Why are so many men homeless, is it a disorder???

Question

Are they all Vets, or are they just mentally ill or just lazy???

That thing on my head Justin is a mohawk, though I had an orange one in the 80's and went my nickname was agent orange.

Answer 1

Mental illness and/or addiction have been found to have been among the causes although laziness could very well be another one.

As for how many are veterans, my source (link below) put it at a third or 33%, not all as you assumed, not even half:

"About one-third of the adult homeless population have served their country in the Armed Services. On any given day, as many as 200,000 veterans (male and female) are living on the streets or in shelters, and perhaps twice as many experience homelessness at some point during the course of a year. Many other veterans are considered near homeless or at risk because of their poverty, lack of support from family and friends, and dismal living conditions in cheap hotels or in overcrowded or substandard housing.

Right now, the number of homeless male and female Vietnam era veterans is greater than the number of service persons who died during that war -- and a small number of Desert Storm veterans are also appearing in the homeless population. Although many homeless veterans served in combat in Vietnam and suffer from PTSD, at this time, epidemiologic studies do not suggest that there is a causal connection between military service, service in Vietnam, or exposure to combat and homelessness among veterans. Family background, access to support from family and friends, and various personal characteristics (rather than military service) seem to be the stronger indicators of risk of homelessness."

Answer 2

Not all are vets, not all are mentally ill, and not all are lazy. Some are overly-qualified highly intelligent people. They can't get a job though. Why? Because they are too smart, the fear is they will leave as soon as they get a better job. Most would but face it companies have the same basically loyalty now. Also try filling out an application. It says address. Well where do you say you live? What about a phone number? See the problems. I know you can't really understand their life until you live if. It would kinda be intresting to have the money to live as a homeless person and try to write about it. I don't have the money to not work for like a month or more. To try and live without a home. I think it would teach you alot though. Oh and most of the vets are somewhat mentally ill. Blame some of that on Agent Orange. I hope you now regret having that as a nickname. If not I hope you learn what it was and what happened.

Answer 3

Men seem to be more carefree and tend to not think of the future or the consequences. Therefore, doing drugs and drinking may seem fun at the time, however not when they have lost everything and are sitting on the streets. Also, alot of them are mentally ill due to not enough care homes for them

Answer 4

Although some people are homeless because of losing jobs, families, etc. A lot of men that are homeless have schizophrenia. My uncle is one of them. He does not want a home to sleep in--he prefers to live and sleep outside.

Answer 5

I believe it probably has a lot to do with the fact that when couples go to divorce courts the men are often the ones told to leave the house without anyone making sure they can afford an apartment. As a result, the father (who may be grieving at being separated from his children, and who - as a result of that grief - may have trouble concentrating or not being depressed) ends up staying with relatives for a while. Its probably only a matter of time before that wears thin, though, and it is easy to see how one big blow-up with the relatives could result in the guy being homeless. Getting to work when you have no place to sleep can be difficult for any number of reasons, not the least of which is what happens to a person emotionally.

Also, its easy to imagine the guy who has a good job and savings but gets laid off and can't find another job. As a result, he depletes his savings and eventually loses his home. I know of a software designer who was laid off. He was middle-aged and had trouble finding another job equal to what he had had, but when he applied for "low-level" jobs he wasn't hired because employers "knew" he'd quit the minute he found a professional job again.

Some people are released from prison without a home of their own and with only - like - $200. They can end up on the street.

If you've ever gone for long walk on a cold February day you may be able to imagine what it must be like to not have a house to get to after you've been out for an hour or so. Add to that having trouble finding a place to go to the bathroom, living with the grief of being separated from family (children), losing one's home and/or belongings, and having to deal with any colds, flu or diarrhea without having a bed and bathroom; you can imagine how a person's mental health could be affected seriously to the point where he wasn't able to muster up what it takes to work even if he got hired.

People need their basic physical needs met before they can even think about meeting their emotional needs; and if someone has too many basic needs not met they can't function well at all.

Stress causes all kinds of physical changes, including elevated levels of cortisol (which make concentrating and functioning in general difficult). The person who has elevated cortisol levels for too long can get "adrenal fatigue", which means they're absolutely physically exhausted and depleated and have trouble functioning.

Dealing with such a situation can make a person frustrated and angry and in grief; but if that situation was caused by someone else (such as a probate court judge in a divorce situation) it can be unbearable for that person to live with.

If you imagine living outside in the cold (maybe because it is better outside than in a shelter with nut cases and the chance of getting lice or worse), having to deal with the physical discomfort and emotional grief and anger; you can imagine how a person may feel he will actually lose his mind if he doesn't get some relief. Maybe that's when taking a drink seems to be the only option if he doesn't want to kill himself or lose his mind. Maybe the ones who don't take that drink are the ones who do lose their minds. I don't know enough about it to know for sure.

If you have a man who was once perfectly skilled (when it came to work - maybe even a professional) and who had "The System" (such as a divorce court and lawyers) screw up your life you can imagine how a person would come to see "The System" as the enemy.

Besides, welfare programs don't usually do much for the person who does not have custody of minor children. They may offer job training (which the guy may not need), and maybe they offer food stamps (but until recently, I don't think people without an address could even get those).

I don't know how long a person can live in hell without losing his mind or without at least developing behaviors that may make him appear to have lost his mind even if he's only responding to an unbearable situation. I don't know how many homeless and mentally ill people started out that way (some do) and how many were driven insane by inhumane situations.

I think, though, it is probably quite safe to say that "laziness" is most often not the cause of homelessness.

Answer 6

Just lazy

Answer 7

whats that purple thing on you head?