Why do people insist on fueling the homeless problem?

Question

Everyday on my drive home from work, there is a bum standing at the off-ramp exit at the stop light. He looks all nasty and is usually holding some type of cardboard with a poorly written message similar to "Homeless God Bless!" Everyday I see the same bums, but they seem to have shifts. When I leave in the morning its one guy, when I come home for lunch its another, and the evening bum is a third guy. Obviously there are more than 3 bums that use the corner, however I recognize all of them. Why? Why would someone waste their life standing at a corner looking for a handout? I mean its one thing if someone has encountered unexpected hard times and needs a few bucks to get on their way, but doing this every single day for years? Ridiculous! These "bums" need to just get one of those construction jobs where they hold the sign all day that says "stop" or "slow" -- those guys get $18+/hour AND pay taxes.

In summary, if you live in America and you are homeless, you have

Answer 1

About 99% of the time, they're to blame for their situation. Many of them get chances to get out of that lifestyle and chose not to. Some even do it for a job. Ever hear of that guy in LA that begged for a living and made over $100,000.00 a year.

Answer 2

The truth is pretty silly. I worked at a homeless shelter a few years ago. What I found was that a number of them had some sort of social secuity or disability check coming in. As they were either lazy or winos, they wanted a free bed so they could spend the money on booze. Then they'd get rowdy and the shelter would kick them out. Then the cops would have to roust them out of town. One of the homeless told me she had been in a number of shelters across the state, and was trying to find one that didn't require her to do any chores. Any talk about jobs stopped the conversation. There are crazy people among them, and there were a few down and outers, but the shelter was just a place for the lazy to hang out. The group that ran it claimed to be a "Christian" group, but I saw things there were anything but. I thought about blowing the whistle, but there are some who do need the help and use it wisely, so I left it along.

Answer 3

Yes indeed. I did a job for the city of Santa Monica here in so cal. This city loves their homeless. They provide the gyms in the parks for sleeping at night. Showers for getting ready for that busy day, followed by breakfast. Then they all go out and gather cans and bottles to pay the drug dealers who drive right into the park and sell their stuff out their car windows. Portapotties are provided in the park during the day. At Noon 4 lunch trucks roll up and sell them food. Dinner the city also provides then back to the gym to rest for the next day. There is zero reason to leave this life and 90% of the people there are there because thats the life they want. Now im all for helping out the ones that want to improve their lives and have given addicts and alcoholics that try to clean up jobs and helped em get set up. But these people have less stress and an easier life then i do by being govt. supported bums.

Answer 4

Maybe it would help if you had some compassion. I will pray for that. There are a lot of people in the country who are only one paycheck or one tragedy (medical, floods, hurricanes, etc) away from being homeless. Once someone is homeless it is not so easy to get a job or see a way out. Employers tend to hire people with an address and a telephone. Also clean clothes and a bath help too. "Bum" is a very judgemental word. There may be some people who are conning people out of money out there, but there are also a lot of people who are tragically on the edge. Instead of criticizing them, maybe donate some home cooked meals to a soup kitchen (a cooked turkey or a ham, etc would be nice). They would love dessert sometimes too to boost their spirits. Try to help give them a hand up instead of putting them down. They are PEOPLE not "BUMS"!!



You have two hands. One is for when you are down, to reach up to the "man up there" for help (God). The other one is to reach down and help someone who IS down. Think about it. The world needs more nice, helpful people and what goes around comes around.



If you feed others, God will feed you...

If you help others, God will help you...

If you are kind to others, God will be kind to you..

Answer 5

Because...



1) A lot of the homeless problems derived today are: High costs in living and substandard-paying jobs.



2) Most of these people whom are chronically homeless are the types whom have fallen through the cracks, have severe mental problems as a result of both a lack of help and lack of assistance.



3) Most social services and funding for the homeless have been cut back by both the state and federal governments--because of budget cuts.



4) Not everyone is qualified to be in construction--just because the job is "there".

Answer 6

Yes, there are programs that will provide them with food, clothing and shelter.



But seriously, many of those folks aren't even qualified to get one of those lowly construction jobs you condescendingly describe. Many are drug addicts or alcoholics or mentally ill, and thus couldn't even hold a job if they got one.



Yes, it's a bummer that you have to be confronted with them daily, but perhaps you should think about them a bit differently.



If you were a business owner and it was brought to your attention that a very high percentage (say 20%) of the products you produced were defective, what would you do?



a) just instruct employees to throw away defective products



b) investigate the source of the problem and make changes so as not to produce defective products.



My point obviously, is that even though we Americans like to avoid any and all responsibility for the problems in our society, in truth we are all co-owners of this enterprise called the United States. And if we think of it as a business whose product is the lifestyle afforded to its citizens, then we should take a good look at the quality of what we are turning out. There are tons of homeless, drug addicts, criminals, ex-cons, alcoholics, mentally ill, one-parent families, people on welfare, high-school dropouts and generally people who are a net DRAIN on society.



Whining about those people - or even suggesting that they just go to some designated facility and stay out of the sight of the rest of us is the same as the business owner who just throws away the defective products.



We need to acknowledge the problems in our society and put fixes in place or eventually we'll go out of busines..

Answer 7

I dunno .Why don't you ask the conservative businessmen with the flag pins in their labels HTF they were allowed to sell out the American worker by having some kid in a third world country do the job that the "homeless person "used to do ?

Or you could just have lunch with homeless person [your treat of course ]and honestly ask him WTF went wrong that caused him to wind up on that corner with his buds ?

Over the past 20 some -odd years I have donated a lot of time to volunteering at various soup kitchens and while there are some homeless people who are certified crazy there is also a whole lot of people who were once educated productive Americans and they just got overwhelmed by events in their lives that they weren't able to deal with

As we move ever closer to another Depression I have no doubt that we will see more and more people who are living paycheck to paycheck join the ranks of the homeless>and it won't be mostly men any more it will be women and children too

If your job/life is not at risk in changing times >Great but you should be aware if the dangers that your hubris brings to you

You can negate some of that negativity by volunteering at a soup kitchen or a food bank .

Answer 8

they are not bums, they are professional pan handlers....



the way things are shaping, here in America, either of us can become homeless at any given month. lets not judge all books by its cover. there are some homeless people, that are trying very hard not to be. although, i do understand your point, we Must be careful in naming every homeless person as a "bum". if our hearts become harden to all, by what the other few does, when we offer a helping hand,, then we're all become "bums" and be no use to our own selves....

hang in there and help the ones that you think may need it, regardless of what the others may say or do........

Answer 9

Man I hate to say it but you are absolutely the most clueless person I've seen in a long long time



The major cause of homelessness is mental illness followed by health issues



You know what I hope you soon suffer from both so you can taste your elitism first hand

Answer 10

I didn't think we could afford to "fuel" anything anymore



True story.



While in Boston for years, I kept passing this guy on my way back from class. He kept asking for money for food etc... Not having any money, one day I bought him two slices of pizza. Heck, I thought is was a damn nice thing I did.



The bastard threw them at me and started cussing like mad lol lol



He was standing in front of a liquor store

Answer 11

I hope life is kind to you because you’re delusional.

But, thank goodness what goes around comes around.

With that kind of attitude buddy, well, just remember what you said when it’s you holding up the *I’ll work for Food* sign before you stuff it under your shirt to keep warm at night.

Answer 12

probably guilt or pity.



there are so many people that need help. but, many homeless have mental problems or addicts. money fuels addictions. lately, many regular folks are homeless too.

Answer 13

Yeah sleeping outside is so glamorous.

Answer 14

did you family teach you to be so elitist