There are certain people who are homeless because they do not wish to live in a dwelling.
We have an amazing Rescue Mission in our city that provides beds, food, medical care, counselling, and training for the homeless. Many who come to the Rescue Mission are addicted (alcohol, opiates, etc.) and need help breaking free of the addiction.
During the most bitterly cold weather of the winters, our city police and volunteers work hard to locate homeless people and make sure they get to the Rescue Mission or another shelter (there are several churches that open temporary “cold weather” shelters that provide a warm place to sleep, a cot, and meals during the worst of the winter days).
Amazingly, though, there is a group of people who refuse to go under any kind of roof, even during the most dangerous cold weather. This winter, we set records for cold (50 below zero, and that’s actual temp, not windchill!), but these people STILL refused to come indoors. So the city and churches made sure that they had blankets, jackets, hot food, and they also made sure that stairwells and underpasses were kept clear so they could take some kind of shelter.
These people obviously have some kind of psychological issue that compels them to live outdoors and not be in a building. Some cities have built very inexpensive “shelters” that look kind of like teepees, and some of these people will go inside, but others still insist on living under bridges and in stairwells.
I watched a wonderful special on NBC (regular liberal network TV in the U.S.!) about the homeless, and they talked about these people who prefer to live on the streets and are not interested in any kind of housing. Sometimes, people just want to be free, and in Los Angeles (where this special was filmed due to the very large homeless population), the weather is not too bad to be living outdoors.
I remember one man lived in a “fort” that he had made out in a woods outside of L.A. He simply was not interested in being “housed.”
I’m telling you this because these people need to be factored into the equation when we talk about “people living on the streets” in the U.S.
There have always been people who live a “gypsy” life. They call themselves “hobos,” and they enjoy being free from a job and family, just travelling around the country mainly on foot, working odd jobs to earn a little money to buy some food–but they don’t want to live in a house and have a job. My father-in-law did a little “rail-riding” when he was a young man–he still calls himself a “vagabond.” Loved the travelling!
I know that many homeless are there because of misfortune, and yes, we need to help them. But there are some that choose the life, either due to something in their brain, or by their own free and intelligent will.
Might as well just upload everyone to the matrix while we’re at it, since were all going to be complete wards of the state by that point anyway.