Living on the streets

[PaulS]

I wonder what members here think are the main reasons for quite a number of people living homeless and on the streets?  I'm sure this happens in many major cities, so I'm assuming most people here are aware of this typical scenario.  Do people think it's the fault of the homeless person?  Do you think the homeless can be helped?  Do you think you are doing whatever is appropriate to help them?

[JosephM]

Well i think studies show top causes of homelessness among families were:

(1) lack of affordable housing,

(2) unemployment,

(3) poverty, and

(4) low wages, in that order.

One might also add catastrophes even though it wasn't mentioned in the study.

The questions you ask are tough and complex questions because i personally don't view these as the real causes of homelessness. Rather to me these are just common sequences that usually precede homelessness and are not the real causes. To me there is no real cause except if you want to say there was an original cause and it cannot be seen with the eyes of flesh. Fault is also a tough question without an answer because it is all about the universe unfolding and the evolving of consciousness and the balance of the dance.

Yes, the homeless can be helped. Yes, i am doing what is my unique particular purpose in life to help. Some of it includes temporary relief through giving financial aid. The rest is hidden in my life story which contributes to the dance we call life.

Probably not the answers you were looking for but rather a view from a different perspective.

Joseph

 

 

[Burl]

6 hours ago, PaulS said:

I wonder what members here think are the main reasons for quite a number of people living homeless and on the streets?  I'm sure this happens in many major cities, so I'm assuming most people here are aware of this typical scenario.  Do people think it's the fault of the homeless person?  Do you think the homeless can be helped?  Do you think you are doing whatever is appropriate to help them?

I spent several years working with the homeless and the #1 cause is mental illness.  I don't see any political will to provide low cost community mental health care.

[romansh]

1 hour ago, Burl said:

I spent several years working with the homeless and the #1 cause is mental illness.  I don't see any political will to provide low cost community mental health care.

I would agree with the mental illness aspect. The problem here of course is that low cost community mental care isn't low cost. The problem is there are a variety of needs that people need: from a full psychiatric institution to just a neighbourly helping hand. 

Drug addiction might compound the problem, certainly does not make it any better.

[Deadworm]

 As a pastor, I often had to deal with the problems of the homeless.  Let me offer 3 examples"

(1) A was a mentally ill homeless woman.  Like other local young women, she became trapped in a drugs-for-sex arrangement and soon thought her heroine and cocaine were superior meds to her own.  If her problem were just mental illness, she could have received treatment.  But social agencies wouldn't help her because of her drug habit!  She was often violent and spent a lot of time in jail, where I regularly visited her as a favor to her parents.  I learned that half of our prison inmates are mentally ill.  Since they can't get treatment, incarceration is their only option, but that just makes their condition worse.  Ultimately, she got in legal trouble in another county that has a therapeutic court.  Treatment was mandated and she is now living successfully with her parents.  We are fighting to get a therapeutic court for our county.

(2) Sean had moved to NE Washington from California.  He initially lived with his brother, who got him into hard drugs, including some meth.  Drugs made him schizophrenic.  He moved here and lived in his tent in the woods.  If I tried to take him out for lunch, he would quickly leave the restaurant, curl up in a fetal position, and claim that everyone was reading his thoughts and condemning him!  Misguided pastors treated him as a demoniac and tried to exorcise him.  So I had to try to persuade him that he was mentally ill and not demon possessed.,  I repeatedly warned him that he couldn't survive the winter here in a tent.  He said he loved snow, but I reminded him that the issue was colder temperatures than he ever knew in California and on the west coast.  I sent him to a psychiatrist and social service agencies for appropriate meds, but no one would prescribe them for Sean.  Their only concern was to determine whether he was just looking for money to buy drugs!

Eventually, I lost contact with him and wondered why.  I soon discovered the reason.  The increasing cold had panicked him into prowling cars and stealing their valuables.  He gained enough money to move into a motel near my church.  One night a cop came to his room with the motel owner and demanded that he open his bag.  Inside was a gun he had stolen from the motel owner's car.  He removed the gun and stared at it vacantly.  The cop unloaded his revolver into Sean's chest!  What made this particularly sad for me was that the night before I had just gotten him a place to stay inside and a regular source of free food.

(3) Gary became homeless as a result of a failed business ventured.  He eventually stayed in a rescue mission in Spokane 75 miles away.  He then got a job here and became a saint!  He is a treasured member of our weekly prayer group (5 regulars), delivers Meals on Wheels to elderly shut-ins, and conducts worship services at a local nursing home. 

[FireDragon76]

Most homeless people I've encountered weren't drug addicts.  One person I knew who had been homeless simply had misfortune in her life.

Edited May 12, 2019 by FireDragon76