Well as I said the mentally ill would not be considered homeless as there defining characteristic by my definition. I mean from the people that BC564 alluded to. They should just move elsewhere. No point having a job if you can't afford to pay the bills with it.

As for the assumptions, of course we make assumptions. People fill in what they don't know with what they have heard. And usually what they have heard is based on stereotypes and usually those stereotypes are based off some truth. Hence all homeless people are alcoholic bums who should get a job and quit being a leech on society. Obviously this isn't true, but I don't care to research the stats and neither do most people.

People who standout and try to make people aware are those who work in the industy and see it first hand. I don't and I don't think I would want to. That's just me.

I agree with that...but also....your painting all homeless with the same brush when we all know each one has there own story....and not all of them are tragic....some are choice....

Not sure who you are agreeing with but I agree with you.

I can see where your coming from.. but Im one of the people that has to deal with this aspect on a daily basis. I manage apartment buildings. I have 3 buildings downtown and DAILY I clean up after these guys. Needles.. blood..crapping in the doorways.. stealing anything that isnt nailed down.. and usually distroying what cant be stolen and pulling garbage out of the bins so they can sort thru it for recycling.
And then just the noise factor of dozens of shopping carts rattleing full of cans and bottles in and out of my parking lots all day and night. I call that trespassing. Would you guys that own your houses put up with me strolling up your driveways and going thru your household trash in the middle of the night? And here in Victoria its not just the homeless and the mentally ill.. word has gotten out that its easy here.. most of these people are younger.. and able to work that I see.. I have a brother like that. Working gets in the way of his drinking.. and he would rather drink and get high.. so he does. And so these people sit on the corner all day and ask me for MY money I work for.. then as soon as it gets dark they break out the window in my car and steal even more.. I have no answers,, all I am saying is Im tired of it.

Well, there's homelessness and then there's crime. Two different things.

I don't think you can really *get* homelessness until you've experienced it or been down in the trenches with it. Maybe I'm wrong on that. But it seems like so many people, who have no real practical experience with homelessness, relentlessly hold onto these innacurate assumptions.

These people need guidance nobody taught them the right way to have a good life nobody made them stubborn enough to put up a good fight and not give up and as far as addiction goes you can take them away from their element and put them into detox but you also need to give them a reason to stay away from the drugs alot of homeless people have just plain given up hope and find it easier to live an unstructured life to me this is due to a lack of will power and just plain lazyness I do however have no problem sparing a buck or two here or there
but for me i just find it easier to be guaranteed a pay cheque than to hope for somebodys loose change or discarded pop cans as far as prostitution goes these people need to learn to respect themselves before anybody else will respect them :sigh,

The homeless exist in the large numbers that they do because we enable them to. The multitude of services that are funded by our tax dollars and donations allow them to continue this way of life. By removing a large amount of natural selection our society has created this problem.

You make sleeping on the street sound like the "lap of luxury" , like it is a pleasant thing that everyone secretly wants to do but doesn't dare try it :lol: .
I seriously doubt that most of the people sleeping on the street do so because they want to (Note I said most, there are some stange people that actually might want to be there)

*EDIT* And I do interpret "homeless" to mean the people who really have no where to go after the funs over, not the juvenile delinquents who vandalize the neighbourhood and then go home to dinner

Sorry i didnt mean that they want to be in that situation. I meant that for example, if there was no dropin shelter for them to keep warm when it is -40C, there would be less of the homeless. They would either try harder to change thier situation, or die.

Now that is just a tad harsh :eek: not to mention one has to take in to account the cost of collecting the bodies and disposing of them and the man hours involved identifying and then hunting down the mothers so they can be told what happened to their son/daughter