Raise your hand if you've ever seen a person who you thought was homeless. I can see that all hands are up!
I'll be 61 years old this week and when I was young, the situation was not as it is now. In my youth, the vast majority of people who were homeless were men. There were very few women and even less children who were homeless.
In the old days, we called those homeless men words like, "hobos" or worse. We envisioned them "riding the rails," jumping on and off railroad freight cars and living a life that they chose, free of cares and woes. At that time, the homeless life was romanticized and movies were made, such as "Emperor of the North" staring Lee Marvin, which depicted homeless men enjoying life to the fullest without any reflection on their possible responsibilities to society.
Today, this is not the picture of homelessness. In my experience, I have found:
Where has the free lifestyle of homelessness gone? I suggest that view that there was ever a free lifestyle that people chose to live by being homeless was a myth. It never happened. But, the myth provided a good storyline for movies.
What happened in sixty years? Who are homeless people? Why are they living outside? Why don't they have homes? Oh my God, what happened?
In 2007, the National Alliance to End Homelessness released their report, "Homelessness Counts" citing:
In their report, "2007 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count", the Los Angeles Housing Services Authority (LAHSA) found that in Los Angeles County (population over 10 million), California there are:
In "2006 Short-Term Housing Directory of Los Angeles County," Shelter Partnership determined that there are just over 17,000 shelter beds in all of the homeless shelters for the 74,000 people who are homeless every night. Obviously, people are living "outside" because there is no room in the "inn."
What are the causes of homelessness?
Continue reading on The Huffington Post
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