美国“流浪汉危机”日益严重

美国作为世界上最发达的国家之一，无家可归的现象却泛滥成灾。不仅流浪者自身的生活状况堪忧，更是引发了一系列社会问题。究竟是什么原因造成了美国的“流浪汉危机“？政府又面临着怎样的挑战？本期Quriosity将带您一探究竟。

What’s going on? 究竟发生了什么

They seem to be almost everywhere, in places old and new, no age spared. Sleeping on cardboard or bare ground, the homeless come together under bridges and trees, their belongings in plastic bags symbolising lives on the move.

无论是在老城区还是新城区，也无论长幼，他们似乎无处不在。无家可归的人们在桥下、树下聚集，睡在硬纸板或是地上，那些装在塑料袋里的随身物品象征着他们四处为家的生活。

Many have arrived on the streets just recently, victims of the same prosperity that has transformed cities across the US West Coast. As officials struggle to respond to this growing crisis, some say things are likely to get worse.

许多人都是最近才流落街头的。他们同样都是美国西海岸城市繁荣转型的受害者。虽然官员们努力应对着这场日益严重的危机，但有人说事态可能会变得更糟。

Booming demand in an area with limited housing offers quickly drove the cost of living up, and those who were financially on the limit lost the ability they once had to afford a place.

在住房供应有限的地区，迅猛增长的需求快速抬高了生活成本，使那些经济拮据的人们失去了他们曾经可以负担住所的能力。

"Even though the economy has never been stronger," Mayor Ted Wheeler, a Democrat, said, "inequality is growing at an alarming rate and the benefits from a growing economy are increasingly concentrated in fewer and fewer hands... We have increasing disparity all across the United States, and that's definitely impacting people."

“尽管经济形势从未像现在这么好过，但发展不平等的程度却正以惊人的速度增长。经济增长带来的好处正越来越集中于少数人手里...日益严重的不平等问题存在于整个美国，这肯定会对人们造成影响。”波特兰市长兼民主党人泰德·惠勒（Ted Wheeler）说。

Exact numbers are always hard to come by but 553,742 people were homeless on a single night across the US in 2017, the Department of Housing and Urban Development said, the first rise in seven years.

美国住房和城市发展部表示，尽管很难统计出确切的数字，但在2017年全美有553742人在一夜之间变得无家可归。这是7年来该数据的首次上升。

Declines in 30 states were overshadowed by big surges elsewhere, with California, Oregon and Washington among the worst. Los Angeles, where the situation has been described as unprecedented, had more than 50,000 people without homes, behind only New York City, which had some 75,000.

危机的浪潮使30个州陷入衰退的灰暗，其中加利福尼亚，俄勒冈和华盛顿的情况最为糟糕。纽约约有75000人无家可归, 洛杉矶也史无前例地以50000人无家可归的数据，紧随其后。

Being a homeless person 流浪者的生活

Joseph Gordon, known as Tequila, has lived in a homeless camp called Hazelnut Grove since its creation in 2015, when Portland first declared a state of emergency over the crisis. "It's very scary. The people I have come across," said the 37-year-old, "are from every single walk of life. And the homeless population is getting bigger and bigger."

约瑟夫·高登，绰号龙舌兰，自从一个流浪者营地“榛果林”2015年建成后，他就一直住在那里。当时波特兰市首次因此次危机宣布进入紧急状态。37岁的约瑟夫·高登说：“真的很可怕。我在营地遇到的人来自各行各业。而且流浪者的数量仍在不断增加。”

Tequila arrived from Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2011 and said they (Tequila is a transgender man and asks to be referred by this pronoun) became homeless after losing the apartment they shared with a former violent partner.

来自俄亥俄州辛辛那提的龙舌兰（一位跨性别者，他要求使用这个代称）在2011年来到这里，他说在失去了与一位暴力的合租人共享的公寓后，他们只能流浪街头。

"Being out on the street you deal with all sorts of things like having to relax with living with rats. You also start to appreciate running water or when you can go to the bathroom anytime you want," said Tequila.

“露宿街头时，你得对付各种各样的麻烦事，比如习惯和老鼠同居。你也会开始感激有自来水可以使用，或是可以随时上厕所。”龙舌兰说。

The self-governed community of small wooden structures next to a highway had more than a dozen residents, half of them with some sort of income, Tequila said. "If there was access to actual affordable housing they would take it."

这个高速公路附近的小型木制结构自治社区已有超过十二位居民，其中一半的人多少有一些收入。龙舌兰说：“如果真的有经济适用房，这些人肯定会去购买。”

In Portland, the rent of a one-bed flat is, on average, $1,136 (£867), which is out of reach for those who rely on Social Security cheques, topped at $735 locally, or earn the minimum wage, $12 per hour.

在波特兰，一间单人公寓的平均房租约为1136美元（867英镑），那些依靠最高金额只有735美元的当地社会保障金支票生活，或是领着12美元每小时的最低工资的人们，根本无法承担这笔费用。

Elderly people and minorities have been disproportionally affected, according to a study by Portland State University, which said technology could result in thousands of low-paid jobs being cut, probably making things even worse.

波特兰州立大学的一项研究表明，老年人和少数族裔受影响最大。研究还指出，技术发展会使数以千计的低收入工作被淘汰，这可能会让事态变得更糟。

"We have a housing market that's really unaffordable for folks at the lowest income level," said Shannon Singleton, Executive Director of Join, a charity that helps homeless people return to permanent housing. "There's a real lack of hope. Folks are struggling to see the ability to end their homelessness and get back in the market."

Join是一个帮助无家可归的人们找到稳定居所的慈善机构。其执行董事珊农·辛格顿说：“我们现在的住房市场对于处在最低收入阶层的人们来说是无法负担的。”他还说：“希望很渺茫。人们挣扎着想要摆脱无家可归的状态，重新融入这个市场。”

While some defend Tequila's camp as a model for an alternative solution, authorities have said it will, eventually, have to go. No date has been set yet but there have been troubles with nearby neighbours recently.

一些人认为龙舌兰的营地是另一种解决居住问题的典型，但是当局认为此类营地终究还是不能保留。拆除营地的日期还未确定，近日却引起了附近居民的不满。

Even more profound repercussions 影响远远不止这些

This is a crisis long in the making. Cuts by the federal government to affordable housing programmes and mental health facilities in the last few decades helped send many to the streets nationwide, officials and service providers said, as local authorities were unable to fill the gaps. The current affordability problem is now adding to it.

这次危机爆发的导火索早已埋下。官员及服务提供者称，联邦政府近几十年来对经济住房项目和心理健康机构的削减，使全国许多人流落街头，而当地政府根本无法填补空缺。如今的负担能力问题也在给危机火上浇油。

Australian academic Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, travelled across the US for two weeks last December in a mission that included visits to Los Angeles and San Francisco. It resulted in a scathing report in which he said the American dream was, for many, rapidly becoming the American illusion - the Trump administration strongly criticised his findings.

澳大利亚学者菲利普·艾尔斯顿是联合国极度贫困与人权问题的特派调查员。去年十二月，他在一次任务中花费了两周时间周游美国，其中包括洛杉矶和旧金山。他写了一篇言辞犀利的报告，说道美国梦想对于许多人来说，正迅速变成美国幻想。特朗普政府对他的调查结果进行了批评。

Other rich countries have faced rising homelessness, too, as the most vulnerable feel the burden of austerity policies, rising costs and unemployment. But in most parts of Europe, for example, there was still a “robust welfare safety net“, Mr Alston said, to help those at risk. "In essence, if you're in Europe, you get access to necessary health care, psychological, physical rehabilitation... That contrasts dramatically with the US."

其他的富国也同样面临着越来越严重的无家可归问题，处于社会最底层的人们承受着来自经济紧缩政策，上升的物价以及失业的痛苦。然而艾尔斯顿说，在欧洲的大部分地区，仍存在着一张“结实的福利安全网络“，帮助处于水深火热中的人们。“也就是说，如果你在欧洲，你就可以接受必要的医疗以及身心康复治疗……这与美国形成了鲜明的对比。”

Across the country, many say the homeless are unfairly targeted by authorities and that they end up criminalised by their status when accused of offences like sleeping rough, begging and public urination. In August, a federal appeals court ruled that people could not be prosecuted for sleeping on the streets when there was no shelter available.

美国全国范围内，很多人反映无家可归的人们遭到了政府的不公针对。他们由于生活所迫而只得席地而睡、乞讨、在公共场所小便，这些都被指控为违法行为。八月，联邦上诉法院规定，居无定所的人们睡在街上不被视作违法行为。

In Portland, the police oversight agency is reviewing how officers interact with homeless people - many suffering from drug addiction and mental health issues - after a report suggested they accounted for 52% of the arrests recorded last year, despite being a tiny fraction of the local population of some 640,000.

在波特兰，警方监督机构正在检查警官是如何对待流浪者的。很多流浪者饱受毒瘾和精神疾病的折磨。此前，一份报告显示尽管流浪者人群只是当地640000人口中的很小一部分，但去年的警方拘捕记录中高达52%是这群人。

"People are simply trying to survive and they don't have means to do so," said Kimberly McCullough, Policy Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Oregon. "We're seeing a crisis of our humanity and how we're going to treat and help each other."

俄勒冈美国公民自由协会（ACLU）政策主管金伯利·麦卡洛说：“这些人们只是想生存下去，却无法做到。我们目睹的是一场人性的危机，考验我们将如何互相对待、互相帮助。”

Tequila, however, was not surprised. "Of course there are tensions," they said. "If a police officer is having a bad day... the easiest target is a homeless person, especially the ones who are by themselves."

但是龙舌兰对此言论并没有感到惊讶。收容所的人们说：“危机当然存在。”“如果某个警官心情不好……一个无家可归的人便成为了最容易攻击的目标，尤其是那些孤身一人的人。”

Back at Hazelnut Grove, Tequila, who had found a part-time job, was asking for donations of toilet paper, garbage bags and shampoo. They were gathering documents to join a local affordable housing programme but did not expect to move from the camp any time soon.

"A high homeless situation is not a good sign, especially when you're the richest country," Tequila said. "There's very little hope. It's a dire situation."

在榛果林营地，已经找到兼职工作的龙舌兰在请求大众捐助一些卫生纸、垃圾袋和洗发水。收容所的人们正收集者文件，试图成立一个当地经济适用房的项目，但是他们并没有抱希望能够很快离开营地。龙舌兰说：“大量人无家可归不是一个好兆头，尤其是作为世界上最富有的国家。人们看不到希望。处境凄凉。”