What do you think about homeless people?

Been there done that. When I was just Out of high school by a combination of circumstances and choices. I see a lot of people in my area living the "van life" which back in the day would've been considered homeless.

It's a series of events that leads there, I understand it. They're people just like millionaires, some it's temporary. Others it's permanent. Some choose to stay that way and embrace it, other's don't.

The person you are to me isn't determined by money or what you have. It's determined by the person you are.

The question should be have you ever walked through a homeless camp interviewing the homeless to see why they have chosen to live the life that they do?

I have and some of the folks had multiple degrees and were far more educated than I or my friend was that went with me. Most squawked that they did not want to be bothered by "Regular Societies" rules and regulations that they wanted to live as free and uninhibited in their daily lives. They had their own communities and rules, and they lived like they wanted too.

Now there are the drug dependent homeless and mentally ill homeless as well.

I learned you cannot bundle all homeless into one category, and that none of them want the non-homeless to interfere with how they have chosen to live.

So, give what you feel like giving them and if asked for help by a homeless person then by alights help them.

I used to work in the local homeless shelter, which was for families with children. WHILE working there I became very cynical about the reasons for homelessness.

One of my jobs was to wear rubber gloves, and search ALL the pockets of ALL the clothing of incoming residents for syringes and needles. Boy, I hated THAT part of the job.

While it is true that women with very young children who are trying to escape their bad marriage need a place to go, (and I am all for that), there were an equal number of massively fat women whose conservation of energy was beyond belief.

Watching two parents with three children so mired in their drugs that they lived in a tent in Myles Standish with them during three weeks of pouring rain, while their children had nothing dry to wear, mold growing on all their clothes, lice in their hair, and feet beginning to rot because they had rubber boots but no socks...was horrifying. REALLY horrifying. After we got them all to the shelter, watching these same two parents sleep almost 24 hours a day while the kids ran wild all through the hallways unsupervised was very NEARLY as horrifying.

Trying to get some of these people motivated to get up off their rear ends and get a job was like pulling teeth. Most employers didn't want them because they were so lazy. We had a re-training program, and schooling available, but most of them couldn't get up off the sofa to go to school. We had to roust them out.

One family drove up HERE from South Carolina because the homeless shelters down there wouldn't take them on with their five kids. The mother was a sofa blob...wouldn't move unless it was to hoist herself up and feed herself, and the father was the laziest piece of sh!t I have ever seen. It was SO hard to get him OUT of the shelter to go to training.

I would assume that by now, thankfully, their kids are all grown and moved away from them. Without kids, adults have to stay in shelters for single men and women, and I would bet you anything the two of them are in single adult shelters right now.

One hugely fat woman was asked to make a wish for her Christmas gift, and instead of thinking of something that she or her son actually needed, she asked for a $200 cookbook called "Konditor Meister". All she could think about was eating cakes and desserts.

I watched one young woman have a bad trip on the floor in the hallway. She kept saying that another one of our residents was the devil. She ran into her room where her 3 year old son was sleeping, and barricaded herself in. We pounded on the door but she wouldn't let us in. Finally, one of the residents came and told me, in the morning, that her car was gone. She had taken her little three year old out the window in the back, sneaked around to her car, put it in neutral, and pushed it out of the parking lot. I was forced to call CPS. I don't think they ever found her.

ONE woman, who was bi-polar, used to come into the office late at night when she was manic. She tried to frighten me, threatening to jump across my desk and grab my throat, but when I wouldn't frighten, she was cool with me. We played Scrabble, mostly, and one night it was so bad I let her re-arrange the furniture.

Anyway...I could go on and on...but the mental illness, the sheer laziness and the drugs made me lose what sympathy I once had...the sympathy that made me want to work there and help them.

We’re pretty generous with the social security here in Oz🇦🇺.
The majority of the time it’s choice..

Saying that.. rent and housing has become unaffordable to a lot of ppl since we flooded the country with immigrants and built ZERO infrastructure to accomodate..

As a person who was homeless at one time in their life, I have a lot of mixed feelings about homeless people. I was homeless at a point in my life because of a bad choice I made involving women. It was only for about a month, but I had nowhere to go, and ended up living in a shelter. However, I did have a job at the time, walked to work, and paid for all of my needs. There are, however, many homeless people that I have encountered who are junkies or alcoholics and do not seek the treatment that they need, and therefore just end up on the streets. There are also those who just plain refuse to work, and for them I feel no empathy. I do feel sadness for those who seek help and still can't get it, especially those with children. It's a hard situation in my mind.

We are all just one really bad situation away from being there, too. We are delusional to think otherwise.

I think that If you want to earn the power of invisibility, become homeless. But really its people playing Survivor - urban edition, out here in the real world with no $1M prize waiting for them.

I also have seen the phenomenon of lower class people, who own a car and have a place to stay, chosing to beg for money at the traffic intersections, because they earn more money begging than working a low wage job.

I also dated a women once while she was becoming homeless and i can say this: homeless people will help themselves, when they want to be helped, and we cant push or pull them out of poverty if they dont want to move yet.

I volunteer with the county Food Bank, so I get to meet a lot of them. Most are good people who are down on their luck. Some made serious mistakes. Some are on drugs. Most are trying to escape the streets. It is great when former homeless people stop by to tell us they are okay now. Today we are sending a load of blankets to be distributed for the freezing weather coming in a couple of days.

when i became disabled i was one at a time .. and with the help of friends who helped me get soc sec. and others who showed me tax auction for a house . i now own my house free and clear and even tho it has it problems .. i am not homeless any more. . i feel fir those who do not have that help... is that enough. or should i say more..

It varies to be honest. Most of the homeless near my area are often released convicts cause the prison is near it. They settle near the bus station or a supermarket begging for money. Often facebook chat gives out information about them, and are often telling people not to give money to them.

The reason for this, there is a Charity where they take them off the street, put into temporarily shelter, getting their lives sorted by getting them back on thier feet. Its a good Charity as they inform people that reported the homeless person on what happening with them.

I always think....that could be me someday.
I'll give thanks to God for what little I have, which is much more than they possess.

A lot.. i wish i could help them.. i wish the government did more for our own destitute and homeless kids and foster kids and such.. 🙁 and inner city kids to help them Before going to prison not just after.. the prison system is ******* up too but im getting off the point

I was just reading about a bill in Oklahoma they’re trying to pass to remove funding and make it illegal to buy land to build for shelter purposes outside Oklahoma City or Tulsa. And since republican run states seem to like to play follow the leader, I imagine if this passes, there will be more like it and the problem is about to get worse. There will always be people who choose that life, I imagine, but greed and selfishness are the only reasons there are people forced to live that way.

Not for us to judge. Everyone's circumstances are unique. Even in cases when that person had some fault in how they finished like that, they deserve another chance. Very often, it is bad luck or something totaly unforseen. Maybe it's because of a loss of a job and things spiral downwards.

I wish that it were easier to sort out the scammers from the majority truly needing help. That those who created the problem for the majority of them -- those who closed the mental hospitals, those who sent people to needless wars and provide miniscule health benefits, those who continue to widen wage disparity and manipulate the housing market, the NIMBY's who refuse to consider affordable, higher density housing so low-wage earners can live where they work, Big Pharma that pushed the current opioid epidemic -- would step up and start making amends.

I see usually at least two or three sleeping on the streets when going to work in a downtown city. Hope they go to a shelter next few nights, weather is going to be deadly overnight this week.

I have a lot more in common with them than someone truly wealthy

Been there, done that, multiple times.

I don't think any less of myself for having been there.

It could happen to the wealthiest. Though that rarely happens.

Howard Hughes was a billionaire hobo once, that became neurotic over germs, later in life.

Nothing. It's bad luck sometimes. Loss of income, huge medical bills, natural disaster etc. It's poor mental health that keeps people sleeping in the streets. If you're homeless and broken, no amount of food and shelter can get you out of there. Yelling at them won't help. Their mental health issues need to be addressed by professionals, but who's gonna pay? Healthcare is too expensive. Even in a wealthy state like California all they do is palliative care, give them clean needles "for safe drug consumption", encourage them to go homeless shelters(we all know they won't),...the well oiled machinery of the Homeless Individual Complex is working as it should, millions of dollars are circulating.

i feel for the ones who have no choice but to be transient, i feel for those who have suffered at the hands of those meant to keep them safe. Butt i am also greatly attracted to their way of life, to living life on your terms and not the edicts of others!

They are people like everyone else. Whether they choose to live like that or something happened in their lives, they don't deserve to be treated poorly.

I wish that there's a clear and easy way to help sort out their situation

First, I get them a job and shelter
second, get them looking respectable and capable
they need to want this and be responsible too in order for this to work

i try to help where i can

I think they are a lot like us and people should treat them better. They are clearly very down on their.

That is a very tough way to go. It doesn’t take too much to find oneself in that situation.

I believe everyone is guilty for their own condition, no matter what it may be. It doesn’t matter how much one argues what is beyond your control. Maybe life was never about controlling things.

People in an unfortunate situation for many reasons. I give to charity to help.

Most are fine but the few that are horrible really stand out. Inwork at starbucks and give morning coffees to the ones i like. But if theyre the ones that have stolen or pee'd all over the seats that i now have to clean i suddenly dont feel like giving them any.

I feel sorry for them, it's a disgrace that in a world where the super rich can spent $500m on a boat we cannot provide everyone with at least a basic home. One that is warm and dry.

I have a lot of empathy for them.

People become homeless for a variety of reasons. Each reason requires a different solution and as long as they all get lumped together the solutions will continue to elude.

For some, the solution is a revived economy.

For some the solution may be just a safe camp ground.

For some it may be to reopen mental care resources.

For some it may be mandatory drug or alcohol rehab.

For the handful still left, they can be handled one at a time.

Life and society has dealt them a raw deal. As people we need to do better protecting the most vulnerable members of society

There, but for the grace of God, go I

Most of them are nice . I help them out a lot .

I have mixed feelings and thoughts about it.

I feel really sorry for them, but honestly I’m always a little bit scared of them. I do give them money sometimes.

Some are absolutely terrible. Most are just victims of some kind or other. 85% - 15% ratio of decent people out on their luck vs. evil people that actually kill other homeless or rape etc.. in my opinion.

I sometimes bring them home and feed them and let them bathe and sleep warm.

I feel sorry for them.

I feel sorry for them

I was one for a time. No one cares about you, and you're invisible to all except predators. I had my coat, hat, and shoes all stolen from me.

They need help and compassion.

I really dislike the fake homeless,the ones who make a living by pretending to be in need.

Makes me sad for their situation

I used to be one

Their life is tough and they deserve better opportunities so they can stand again and respect, help and kindness from society!

Theyre victims of a system that failed them.

I always think, "That could be me one day".

It breaks my heart🥺

It could happen to anybody

I feel sorry for them.