Do you feel homelessness in America is a pressing issue? Are Americans too jaded to help?

Question

I'm curious as to how the public at large feels about the homeless. It seems, in general, that people can't be bothered to even face that fact that they exist, let alone offer some small bit of help. They've, in a way, been completely dehumanized. Is it easier to say " get a job" than to offer whatever can be spared? Is the general dismissive reaction of the public at large to the homeless a fear of being conned? A fear that their hard earned cash will be spent by the "bum" on drugs or booze or for some other ill-gotten aim? Does anyone take the time to wonder what it would be like to be homeless, or how the person came to find themselves without shelter, food, clothing, sympathy? Does compassion have a role at all? Quite curious. Thank you for taking the time to answer.

Answer 1

Some of the answers people have given so far have been quite harsh. Homelessness is a severe problem. No one would choose to be homeless. No one would sleep in a closed doorway in below freezing temperature. I think most people think in terms of "us" versus "them." They don't realize how many factors could lead a person to become homeless, and how complex the problem is. The problem is too large for individuals to deal with. We need to deal with it at the systemic level.

Some homeless people are mentally ill. Without adequate resources, they can neither pay for the medicine nor the psychiatric care they need. Without proper care, they cannot manage the tasks of daily life required to hold a job and maintain a home.

Poor people who live paycheck-to-paycheck, earning minimum wage, can find themselves on the street if they get laid off. Companies have no morals; if profit isn't being made, out fly the pink slips. I knew a guy who was away on vacation. He returned to work to find that in the interim he'd been given the pink slip. I'm sure if he'd been told what was coming, he would have chosen not to use his money on a vacation.

Some people have chronic or debilitating conditions or are disabled. Between the cost of even basic healthcare and housing, many slip through the cracks. Are we so heartless that we allow such people to suffer.

Even those who are addicted to drugs or alcohol are still human beings. Addiction is a powerful force, and treatment is not freely available. Sometimes, what led to the addiction in the first place was a sense of hopelessness, so both factors must be overcome.

Then, there are the natural disasters and other unforeseen and unfortunate circumstances, as Hurricane Katrina. When I was going to college, I lived in an apartment next door to a woman who was having troubles with her boyfriend. One night, the boyfriend torched the woman's car. Sadly, my car was parked next to hers that night, and was destroyed in the fire. As a struggling student, I could only afford liability insurance. There were no witnesses to the fire who were willing to testify, so the guy got away with it. And I lost my means of getting back and forth to college. If not for the compassion of others, I might not have been able to finish college, and my life would have been very different.

No one can foresee what will happen to them. If you were walking down the street and were a victim of a hit-and-run accident, what would you do? Suppose you had to have a leg amputated as a result, or some other injury that required a long recovery and made you unable to work even after recovery. How would you pay your mortgage? It would be nice if this world were utterly predictable, devoid of termites and floods and drunk drivers and other accidents waiting to happen, but that's not the case. Unsuspecting victims get scammed every day. Even by huge corporations like Enron. No one is immune from these catastrophes.

The message is this: THINK before you look down your nose at less fortunate people. YOU or someone you love could end up in their shoes someday. We are on this planet together, brothers and sisters. We must find the compassion to help those in need. Maybe it's not the best idea to give cash to homeless people who are addicts. But you could certainly offer them a hot meal, a coat in winter, or better yet, you could advocate for systemic solutions that would help all people who find themselves in precarious circumstances.

Good question. I hope the naysayers will think hard about this.

Answer 2

No, I think most homeless are that way because they choose to be or they are too lazy to work. I was homeless in 1985, but I worked hard and it only lasted a couple of weeks.

Most homeless don't want to work; all they want to do is get enough money for booze, cigarettes and drugs. They are addicted and lazy.

There was this guy in Tucson, I think 1992. He had a hard luck story, and he was interviewed in the paper. They got him cleaned up, medical treatment for his injured leg, a place to live and a job. He quit the job because he actually had to work, was kicked out of the apartment and went back to pan handling within 2 weeks.

I have to work for a living, why should some bum be any different? Why does he think he is owed anything from me, even a handout?

Answer 3

To real cope with homelessness, we might must cope with intellectual well being problems. A very top percent of the "rough middle" homeless have them. I'm no longer definite any candidate has rather touched in this. Many homeless who abuse medications and alcohol are looking to self-medicate severe intellectual health problem. It's no accident that the homeless populace exploded after the federal government made up our minds to de-institutionalize the mentally sick and by no means adopted up with the proper neighborhood intellectual well being clinics that they promised. There are an alarming quantity of Vietnam and Korean War technology vets a few of the homeless too. They also are in general affliction from a few style of intellectual health problem, regularly PTSD. Then there are the running homeless, and there are running homeless. The cost of housing in lots of tremendous towns signifies that you'll be able to paintings complete time and no longer be ready to find the money for a position to are living or fall into homelessness due to the fact of costs from an health problem or whatever. Many humans are one pay verify or one emergency clear of homelessness. There are a a few humans who simply undeniable do not desire to paintings, nevertheless it rather is a instead small quantity. I mission the ones of you who say that it's so much homeless humans to spend a while at a refuge and study humans's reviews.

Answer 4

Homeless people are offered clothing, food and sympathy in the US. There are many, many homeless shelters and organizations to help the homeless. Many are either drug addicted or mentally ill, so they don't take as much advantage of program available to them as others. For example, there is government housing, food stamps, medicaid available to them and social workers and churches that will help them.

This is not a problem with compassion. This is a problem with the mental health system. If you are an adult and not a danger to yourself or others, no one can force you into a home or hospital. You must, by law, check yourself into a hospital, as an adult is their own legal guardian. Should they check themselves in and leave, it is up to them whether they continue on their appropriate medications.

Your question makes this sound like a more simple problem than it is. It's complicated. With laws favoring personal freedoms and rights, not much can be done for these mentally ill people, if they choose to remain homeless or are afraid of other people.

Answer 5

No one has to be homeless. It is a personal decision and people make bad decisions every day. That is what happens when you screw up. Why should I give some lazy welfare bum more money to sit on their butt and smoke cigarettes, take drugs and live off of society. They can get a job like the rest of us.

Answer 6

This not only includes people on the streets but people that are homeless that no one knows about. Some live with parents and some live with friends. There is more people homeless than we think.

Answer 7

The homeless could be helped, but for the most part, they reject even the most basic rules and guidelines required to house them (such as don't piss in the halls) they would rather beg, steal, or mug, than conform to any kind of structured rehabilitation.
For those that will, help is available.
THose that refuse even this meager help should be put in mental institutions or chain gangs.

Answer 8

I feel joblessness is a more pressing issue, which may lead to homelessness. I also feel that poor leadership is a pressing issue, but what can be done about it?

People are compassionate, but it's hard to be a giver when things are constantly being taken away from you and things cost more and more and you're trying to pay your mortgage and send your kids to college, too.

Answer 9

America is the land of opportunity. We taxpayers offer you 13 years of free schooling. If you can't get a job with that, it's hard to feel sorry for you.

Answer 10

i was in the same position when i was 18-19... now i have my own car & apartment. So I sympathise but I don't feel sorry for them