To the Editor: As a veteran of the Iraq war who is studying homeless veterans, I am saddened by the conditions of the transition unit, but not surprised.
Axtell has traveled and studied hunger, sustainable development and/or liberation theology in Bangladesh, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Mexico and Nicaragua, and he has studied homelessness and homeless shelters in major American cities.
In a number of studies, homeless women are identified as either accompanied by children or unaccompanied by children.
44 In one study, homeless female sex workers in the United States were more likely than non-homeless female sex workers to report servicing clients who refused to use condoms.
In these studies, homeless men, women and youth described unprotected sex events involving partners with whom they had used condoms in the past but switched to unprotected sex after their relationship developed a strong emotional bond.
Although examples of sexual coercion and deference to male partner preferences for unprotected sex were noted in these studies, homeless women and girls also described how feelings of trust and safety with their male partners often led them to initiate unprotected sex.
The study did not consider homeless men or those in jail or prison.
Leslie Hawke, in a Peace Corps project, is working with a group of Romanians who are studying the homeless here.
Their solution, said Kim Hopper, an anthropologist who studies the homeless, was to refurbish a barge for the destitute; it was moored at the foot of East 26th Street, in the East River.
"The kids who make it under a variety of circumstances have key features in common, most notably relationships with competent, confident adults who believe in them," said Ann S. Masten, a professor and director of the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota, who has studied resilience among homeless children and children of Cambodian refugees.
