Autism and Homelessnes

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Guys it's easier to think they are all addicts and mental cases.

Stop to think how they got there....perhaps they were nice families at one time. Living in the streets can break a person.

^^^exactly and well said. My husband is a vet and frequents forums for vets and many, many end up homeless and in terrible situations and they were successful, valued and skilled people at one time. Even worse (from my point of view) they served our country and this is the way we treat them. With many Americans living pay check to pay check or even beyond their means, they are only one major illness away from homelessness. And that's where many are ending up.

Here's another reason for homelessness that has bedevilled people through not fault of their own. The GFC, the chicanery of the big money boys, resulting in negative equity for home owners. It is not well understood by people who don't know how this happens and how borrowers become trapped in economic desperation through no fault of their own.

We saw plenty of it in the late noughties. It didn't "just" lead to homelessness, it lead to suicide for many who could not live with the magnitude of loss and betrayal.

There is a danger in thinking of homelessness in narrow and simplistic ways that perhaps people need more information and education to understand.

Speculation. I lived on the streets, and I am by no means "broken".

Here is a link to a study in my little town. You may have heard of it ... "Anaheim"? The place where Disney built "The Happiest Place on Earth"? No? It's been in the news. Individual tickets cost more than $100...

Anaheim Homeless Census for November 2016 - Results & Findings

I'm not going to continue arguing with someone that doesn't understand that losing jobs can cause homelessness.

Check your facts. I became homeless because (1) I was laid off, (2) my ex ran up a huge medical bill, (3) she divorced me to get the house so she could sell it, (4) her boyfriend's lawyer convinced the judge that this way the decision to make. Thus, I ended up on the streets. She later married her boyfriend after she defaulted on the house mortgage (I had signed a "quit claim" so that I would not have to pay for a house that I no longer lived in.

The big difference was that I had no prison record, no addictions, no mental health issues, and I was willing to work my butt off to get back into a home of my own. It took almost 8 years before I could make that down payment, but I did not give up!

So, whether or not you believe it, I UNDERSTAND HOW PEOPLE CAN BECOME HOMELESS, WHAT HOMELESSNESS IT LIKE, AND THAT HOMELESSNESS CAN BE GOTTEN OUT OF!

And no self-righteous social-justice warriors are going to convince me otherwise, got it? Good.

Homelessness is a big topic, and one person's experience (only) doesn't even scratch the surface of its complexity, it is one person's experience, and personal accounts matter, but they aren't representative and they can lead to reductionist impressions.

One Christmas Eve a friend of mine got a letter saying that his business loan had been turned down. Luckily, he had hedged his bets and also bought himself a new taxicab. So, he headed home, but stopped for a coffee. While his car was parked, it was totalled, and it wasn't insured because it was not yet in commercial service. Even all his kid's Christmas presents in the back seat were lost. He called another cab to get home, and walked into a set of divorce papers.

I also met a woman who lost her job because a co-worker saw a personal letter for her mother, written in Hindi, which included an ancient sanskrit symbol for luck. Unfortunately, the Nazi party had also used it. There are swastikas from the Native American tradition on Prairie bridges, and they have not been torn down. People are capricious.

In general, I'd say that street people must average less ruthless than a group that includes those who stayed housed by cheating others, which happens a lot. Unfortunately, they can get more desperate.

One art student in NYC would practice by drawing sketches of fellow subway riders. If he had time to finish, he'd give it to them. The better dressed people smiled and thanked him nicely. The shabby ones reached for their wallets.

I sometimes "hate" it when you're right.

Although it is fair to point out that the one person who has actually run the race is likely to be more of an "expert" on running races than an entire crowd of people who only watch from the sidelines.

Can be broken means some can be stressed. Not all.

Good for you Fnord. You were homeless through NO fault of your own. That was the point I was making.

I cannot make someone feel empathy for others. Either you feel it or you don't. At least honest in your idgaf stance. You went through homelessness and came out the otherside and therefore don't gaf about anyone else. Am I right? I understand.

Fnord, you have no idea what experiences I have had in the couple of brushes with homelessness I faced. I don't like to post too many identifying information on here as one never knows who might surf on.

We always run the danger of becoming sanctimonious or arrogant after we overcome a struggle.

I don't have a jail record either. Most people don't.

Oh, I "G.A.F.", alright. It's just that I know from personal experience what works and what doesn't. Unfortunately, the methods that actually seem to work do not work for everyone...

30 homeless people placed at an Anaheim motel for mental health treatment must leave

Cities propose homeless shelter sites

Leaders approve motel vouchers, food and other services for 400 homeless

Learn the facts, not just the feelings.

What you call "Sanctimonious" and "Arrogant", I call "Realistic" and "Factual".

Homelessness in America: Overview of Data and Causes

Granted, the data are from 2012, but they reveal a remarkable profile of the majority of homeless people.

Male; White/Non-Hispanic or Black/African-American; Single; Able-Bodied; Non-Veteran

According to a recent annual survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, major cities across the country report that top causes of homelessness among families were: (1) lack of affordable housing, (2) unemployment, (3) poverty, and (4) low wages, in that order.

The same report found that the top five causes of homelessness among unaccompanied individuals were (1) lack of affordable housing, (2) unemployment, (3) poverty, (4) mental illness and the lack of needed services, and (5) substance abuse and the lack of needed services.

The three most common causes in both groups were: (1) lack of affordable housing, (2) unemployment, and (3) poverty. Fortunately, if the homeless person is sound of mind and body, stays out of trouble, and is not chemically addicted, he or she stands a better chance of getting up and out of homelessness than a mentally or physically disabled person who is addicted to drugs and who has been in and out of trouble with the law. So it would seem that while the former group may comprise the majority of the homeless population, it is the latter group that seems to remain homeless for longer periods of time.

I also think that anyone who demands that "Someone needs to do something" to help homeless people should be the first pick a few homeless people at random, take them home, feed them, clothe them, house them, and generally care for their every need -- let those Social Justice Warriors show us all how it's done first, before they demand that the rest of us do anything at all.

Some cities deal with income inequality by building or incentivizing affordable housing interspersed among middle and upper income housing, to prevent the creation of ghetto neighborhoods. Other cities deal with the homeless by outlawing being on the streets, outlawing feeding poor people out of doors, and not making any arrangements by which a homeless person can survive. I know San Francisco has been a particularly heartless city in this regard. But on the other hand, it was common to see bums (sorry, not a PC term) camped out on the lawn of the state capitol in Sacramento.

Poor people gravitate toward California and Florida because it is more feasible to survive winters there without shelter. Try sleeping on the street in Grand Forks, North Dakota, in January if you want a direct ride to heaven.

Don't take what one scientific study says too seriously. It doesn't imply that all autistics will inevitably end up homeless at some point in their life.

Anaheim has taken to providing vouchers for otherwise homeless people to stay in local motels. One in particular now has a police cruiser parked at the main entrance and two patrol-people on watch at all times. The owners have placed a large canvas bag over the sign out front -- likely because of all of the adverse publicity about the pedos, schizos, and ex-cons who are living there. The name of the place is "Baymont by Wyndham - Anaheim".

It is within 1/2 mile of a school for the handicapped, a park and a hospital. Shop-owners are already complaining about the increase in loss of merchandise, the panhandlers at the doors, the trash in the parking lots, and the fewer paying customers they've seen since the Baymont was taken over.

For a long time, drivers along that section of Beach Boulevard had to dodge and swerve to avoid the drunks and derelicts wandering out into traffic. It wasn't until the city put up a fence along the median that this activity stopped.

Sure ... house the homeless, right? I mean, lack of affordable housing is why they're homeless in the first place, right?

How about making sure that those otherwise homeless people aren't wandering out into traffic, driving away honest customers and ruining the livelihoods of honest businesspeople? I mean, don't honest, hardworking home-owners have the right to conduct their business without having to worry about getting assaulted, harassed, or splattering some stoner's brains all over the pavement?