Forum Post: Every Corner In America Now Has A Homeless Person
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 29, 2011, 11:23 a.m. EST by eyeofthetiger
(304)
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I have been seeing more and more where I live just sitting in back of fast food places and begging for money on traffic islands, behind shopping malls, all over Thanks Obama for a Great Change We Really Do Believe In
We have always had bums and vagrants and we always will...some actually prefer to live that way.
I remember being in Wash. DC in 1978 and seeing numerous people sleeping on the sidewalks...
Actually, this has been going on for over a decade. However, it has gotten progressively worse in the last 5 years. I suspect it will get worse before it gets better.
It's been going on since before the Reagan Administration and has been progressively worsening ever since.
I agree. However, there has been an influx of a different population.
In the late 70's and throughout the 80's I was all over the US, I saw the changes in demographics of the homeless, the shanty towns and the camper villages all over this country. I saw men in suits carrying briefcases, hitching rides because their white collar jobs had melted away, I saw manufacture workers selling everything they could in an attempt to hold on in the hopes it would get better.
I'd say it's not so much the different population, but rather the acceleration that makes the difference.
You may be right. I was accustomed to dealing with the homeless vets and the influx from deinstitutionalization and the elderly. Then about 10-11 years ago, the local media in some areas began to report that the kids were taking their lunches from school and putting them into their pockets so that they would have something to eat on the weekends. Now, we have entire families that are homeless. We have laws that have been altered in many states so that the homeless kids can attend school.
We all see best our local areas, it's where we have the most experience. Having had the opportunity to travel across the US by road each and every week, I was able to witness the changes as they happened, and as they increased.
I talked with the people in Seattle, WA area, people with jobs but could not afford a home, living in campers or tents, or even under a bridge. I talked with people in various cities in FL, again jobs but not enough income to afford a living space. It's all over the country and it's growing at an alarming rate.
I remember Reagan saying 'there are no hungry in America', and thinking maybe someone should ask the hungry...there is a forgotten population in America, they've been forgotten for a long time.
You're not unemployed unless you are drawing unemployment, even if you have no income. You can apply for benefits, food stamps etc, but you have to have a physical address to receive them. Then there are the ones too proud to ask for help.
America has two populations, those we see and those we do not.
My community takes care of their own.