Honestly, it depends. We have organized beggar clans, which get driven into the country in spring and back home in autumn. They refuse any and all help, they even refuse to use the toilets specifically installed for them only they have a key for, and instead s**t on sidewalks and p**s in parks and bike parking spaces instead. I get persecution.

These comments are a giant pile of what-about-isms. Ok, so there are some fraudsters who beg and aren't even homeless, and some who have freely chosen a non-home-having adventure. But certainly there are far too many people who are homeless because of financial disasters, escaping abusive situations (so many LGBTQ kids who aren't welcome at home), can't work because of disabilities or illness whether mental, physical, or addictions. There are all these working people making minimum wage who can't possibly eat and pull together a security deposit on a safe apartment. All the evidence I've seen here in the US is that if somebody gets a safe place to live, they're more able to tackle the other problems (medical and psych treatment, jobs, addiction treatment). So how about we help everybody who needs and wants it and worry about those who don't LAST instead of first.

If I could upvote this 100 times I would.

it's true, multiple studies have found that simple things like providing housing for the homeless, GASP, helps them get on their feet again!

People making excuses to "rid the homeless from their location" infuriate me! They have to chose locations they can get food, money, use public washrooms and be warm!

I find it horrible and even embarrassing that our country has so many homeless vets and kids

Like with any social group homeless people are made up of people with a variety of backgrounds and reasons for being homeless. To lump them all in the same group would be a disservice to you, society, the people helping, and to the actual homeless. Yes there are those who generally need help and deserve our sympathy and help. Then you have the group who don't want your help, don't want to be told what to do and will sh*t on your yard just because they can.

I hate this some are mentally ill and their brain doesn't have capacity to realize how bad they are. I get that some people are Jerks.

Alot of things get blamed on homeless as well when they had nothing to do with it. For example, piles of household trash including furniture on wood lines etc. It gets blamed on homeless folks and homeless encampments when in reality it's assholes dumping truckloads of their trash from home anywhere they can to avoid having to pay the fees at dumps and transfer stations. Homeless folks get blamed or accused of theft, property damage, vandalism, etc when in reality it's usually young kids or folks deep in the throws of their addiction that are doing it. Most homeless folks are simply trying to survive to the next day. Many homeless are actually some of the nicest most generous people you could ever meet... If you ever take the chance to have a real conversation with them. Try it sometime.

Depends, I do a lot of inner city volunteer work. This is a very Grey area, many due have issue that can not easily be fixed and bring a bad vibe that others need deal with. My work would be much easier for those that can be helped, if these negative elements were removed and associations could end. Homeless and disadvantaged are not printable with the same brush. They are diverse like any group and in this case the bad shines brightest and shadows the good from getting the help they need. No one wants to deal with this though so everyone pretends to help to look good while never really doing s**t. We need to address the real issues not take money hand out food and ignore everything else.

Thank you

I live in Boulder colorado and here the homeless people are awful, but in no way am I trying to say that everyone without a home is like this. These people want food and money without truly trying to get out of the situation. Here people are very empathetic and try to help them, but no matter what, the problem gets worse and they continue building tent camps of about 30 tents right next to the public library. Our town is amazing and usually I agree with the towns political views, but in this case I just feel like we should not let them poop on the bike paths and catcall young girls while on drugs. I don’t want anyone to take this the wrong way, I still believe that everyone deserves basic human rights and no one should have to live in poverty, the only thing is these people can’t count on us being intimidated into giving them money for meth.

That's the damn truth.

Many homeless r mentally ill. It’s not an easy situation or solution

Not being allowed to sleep and pee and poop wherever you want does not constiitute persecution. Kindness and assistance of course but this is a hygiene and safety isdue for the rest of us, not to mention for them.

Not all of them want help

There are many different kinds of homeless people and they can't all be treated the same. There's the kind that if you just give them the help they need they will get it together and live a good life. All they need is a chance. Then there are the mentally ill or drug addicted as well as the "free spirit/I have a right to live on the street". The first needs to be helped in ways they may not consent to, it's simply not safe/healthy for them to be there for themselves or anyone else. The second half, I'm sorry but no one has the "right" to live on the street and you are simply opting out on normal life because you can't be responsible. Our goal should be no more homeless on the streets ie getting them the help they need and not encouraging that third group

Absolutely!

Exactly

Eh if I'm being honest, I can understand both. See I used to be hugely sympathetic, but after working around the homeless day in, day out, having my life and safety threatened by random bums, racist remarks, pissing And s******g on the sidewalks, refusing any and all help to get better... I've stopped caring and that little humanitarian spirit I had once is no longer there. There were 2 or 3 I cared about, they were some of the good ones, they were actively trying to get help

Homeless in America is like failing level one. It's not easier anywhere else, to be honest. There are so many opportunities here. People flock from all over the world to be here. I'm an immigrant. You have to work here to get anywhere. It's fair. If there are mental factors at play, they should be taken to asylums where they will be clothed and fed. They should not be allowed to gather and lean on each other to continue in such an environment. Is it not better to force them into treatment than give them this illusion of choice which only leads to self-harm?