We have a lot o homeless in Houston. Every time I see them I can't help but wonder why do we have homeless. There are so many government programs out there, why don't these people take advantage of them? Or are they simply not aware of the fact that they can apply for section 8, assistance with utilities, food stamps, etc. Or are they simply scamming people because they can make more money by begging then by taking a low-paying job?

 

they are either crazy or lazy. take your pick.

 

We have homeless because those people do not have homes.

But to be serious for a sec, those governmental programs are not as easy to get on as one would think.

 

Yeah, but it's not like they've got anything better to do all day then to figure out how to get into those programs. They're obviously eligible, and it would improve the quality of their lives by so much.

 

If would seem so, wouldn't it? But that's not always the case. I'm not a social worker so I can't really get into details, but the rules and policies of some of those programs are quite strict. One doesn't automatically qualify as long as one is a homeless.

 

Most long-term homelessness is due to mental illness. There will always be a segment of the population which is incapable of coping in normal society. Poverty is a symptom of the problem, not the problem. The only ones who care for these people are missions and outreach charities. The government does squat for them.

 

A lot of them are schitzophrenic or have other mental disabilities. Also, a lot are alcoholics who let it go too far.

In DC there are some that make a fair living pandering, i.e. begging along freeway onramps/offramps clothed in rags (or selling roses, which is fine) while driving nicer cars than many of the donors.

There are a lot of other reasons, legitimate and otherwise, but those are some of the common ones.

I used to give money to a lot of the local ones on the street--every time I was asked, provided I had anything--but then I started recognizing many of them over months and months. That makes it harder, as I wonder if giving helps anything at all.

 

You see the same thing. It's a hard problem, and like you say, few people care enough to make a change. I think it's a flaw in our current cultural systems/societal models--an oversight most forget, myself often included.

I spent two years in Finland, and Finns generally seemed to think Americans were heartless bastards because we didn't provide for our homeless. Whether they were right or wrong on that, they had a system they thought was vastly superior: they were more open on welfare, and they'd drop 400 Euro a month into nearly anyone's bank account if they didn't have a job.

The result: the mentally ill and alcoholics still ended up homeless because they didn't pay their rent, but the alcoholics didn't have to beg for money to buy alcohol. Nothing fundamentally changed, in my opinion. They were still homeless and their problems didn't go away.

It's one of the many systems we have that needs some reform. But until someone figures out the right way to fix the root causes, we're kind of stuck with the "give a man a fish" instead of "teach a man to fish." And the American model is built on the assumption that everyone is equal, able-bodied, and capable of holding down at least a low level job. Unfortunately, these people are the exceptions.

 

Welfare will never be the solution to the problem, but Workfare might be, but we'll never get to see.

Plus a lot are running away from something or someone.

 

The US has homeless people because in a Capitalist society you MUST have "haves" and "have nots". It's the basis for our economy. Without homeless, our economy would not function.

(If everyone has $1 mil in the bank, guess how much a loaf of bread would cost...well, you could always just go ask Mexico...)