This site will be reconstructed into distinct societal problems that effect those who have lost jobs, homes, the ability to buy health insurance (and co-insurance), and corruption on all levels which force individuals to lose their civil rights under the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the Americans With Disabilities Act.  

As always, this site is mainly devoted to the situations of the UNDETECTABLE homeless who are dwelling in alternative housing while mingling invisibly among us.  Their anonymity is essential to their choices of lifestyle and self-employment.  Marjorie Bard, Ph.D., discusses housing, jobs, and health care when traditional methods have failed.  Very specific attention will be paid to issues which effect women, especially those over 50 who are in crisis: pre-homeless, living with relatives, friends, or are already homeless and using innovative strategies to remain completely hidden as "homeless."  Dr. Bard will relate how those with whom she has located, interviewed, and filmed (faces pixilated) are surviving on wheels, water, in the wilderness, and within a weather pattern.  Some live within one area or use mobility to seek employment.  The major tactic is to avoid identifying themselves to any governmental or private agency which deletes self-determination and mobility and creates a dependency that sends one on a downward spiral of lack of control over one's current life and future.  While some receive Social Security and/or disability checks, the main source of income becomes how one uses natural skills to create self-sufficiency.

Marjorie Bard has been writing and speaking at conferences since 1980 about the recasting of abandoned and dying tiny towns for (Community Land Trust) permanent homes, self-and co-op employment and e-commerce; organic gardening; "Green techniques" including solar and wind energy, efficient water collection, and permaculture.  Innovation and self-sufficiency are the goals for people who want a stakeholdership in a new community/town inhabited by the homeless who agree to sweat equity labor and fellowship for a sustainable future.  On the Home Page of http://www.studioclub.com., Dr. Bard has a link titled Undetectable Homeless which has been ongoing since 2002.  In their own words, the root causes of their homelessness are described, and the solutions they suggest provide answers to all of the questions that the general public ask.  Alternative housing and self and co-op employment have given them a future that may be "less" than owning a house and having a supposedly permanent job with future benefits, but provides pride in accomplishments that were never considered.  The solutions seem to point to new philosophies about our "carbon footprints."  As of 2010, there are two tiny thriving new comunities which were instigated by Dr. Bard.  The first real effort must be the establishment of a National Bulletin Board ("live" and on the internet) that will focus on churches closed during the week providing a place to list names, preferred states for new settlements, and skills offered.  This is a very complicated topic to address on this limited site, but once stable homeless people can begin a process, perhaps our senators and the White House will listen to "out of the box" solutions.  Have you even heard the last two presidents mention alternative housing communities?  Where does the current president think that the people who lost jobs and homes are living?  Does he believe that all homeless people go to missions and shelters?  Thinking "out of the box" is the only way to solve our housing problems....

An alternative lifestyle in an RV?

One very good alternative to a traditional house is an RV.  A common error is to imagine the scenario of "the rich" living in an RV, traveling for "fun."  This is reality: having a roof over one's head with basic amenities. There are many older, used RVs, and they offer a unique "nest" -- a stable dwelling place or for travel to discover self or traditional employment opportunities.   One of my favorite vehicles is a used small or mid-sized truck.  It is more roomy than a converted van, is welcome at any of the newly updated truck stops -- and there is no time limit for parking.  A station wagon, an older SUV, camper, trailer, or van provides less room, but "cheaper" just means less space for conveniences.  The plan is what is important: when you are aware that money is running out, plan in advance for that move to a new "nest."  There are used vehicles available for sale or trade at trailer parks and mobile home parks/resorts as well as in many used car lots and specific magazines that cater to travelers.  Don't be afraid to take that step of preventing a sudden lack of money for rent or mortgage.  Take the initiative and plan for an economic crisis that requires the loss of a traditional home.  The important point is that you never have to be a "visible" homeless person who must try a mission or shelter where danger lies and you are a target.  Have a place with your own lock and the ability to be mobile. 

Dr. Marjorie Bard discusses solutions to problems of  the hidden lifestyles -- solo or shared.  It may be a matter of loneliness or seeking ideas for self-employment...or more involved information which is essential to alleviating homelessness and unemployment in America: self-sufficiency in newly-created towns/communities.  By recasting abandoned or dying small towns, "pioneers" and the pre-homeless/homeless can participate in (re)building homes and stores with sweat equity labor, small organic farming, utilizing alternative energy and water collection systems, using flat rooftops for organic growth, and creating co-op business and e-commerce ventures.  This is the subject of Marjorie Bard's initial book regarding the "hidden" homeless woman: SHADOW WOMEN: HOMELESS WOMEN'S SURVIVAL STORIES (Sheed & Ward, 1990) -- following a doctoral dissertation at UCLA in 1988. Another published book, ORGANIZATIONAL AND COMMUNITY RESPONSES TO DOMESTIC ABUSE AND HOMELESSNESS (Garland, 1994) is also available for sale in various bookstores as well as on the internet. 

In the 2000 era, we are aware of longtime working men over 50 who were-and-are victims of companies downsized/closed (with retirement benefits gone) or lay-offs due to out-sourcing or the continuous bank failures, Wall St., and sub-prime scandals.  Many of these men are copying the strategies utilized successfully for years by women who simply understood how to survive.  In the 1970s, Dr. Bard discovered this subculture of the larger homeless population and began serious research regarding the root causes of and solutions to "homelessness."  There is an ongoing hunt for a philanthropist who will sponsor obtaining a dying small town to recast and become the model for others in all states. Why are the ultra-wealthy giving money made in the United States to other countries to solve their societal problems when we have very needy people only a matter of blocks from their mansions?  I understand global assistance as well as anyone.  I still do not understand the refusal of our most wealthy families to help America solve homelessness and the factors which have led to job loss and the increasing feeling that Americans are not worthy of the same assistance.  There should be a balance of philanthropy.

NEED: tackling federal and state laws -- ignored by governors, attorneys general, and senators who allow preying on the nation's elderly and disabled.  For instance, officials in Maine actually encourage (by not prosecuting) internet and email fraud by landlords who lie on the web about rental conditions, causing monetary loss and injuries which may lead to unemployment and homelessness.  Why is Maine's Attorney General not elected or appointed, but selected by a secret ballot by the legislators?  Doesn't this sound suspicious?  Our systems fail us repeatedly.  There is an increase of chronyism and a lack of accountability to citizens, and everyone needs to stand up and make a statement that is heard all over the country.  It is apparent that politicians are not paying attention to anyone except those who contribute to their (re)election campaigns.  Maybe citizens, who actually own the White House, should set up camp on the lawns.  Then, of course, everyone would be jailed.  However, for some, that would mean a safe place to sleep with three meals a day, TV, and "friends" with much better ideas to share. "Out of the box" thinking is what our politicians need to do.

NEED: There must be a serious discussion of the differences between urban and rural health care.  Maybe you live in a state in which physicians are not just "allowed" to assault patients, causing serious injuries, but are actually "encouraged" to do so, permitted (not disciplined) by the State Board of Physicians  The physician may then lie (slander and libel) to other doctors about a patient with the result that no other M.D. will take him/her as a patient, nor will hospital physicians perform examinations or treatments.  Further, other M.D.s can state without fear: "That's the way it's done around here, and you have two choices: move far away to a city with a clinic, or do away with yourself since no other Dr. here will ever see you...." (verbatim quote by a semi-rural orthopedic specialist/surgeon to a person battered by an internist)!  It's the "Old Boys Club" of covering for each other.  Further, a physician may force a disabled person to give up a career and lifetime income by suddenly taking away a tiny amount of a longtime needed/used non-narcotic just "because."  (Malicous act?)  Without any income, how is the patient going to support himself?  That physician has deliberately taken away civil rights, including the right to work to create an income.  Homelessness commonly follows. In addition, ailments accompany the loss of a purposeful life, mainly sadnesss and depression which can lead to suicide.  Elderly people are subject to extreme stress, a stroke or heart attack and death due to such a devastating hopelesssness caused by a physician's unnecessary and perhaps illegal act. The Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD: the larger office of the DEA) has a Mission Statement: "...to ensure and protect the public health by preventing the diversion and misuse of controlled substances without prohibiting their appropriate and effective use."  Disabled people who need mild medication in small amounts for life are not selling their drugs; they must use them appropriately and effectively....The lack of adequate medical care in rural areas is noted by the larger number of folk who do not have a physician with specialized knowledge and very often die as a result. This would not happen in a semi-large/large city! A patient could go to any number of specialists instead of being trapped in an rural area with no choices.  Rural health systems are often plagued by expertise being over-shadowed by the need for any physician who will move there "permanently." Most of these M.D.s are Family Practice doctors, lacking adequate knowledge to address serious maladies/diseases. Some have been disciplined by a state's Medical Board (e.g., AR) and actually sent to (e.g.) Vanderbilt University (TN) for "education classes" in the area of their misconduct.  Many have to move but continue to exhibit their lack of knowledge, commiting the same medical errors in other states.  The question is: Why are so many state Board of Physicians protecting the offender-physicians, and not the public?  We need accountability for our basic health care....In a recent CNN program, the topic was the petition of a million (?) signatures protesting AARP's behavior by pretending to be a nonprofit organization when it isn't, the Executive making deals with UnitedHealthCare (co-insurance) to increase patients' monthly payments while the executives received larger salaries/benefits.  (CNN is the source of information for this petition.  AARP is losing members because it does not serve seniors' needs as advertised. I only saw the show, and I'd suggest that everyone look it up on the internet.)

Dr. Marjorie Bard argues that longtime homemakers should receive a salary for endless work that if done in someone else's house would provide a salary plus future Social Security benefits  Her nonprofit organization has a "subsection" called H.O.P.E.  (Homemakers Organized for Paid Employment.)  This topic has long been ignored by women's organizations which promote women staying at home to raise their children!  Why hasn't this topic been one of their priorities?  Many of the homeless women Bard has interviewed cite years of hard physical work with no salary as the cause of their late-life penury.  Since their husbands did not leave them a sufficient Social Security benefit package, they had no savings  or "retirement plan."

Since the CONTACT US page is useless, please do not use it again.  We have only received garbled messages of letters and numbers, and we apologize for never responding to the many emails that have been forwarded.  Just use an email to islandr@goeaston.net to relate your comments.

We will continue to update this site as of July, 2010, with pertinent comments regarding alternative housing and other topics that effect our lives as the economy creates more unnecessary homelessness.  This is still a site in construction!

PEACE!