> -----Original Message----- > From: G [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2005 10:25 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: Re: Begging on the streets (was Re: Top 10 Super Rant (was Friday > Rant)) > > > Did they have the opportunity to keep from ever becoming homeless in the > first place? > > You're right, once you are homeless, it's a bitch to get back on your > feet. > The problem is allowing yourself to become homeless in the first place. > Whatever the circumstances are that led to being on the streets, there had > to be a time where the person could have found a menial job which would > have > allowed them to afford a cheap, one room apartment somewhere.
Full disclosure up front: I'm a cold-hearted bastard by nature. People tend to deserve what they get. However this blanket statement is just myopic. A significant number of homeless people are unemployable in any job. Many are mentally disabled (or, technically, "fucked in the head") - they're not dangerous however so they are not committed and are released to their own devices. Many are addicts (either as a cause of homelessness or after). These people are also generally unemployable. Many of the worse homeless addictions cause severe Some are truly hard up. A mother of two with no support has trouble getting a job - she has to take care of the children. Support programs that do exist are overflowing and many aren't promoted enough by law enforcement or social services. In some areas even crappy jobs are highly competitive. Places hard hit by factory closings for example are pretty barren as far as jobs go. For "normal" people who are willing to work homelessness creeps up on you then slams. You get fired - along with hundreds of your friends. You all try for the same jobs. You're now behind on your rent. You begin to sell things off in a bad attempt to catch up. Then you're evicted. Perhaps you spend some time with relatives or a friend but eventually you spend more and more time "outside". Lasty, since this started with a discussion of panhandling, remember that many panhandlers are not actually homeless. A successful panhandler in a large city can often make more money than they would working a minimum wage job. In short there are really no generalizations that can be made about homeless people or panhandlers. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Save $10 Download ZoneAlarm Security Suite http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=66 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:157896 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
