Y&R Discussion Group -- homeless woman sat on the wall; then lay down on the grass; now sleeps in dirt

Y&R Discussion Group

Topic: homeless woman sat on the wall; then lay down on the grass; now sleeps in dirt

Topic Posted by: Elie
Date Posted: Fri Apr 25 1:14:17 2008
Additional Comments: The homeless woman I have posted about used to spend her days sitting on a low wall watching the traffic. For the past week, she's been laying down on the grass. Today when I walked past, she was asleep in the dirt.

None of the agencies I contacted ever sent me a return e-mail.

Posted by: Noront
Date posted: Fri Apr 25 8:57:11 2008
Message:
It's almost as if society thinks of the homeless as disposable people. When I notice a 'lost soul' it makes me wonder...why is he/she the way he is? What happened to him in his life for it to be this hopeless. The majority I believe is due to untreated mental illness, and there is always a reason for the others, people don't initially chose to live this way, it's a downhill progression from then to now. Bad life experiences and bad choices are the first steps I guess. It's the older people that bother me because eventually they will just wither up and die somewhere and no one will even notice they've disappeared. I don't give money, but I have donated clothing to the hostels etc. and have bought food for a beggar. I wish the street kids would take a long look and see what might become of them. They at least still have a chance for change.

Replies: (list all replies)

This woman looks as if she's at least 60 years old. I first noticed her about three years ago. A bus driver told me that she first saw the homeless woman about five years ago at a different location. I once talked to a young woman who said she used to be homeless. When I asked her who helped her, she said she helped herself. I read that it's common for those raised in foster care to end up homeless. I think many people in general care about the homeless, but the politicans, those with power, don't care. The new housing that is built consists of upscale homes and condos. eom

''Almost''?...eom...Mitch

Everyone blames the politicians, what's wrong with the general public getting more involved????

The poliiticians could set aside part of the city's budget for housing for the long-term homeless, but they never do. Most people who want to help the homeless don't have the money to build housing for thousands of homeless people in every city. eom

There are homes for the the homeless. Most of the people who are homeless and not living in shelters are doing so because they don't want to...probably because they have to follow the shelter's rules. Building more homes for them with the same type of rules wouldn't make sense. Building them with no rules would make even less sense.

The woman I talked to who used to be homeless, said that she didn't stay in the shelters because many people in the shelters have TB, hepatitis or AIDS. Also, where I live there are about 2,000 homeless people and enough room in the shelters for about 1,000 people. There are some cities that have supervised housing... with a nurse on duty all the time, and individual apartments for the tenants, but those are rare. From what I've read about shelters, there are those who keep others up all night with their talking and snoring. A shelter isn't a home: it's just a place to sleep for the night in a roomful of strangers. eom