he’s been in these shoes himself. He knows how tight they can be. That gives him an advantage over those who are sharing this space without having lived through the experience. To legislators making a life-altering decision for homeless people, I suggest to switch shoes with them for a single night. Maybe with Walter, the man who lived in an empty railway tunnel in New York for 20 years before getting hit by a train in 2012. He turned that inhumane enviroment into a home, a parallel underground world. Safety wasn’t a commodity to be found there and that’s a risk people like him face on a daily basis. In an environment devoid of hope and full of quiet despair, you’ll quickly learn this the hard way.
Now that he’s no longer with us, Walter serves as a lesson. As invisible as he might have been, he was still the light at the end of the tunnel. The middle class will learn if you’re lucky, you’re two steps away from a shelter instead of one. The latter likely applies to the working class. We might have to invent a new color for their collars, since the thing remaining blue about them is their mood. Imagine what the money used for someone else’s wars could do for people living in parking lots with kids sleeping in the back seats. Yes, I know, you’ll say that’s a false equivalence and Putin and Netanyahu are a looming danger. But our priorities are completely upside down. Just like the mess in the Middle East, if homeless and criminal become synonyms in America, it will indeed be a crime against humanity.
