23 Profile Essay

Because of Choices Made: Edmundo Garcia Interview on Homelessness
By Ashton Garcia

“Freedom is meaningless if people cannot put food in their stomachs, if they have no shelter, if illiteracy and disease continue to dog them.” – Nelson Mandela. Edmundo Garcia is a 30-year-old general contractor in Georgia. He is originally from Twin Falls and has spent a small percentage of his life homeless. He defines homelessness as “as a situation that a person is put in when they do not have the ability or the needs to support themselves to live a normal life and thus are forced to not have a home and live on the streets or house to house. They don’t have enough resources or have it figures out how to adult. The social construct of America is not in favor of them.”

Firstly, Edmundo answered questions on factors that both help and hinder the homeless community. “Society as a whole is responsible,” he states. “If can keep us safe from drugs coming in. If the government could crack down and put infrastructure and put in funding. It starts with municipal to federal.” When asked what contributes to the spread of homelessness, he says drugs: “Number one, addiction and bad decisions. The basis of bad decisions is because of poor education or not enough resources in the education system to raise the quality of life to be properly viable in society. A lot of people are homeless because of the choices that they make like addiction.”

Secondly, he was asked why homelessness is up for so much debate. His response was “because a lot of people are homeless because of their own decisions. ‘Why should we help them, if they don’t want to help themselves’? But that buries the people that actually want help.” Directly after, Edmundo was asked what his personal response to the homeless has been. He said that he has asked if they needed food or water but has never given them money. He adds, “Because of my own personal experience, I know not to give a homeless person money.” Edmundo admitted earlier in the interview that he has been homeless before “…because of the choices I made.”

Finally, Edmundo explains what he expects from his community regarding homelessness. He says, “I think, the community needs to not put a stigma on them but also… the community needs to put in infrastructure such as homeless shelters.” And when asked what an effective way to minimize or end homelessness was, he responded, “Infrastructure for youth and education, and infrastructure for people who are experiencing homelessness for any reason.”

In conclusion, seeing homelessness from the perspective of someone who has experienced homelessness gives interesting insight to the experience. Edmundo views the cause of homelessness to be more of an educational issue, saying more infrastructure is needed to combat it. Hopefully this understanding will help homelessness in the future.

Works Cited

Garcia, Edmundo. Interview on Homelessness. Interview by Ashton Garcia, 25 Sept. 2024.

“TOP 25 HOMELESS QUOTES (of 434).” A-Z Quotes, www.azquotes.com/quotes/topics/homeless.html.