How did homeless people become homeless?

Justin Cooke

Let's also remember that a large portion of the homeless people in the US are single moms and their children. It's pretty easy to get stuck without housing when the deadbeat father leaves a mom with kids to support. She then needs to work AND take care of the kids daily. This is impossible on a low income. I hope you realize that the minimum wage in this country (what can be earned at MacDonalds, WalMart, etc.) is NOT a living wage. Also, I know a large number of people were purged from mental institutions in the 80's and they had no real chance at finding stable work and housing. Many of these people were schizophrenic or had other very serious problems. It is very easy to lose one's home if you don't have the safety net that many of us take for granted and something bad happens to you (you are disbaled, you lose your job, your spouse leaves, ...) My father-in-law, for example, had a disabling stroke in Novemeber of last year. He could no longer work -- yet, his SocialSecurity disability payments only began this month. The only reason he didn't lose his housing is that his family members were able to make his payments. Many people aren't so lucky. -Justin

Ed K

In my previous job (police) nearly 50% of the homeless I ran into (and that was a lot!) that were not drunks, addicts or crazy were put there by the IRS. ed ~"Watch your thoughts; they become your words. Watch your words they become your actions. Watch your actions; they become your habits. Watch your habits; they become your character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -Frank Outlaw.

Tad McClellan

I used to work in the public defenders office in San Francisco. That qualifies me as somewhat of an expert on the matter because lot's of our clients were homeless; that is until the got arrested. Then their home was provided for them by the taxpayers of the city and county of San Francisco. Having said that, I will tell you their are two main reasons for homelessness. This is of course subject to much debate but I think most people will agree to these two. 1) Drugs (including alcohol). People with an additiction will sell anything and everything to get drugs. Drugs also happens to be the root cause of about 75% of all crime if not more. Robbing a gas station for money to buy drugs or holding someone up for money to buy drugs is as much drug related as selling on the corner. I once had a client who had masters in physiology and somehow got hooked on crack. She lost all of her family and friends because she stole from them to get money to by crack. Eventually she ended up on the street and got busted. But not before prostituting herself for money to by drugs. 2) Mental sickness. Lot's of people on the street are their because their is not enough help for mentally ill due to budget cuts during the 80's that still remain in place today. They can't get medication or don't take it and eventually they commit some crime. Then they go to jail where their illness is diagnosed and medicated. They get released and the cycle starts over again. The main thing we who are not homeless must consider is whether to give loose change to homeless. Do not do this. Every one of those folks know where to get food and from which homeless shelter. If you give them money you are probably (not always) funding the nights bottle or pipe or something. If you give them something give them McDonalds gift certificates. Better yet, give money to the homeless shelter who will help them in the way they need to be helped. E=mc2 -> BOOM

Tad McClellan

That's what they told you because you were a cop. The IRS by law cannot put someone on the street. E=mc2 -> BOOM

Tad McClellan

Very true but certainly not the majority of homeless. There are lot's of good shelters for single moms to help them get back on thier feet. E=mc2 -> BOOM

Lost User

Albert Einstein. wrote:

Mental sickness. Lot's of people on the street are their because their is not enough help for mentally ill due to budget cuts during the 80's that still remain in place today. They can't get medication or don't take it and eventually they commit some crime. Then they go to jail where their illness is diagnosed and medicated. They get released and the cycle starts over again.

Do you not have organisation in the USA similar to the UK Mind charity? Does the American Healthcare organisations have some kind of moral if not legal responsibilities in the field of mental ill-health?

code frog 0

I can tell you are awfully young and your parents didn't put the time in to training you they should have or you didn't listen. That's a polite rebuke. I'm not mad but you need to get out more and with an open mind. If you want to meet some incredible people (some of them absolutely brilliant), if you want to learn some incredible things about your country or your town. You will go down and talk with some of the homeless. You will walk one across the street and buy him lunch and then you will sit and talk with him for a few hours. You might even pray with him and for him in whatever religion you practice. It's the act of humanity and it's the act of love. You will *NEVER* get it if you do not give it. Yes, I've talked with them. Due to circumnstances beyond my control I and my family almost joined them (not quite literally) instead we lived with my wifes parents for a few months while Katie was in the hospital, I was unemployed and we had no options. Homeless people believe it or not are the seeds of this nation. How many people immigrate to the U.S. and start out homeless? You have so much to think about and appreciate. I promise you that there are homeless people who could not get the loan you just got, could not buy the car you drive and could not live as you live when they first started out. But as time grew and they stretched out their own hands and began the work of rebuilding their own lives they have quickly surpassed you and anything you can fathom.

If we all used the Plain English compiler every post in the lounge would be a programming question.:cool: Welcome to CP in your language. Post the unicode version in My CP Blog [ ^ ] now. People who don't understand how awesome Firefox is have never used CPhog. The act of using CPhog alone doesn't make Firefox cool. It opens your eyes to the possibilities and then you start looking for other things like CPhog and your eyes are suddenly open to all sorts of useful things all through Firefox. - (Self Quote)

Edbert P

How did that happen? They went bankrupt or what? Edbert Sydney, Australia

Christian Graus

That's a good point. I give change to homeless people in the US because US coins are useless, at home I have $20 in my pockets, in the US I have about 35 cents. However, you are right about where it ends up. I should buy some McDonalds gift certificates :-) In Australia we dumped all the mentally ill on the streets as well, I guess someone worked out they are not capable of standing up for themselves. Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++

Tad McClellan

The federal funding for mental institutions was cut during the 80's. This caused a spike in homelessness and crime. Most of the care given for the mentally ill homeless is by charitable (mostly faith based) organizations. These, of course, cannot receive federal funds because of the faith nature of what they do. Much of this is (and this is boarding on soapbox I know) is because people in the US generally feel the government stinks at whatever it does and wants to control where thier taxes go (we also pay a fraction of what our good friends on the other side of the pond do in taxes). While there may be moral responsibilities, there are no legal responsabilities that I know of to help the mentally ill homeless. In fact it is extreamly difficult to get someone into a program if they don't want to. You have to prove that they are a danger to themselves or others. Unfortunantly the fastest way to treatment for many of these people is get arrested for something. The the taxpayers will pay for treatment. E=mc2 -> BOOM

Ed K

Well maybe you should get out there and let them know! Because when I asked they gave a very clear answer. IRS. ed ~"Watch your thoughts; they become your words. Watch your words they become your actions. Watch your actions; they become your habits. Watch your habits; they become your character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -Frank Outlaw.

Link2600

code-frog wrote:

I can tell you are awfully young and your parents didn't put the time in to training you they should have or you didn't listen. That's a polite rebuke. I'm not mad but you need to get out more and with an open mind.

What do you mean? I'm not saying people shouldn't talk to homeless people, I'm just surprised that you have the courage to talk to them. I'm actually very shy. Heck, everytime they came to me and ask for some change, I've never turned them down! People just always misunderstood me. :confused::doh::(

Lost User

Christian Graus wrote:

In Australia we dumped all the mentally ill on the streets as well

Yeah but we rounded them up for a couple of weeks here in Syndey for the Olympics. Objects in mirror are closer than they appear

Lost User

espeir wrote:

BK and McDonald's won't hire drunks and drug addicts who recently left loony bins.

Is that because they fear the food quality may improve if they have junkies preparing it? Michael Martin Australia "I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible." - Mr.Prakash 24/04/2004

code frog 0

No I don't think people always misunderstand you. You just have a very *me* centered view of the world and that will change as you get older. Part of adult maturity means looking someone/anyone in the eye and being able to talk to them. If someone asks you for money you need to learn how to say no and think through the reasons why you should say no. You don't always say that but you need to be able to deal with all types of people. Being shy in my opinion can be used to hide from life. I understand that some shyness is okay but I also believe people use it to escape social responsibility. As far as me talking to them I'll talk to anyone. There's not much I'm intimidated of (obviously I'm not going to approach gangs or other potentially dangerous groups that want to be dangerous) I've kind of seen and done a lot. Anyway, you need to take less of a me centered view and you need to see what the world has to offer. Ideas you've expressed here so far indicate you need a serious confidence boost, you probably are shy because you think you are over-weight an unattractive. Time to get out, exercise, get some confidence and start meeting people all types of people. Make some sandwiches wrap them up and go walk around and give them to homeless people. Stop and chat be polite and learn about life. - Rex

If we all used the Plain English compiler every post in the lounge would be a programming question.:cool:
Welcome to CP in your language. Post the unicode version in My CP Blog [ ^ ] now.

People who don't understand how awesome Firefox is have never used CPhog. The act of using CPhog alone doesn't make Firefox cool. It opens your eyes to the possibilities and then you start looking for other things like CPhog and your eyes are suddenly open to all sorts of useful things all through Firefox. - (Self Quote)

Tad McClellan

I'm not saying that they didn't tell you that. I just saying that they probably were not truthful with you. Do you think they are going to tell a cop that they are homeless because they use drugs? Surely as a cop you would know that people might be less than forthcomming with you. I clerked for a public defender and while our clients didn't always tell us the truth we got more of the truth then the PD did.. Their are very strict rules about what the IRS can and can't do and they can't put you on the street. E=mc2 -> BOOM

Ed K

I know that's what you are saying! But when you verify what they've told you, which we sometimes did because we didn't believe them either, and it turns out true...what am I going to do? Go put the IRS in jail? Not that I wouldn't want to... :mad: Anyways that's just my experience. In what you've said you ran across the others too but when we were called about someone sleeping under a bridge and go investigate, check their arms, go through their stuff and make some phone calls from the squad car to folks who tell us what happened. Then my partner tells me the same story from the guy.. you tell me, was it the IRS or not? So then we go check on where he works, what happened to his housing, how much is taken out of his paycheck. And since the IRS is taking most of the paycheck and his old apartment kicked him out..make your judgement call. Was it the IRS or not? And that isn't an isolated incident! ed ~"Watch your thoughts; they become your words. Watch your words they become your actions. Watch your actions; they become your habits. Watch your habits; they become your character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny." -Frank Outlaw.

Link2600

code-frog wrote:

Ideas you've expressed here so far indicate you need a serious confidence boost, you probably are shy because you think you are over-weight an unattractive.

Nope, that's not why I'm shy. I've always been a shy person, that's my personality. I don't think I'm over-weight, just wish I was a bit thinner. I don't think I'm unattractive either. I'm just shy and don't have much people skill.

Link2600

Justin Cooke wrote:

Let's also remember that a large portion of the homeless people in the US are single moms and their children. It's pretty easy to get stuck without housing when the deadbeat father leaves a mom with kids to support.

That's not the homeless people I was talking about. I was talking about people who live on streets. When do you see children and single moms who live on streets???:doh:

Allen Anderson

what the hell would they need to buy their own house for? maybe they could get roomates like I had to do when I was young in an entry level job. Life doesn't guarentee you a home on the mountainside. That's something you earn with a lifetime of hard work.