Alicia2 Loc: San Clemente

More homeless at beach very sad.

RS Loc: W Columbia, SC

Looks like a real 'sunny beach' to me . . .

MiroFoto

It is a real social problem in America. I came from a communist country....there were no homeless people, no beggers. I am not promoting communism !! - I have escaped.

Mollie Loc: melbourne

we have many..far too many homeless people here also.

anotherview Loc: California

Virtually all of these street people, if not outright criminals, suffer from an illness of some kind, usually mental. Some do drugs and drink too much. Some refuse to take their medications that will aid them in functioning within normative society. A few actually prefer the independent status of living in the street, and just want to be left alone. Others act anti-social in the extreme, and cannot fit themselves to normative society. And so on.

Most places today in America offer a range of social services that if utilized can provide aid and comfort for these street people. These services can even put up the street people in motels while receiving services. Bringing together this help for the street people requires community leadership to develop a program for this purpose.

rmorrison1116 Loc: Near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Not to hijack the subject, but here's a good example of why even a general location should be listed. We have no idea where the homeless person is located and a responder, also no location listed, points out how its a problem in America. Is this homeless person in this country? Probably, but we really don't know.
Anyway, it is sad there are so many homeless, but sometimes you have to ask, Why?! Are these people down on their luck? Are they mentally Ill? Do they choose to exist that way?
Is there a place for this person to go and he chooses not to? I guess we'll never know...

le boecere

My Lady grew up in a communist Easter European dictatorship. It is true, they had no "homeless" living on the streets ~ they may have been living in a gulag, a mental institution, or other "re-education facility", but they were seldom seen in public (at least, not for long).
But, what they still do have is orphans ~ lots of them ~ living in horrible conditions UNDER the streets, in cruel dictatorial social (dis)orders. And these cities have dogs! Lotsa dogs, lotsa rats, lotsa insects, and lotsa orphans. No wonder you all wanted out!

le boecere

I participate in volunteer efforts in a western county nick-named "Heroin County". From what I've observed and from the conversations I've had with some of these people, the answer(s) to your question(s) is often "All of the Above".

Macronaut Loc: Redondo Beach,Ca.

Having interacted closely for some time with various homeless people, I can confirm that everything you say is accurate concerning the vast majority (almost all) of the circumstances of these people.

The ones that have simply had a run of bad luck and want to get back to normal, can usually do so in fairly short order. Others are just no longer are capable for various reasons or do not wish to.

davefales Loc: Virginia

In the realm of human tragedy, how do homeless in America compare to the waves of Middle East/North African refugees invading Europe?

anotherview Loc: California

Not "human tragedy" but human condition. The street people do not compare to the illegal aliens swarming into Europe. The street people typically do not invade foreign nations, while the illegal aliens do.

The street people suffer from a variety of aliments that limit their participation in normative society. The illegal aliens flee their home countries under various pretenses.

Etc.

bdo Loc: Colorado

Here in Boulder, CO, one of the wealthiest, and allegedly best-educated cities in America, our city council has criminalized homelessness. It is illegal to "camp" outdoors overnight if you sleep with any kind of blanket, sleeping bag or other shelter from the cold. Yes, Boulder offers indoor shelter, but inadequate to serve the number of homeless in our city.

Police routinely issue tickets for "illegal camping", which then frequently get the offenders (who are trying to survive a cold night in the open) a trip to jail. Yeah, so they get out of the cold for a night or two, then they're turned loose, often to be arrested all over again.

How this addresses the problem of homeless people trying to survive escapes me.

But the majority of Boulder residents apparently support this draconian approach.

jimmya Loc: Phoenix

Yes it is sad. I read lots of chatter about helping our vets before we send money abroad. True!

anotherview Loc: California

Okay, I must say it: The term "homeless" misleads. It suggests that if the street people had a home, then their lives would become whole again, simply because they had a roof over their head.

This line of false reasoning omits to mention the cause leading to the status of street person.

If a person refuses to take the medication that enables one to behave, function, and succeed in normative society, then this person risks serious consequences, including the tumble into the street. Failing to take the medication has little or nothing to do with living in a home or not. The same goes for drug users, winos, and other self-abusers.

In other words, the underlying condition of the street people results in their present status. A home by itself will not treat this condition, to end it.

The answer to the problem of the street people occupying the streets of America lies in devising a program that meets the specific need of each street person, with a view to resolving the condition that drags the individual into the street.

bdo Loc: Colorado

I agree with your conclusion:...The answer to the problem of the street people occupying the streets of America lies in devising a program that meets the specific need of each street person...

But a program that criminalizes someone for merely trying to survive the cold by covering himself (or herself) with a blanket, newspapers, sleeping bag or any kind of shelter does not meet the definition of such a program by any stretch of the imagination.

And the specific needs are multiple. Mental illness, unemployment, substance abuse... You name it, people who are homeless (and they are homeless, without a permanent place that provides basic shelter) present a challenge to those of us who are more fortunate.

There is substantial evidence that providing a roof over the heads of the homeless is in fact the least expensive and most effective way to help many of the homeless make the transition back to self-sufficiency. I can't cite the specifics without doing some searching on the web, but I have seen the references several times to the effectiveness of providing transitional housing for the homeless.

For sure, there is nothing more expensive, and more ineffective, than running homeless people through our police, judicial and jail system, only to return them to the same conditions which led them there in the first place, as we do here in Boulder. This points to that classic definition of insanity: "Repeating the same behavior over and over, expecting a different outcome each time, is a definition of insanity."