Thanks. I follow NAMI too on Facebook. Any group that aims to educate people about mental illness works against others who would use it as a weapon for manipulation by labeling people they want to discredit.

My guess is there are a lot more of us who have felt just how sinister this approach is. Some of these probably are in the ranks of the homeless. The problem is that the more you complain about it the more mentally ill you sound. That's what I did when in the mental health facility just took the pills and went with the flow after a kindly intern told me to shut up with the story I insisted was true. He said I would probably not get out of there unless I became just a good pill taking patient. Still there were suicide attempts who were released quicker than I was because they had the gift of gab. I never have had that talent. I did report what I had thought happened to me to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office down at their headquarters on September 17, 2002. The desk officer thought I was bonkers when I tried to explain what happened. I got out a letter from my US Representative, The Honorable Michael Bilirakis, from Palm Harbor and the desk officer then allowed me to talk to a Detective (Crandell). I then handed him several hundred documents about my fight for survivors/victims access to information. Mainly, I did this because I did not want the trigger they used to put me into a mental health facility used very easily ever again. Or, if it was, I would have something very well documented with the police. Detective Crandell said that they had mixed feelings about making victims/survivors of crimes more important players in the legal game which is what would happen if you give them access to information about the rights and services available to them.

The letter from the Honorable Michael Bilirakis was about a cybersmearer I picked up on Findlaw's message boards after I started posting documents about my fight for practical information accessible for survivors/victims of crimes. This was one extremely nasty cybersmearer. I have seldom found one more despicable than the one I had for about five years on Findlaw's message boards from roughly mid 2001 through 2006.

Regardless of the various causes for homelessness, we, as a nation, can never solve the problem. However, we, on a community level can. The only way to tackle a problem of this magnitude is from the bottom up, town by town.

There are too many reasons for being homeless. Just throwing money at this scourge has no better chance of success than trying to eradicate mosquitoes with a shotgun. Many homeless desperately do not want to be where they are. However, many homeless desperately fight to stay that way.

Mental illness, drugs, unemployment, bad luck are all mixed into the stew. If the stew has ingredients that do not belong, you can only fix it by separating all of the ingredients and starting anew.

We need to first extract from the mix all of the homeless that DO NOT WANT TO BE HOMELESS. Only then can we work to mitigate the rest and this cannot be done thousands of miles away in DC.

Absolutly correct.........:bigbow:

I am. Just saying that a lot of homeless persons is due to common ole laziness

Really? I think a lot of it is caused by hopelessness.

Problem is, people who are in real need of assistance don't know how to get it, and for reasons beyond my comprehension, people who are not truely deserving, know how to use the system.

If that's what you really think, you need to think harder.
I'd be willing to bet that the percentage of homelessness due to laziness is almost negligible.

My experience volunteering at a homeless shelter
 

In the suburbs of Chicago there is a network of homeless shelters run by suburban churches called Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS for short). I have volunteered for this program since the early 1990's at one of the shelters at a Lutheran church in Palatine (a northwest suburb of Chicago). The goal of PADS is to provide overnight shelter, dinner and breakfast from 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. from October 1 through April 30. This prevents the homeless in the Chicago suburbs from freezing to death during the Chicago winters; especially last winter when Chicago had 82 inches of snow and record cold temperatures during January and February.

During my years as a PADS volunteer, I have encountered the mentally ill, people who abuse alcohol and other substances, women (and sometimes their children) leaving abusive relationships with no where else to go, and some who are simply down on their luck with no support system and little money to fall back on when a job is lost. Also, a surprising number of PADS guests hold minimum wage jobs (or jobs that pay slightly higher than minimum wage). Decent one bedroom apartments in the northwest suburbs of Chicago rent for $900 and up; two bedroom apartments start at $1,200 and up. I don't think someone making $9.00/hr. even working 40 hrs. a week can pay $900/month for rent; even splitting the rent with a roommate at $600 a month could be stretch for someone making $9.00 an hour.

Very few of the homeless I have encountered while volunteering would I classify as lazy or don't want to work. There have been so many times when I have finished my volunteer shift at PADS that I come back to my townhouse that needs updating, and I am so grateful that I have my own home, even if the carpeting needs replacing, and the bathroom needs updating. I have been so fortunate that since graduating from college in the early 1980's I have only been unemployed for a total of 3 weeks, and I have never had to apply for unemployment benefits. There but for the grace of God I am not homeless. Just my two cents.

https://www.facebook.com/hungryandhomeless

I hope more people will follow this man's journey of Facebook.

When I worked as a Urban Corps Intern while a University of Minnesota Law School student, there were some homeless people in Minneapolis who would come in from the cold of the winter or the heat of the summer. I was at the Minneapolis Public Library for about 9 months or so as an Urban Corps Intern.

There were allowed to use the library but we just had to wake them up every once in while.

Before one denigrates another person for their lot in life, one should do their homework or walk in that person's shoe. I read the book "Black Like Me" by John Griffin 50 years ago which impressed on me that valuable perspective. I still remember that lesson. I believe this person is doing that homework.

That does seem to be this man's reason to try this. Of course, he knows he can stop being homeless with a phone call and his journey only lasts 30 days or so but it is an attempt to walk in the shoes of people who are homeless who are looking for food, shelter, clothing, friendship, etc., in Orlando. He might be seen as an outsider to those who have been on the streets a long time who may have already staked out various territories. I expect even though life can be cut throat at the top and middle, it can be even more so near the bottom.