Introduction
Did you know that there are 1,500 homeless people living in tunnels below Las Vegas? Directly under the billion-dollar casinos, fancy night clubs and Michelin-star restaurants is a world that you wouldn’t believe is real. Until you go down there and see it for yourself. Drew Binsky teamed up with Rob from Shine a Light Foundation, who guided him down into this underground world to meet with local residents and hear their stories. [Taken from YT description]
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Quotes
“I hate being hated by most everyone for what other people do. Not all homeless people are bad.”
“The tunnel is the best example of both addiction and homelessness.”
“I didn’t hear about them [the tunnels] until I was like 2-3 years homeless. I had relapsed, was homeless right away. I was living on the surface and when you’re homeless there’s no resources, you don’t know where anything is.”
“Dead. I don’t have anything to look forward to. I’m not suicidal or anything like that, every day is like the movie Groundhog Day, it’s repetitive every day. Anything you try to do to get ahead won’t work.”
“That’s the biggest thing with homelessness, especially in Las Vegas. Nobody even knows they’re here.”
“What if we take care of you? What if we take care of the first 3 months? I’ll take you to Crossroads, you clear detox, put you in housing, you do treatment, kind of work on getting all your basic documents, anything you need, set up, then put you in sober living. We pay for the first 3 months of sober living too so it’s 6 months focused on your recovery.”
“I got out of homelessness on a big arrest. I got arrested and they offered me treatment because I suffered from a substance use disorder and I took the offer … I went to Salvation Army in 2017 and I wasn’t homeless after that. I stayed sober in 2019, it was a gradual process of figuring things out … I’ve been sober for 4 years. I think it’s nice to have resources and a community of people that we didn’t have when I was out.”
Continue Learning
Hey there! I hope you found this resource useful! If you’re interested in learning more about some of the topics discussed, you can browse through these additional resources. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you need help with anything else.
Homelessness & Poverty
- Addiction, Substance Use and Homelessness – Canadian 2021 Report [PDF]
- Addressing the Social Determinants of Health in Substance Use Prevention [PDF]
- Are Poverty and Homelessness The Same Thing?
- Homelessness 101
- Homelessness and Racial Disparities
- How Finland Found a Solution to Homelessness
- How Racism Influences Homelessness
- Mental Health Effects of Poverty, Hunger, and Homelessness on Children and Teens
- Poverty, Homelessness, and Family Break-Up
- Socioeconomic Determinants of Health [PDF]
- The True Cost of Poverty
- Understanding the Relationship Between Addiction & Poverty in Combating Disadvantage
- Welfare and the Politics of Poverty
- Why Is It So Hard to Escape Poverty?
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