Is being homeless their own fault in America?

[Anonymous]

I talked with a few Americans and they blamed homeless people, they said that that is mostly their own fault being homeless, they could work if they wanted...

Yes, that is their own fault in the US

Mostly no

[ChrisMaster69]

I doubt there is much difference between countries on why people end up homeless.

it’s very easy to end up homeless.

It is actually scary how easy it is and how often there is no safety net or way to stop it becoming worse.

People are not usually made homeless because of drugs and alcohol, it’s something they tend to get into from being homeless.

yes there are those who have addictions, get kicked out of jobs, accommodation, relationships.

however all of the above can happen for any other reason.

A simple one is being kicked out of the house as a teen and needing 6 months rent as deposit, that’s £6k before you get to rent a small room.

Then you have relationship breakdowns where one person has the house, the other does not and needs £6 k deposit.

Also once homeless it’s very hard to get out of as well, how do you apply for a job without a postal address or email, how do you go to interview without clothes or smelling like shit.

I did over 8 years helping homeless people and trying to prevent people becoming on the streets homeless. The centre I was at provided mental health support, assistance with drug addiction, but also crucially things like postal address, ability to borrow clothing to wear for interviews, access to showering via the local council.

Society itself needs to take a good portion of the blame, also politicians.

[Anonymous]

People become homeless in the United States the same way they do in other countries.
Being born into poverty and not being able to escape it, mental health issues, lack of family and support, thrown out at a young age by their family and having no one else, addictions brought on by lives of misery, sudden chronic illnesses that cause them to no longer being able to work and pay what they are meant to pay, messy divorces, layed off work, fired from work, and all around human wickedness and cruelty.
These are just a few examples.

I personally believe that with a some people they have no right to judge as they haven't experienced such things. I've met a couple of homeless people that work and have had horrific lives up until quite recently. It's sad and quite heartbreaking really.
Sure, some homeless people may not be nice, but that's literally the human race in a nutshell. You meet horrible people that aren't homeless in your everyday lives.
Some people that experience the examples I've listed rise out of them, others don't.
That's the brutality of life, therefore we should show some kind of compassion to our fellow man.

[HighlyVolatile]

I would say it's something in between. I want to navigate a balance where I'm not heartless and cruel but at the same time, I want to deliver some sobering information that people generally won't end up this way if they make some effort, and don't have to be stuck this way indefinitely if they make an effort.

There's a balance between being lenient vs. enabling bad habits and undermining the value of accountability. I'm always trying to navigate the proper balance. At the very least, I don't find it at all beneficial to a homeless person to shame them for being homeless. That's not going to help them find a way out.

[DryGermanGuy]

All it takes in the "land of the free" is one severe illness/accident to lose your savings, job and home. I saw a video on YT where a young woman had to go to the ER and was presented with a 40.000 $ bill afterwards, because this one specific doctor was not covered by her insurance. Parts of the United States are on third world level.

[NamerOfStars]

Not really, no. Homelessness, at least in America, is usually a temporary situation, and it doesn't necessarily mean sleeping out in the elements. It still sucks, don't get me wrong, but the country's lousy social safety net means it's not hard to find yourself in that position, and the longer you're in it, the harder it is to get out.

[DWornock]

In a sense, it is their fault but they lack the ability to do much better.. Typically, the homeless are not capable for multiple reasons. They have low IQ's, They have physical or mental disabilities or else they don't have the desire and mental toughness, to be dependable and highly motivated to do better. That can be refereed to as being lazy but it is part of their DNA.

[noohair]

People were kept in institutions and then there was the Willowbrook Mental facility expose. Now most ill people walk the streets.

timeline.com/willowbrook-the-institution-that-shocked-a-nation-into-changing-its-laws-c847acb44e0d

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

Not necessarily true. They can fall ill and lose their job.

In this country for most people if they miss just 5 days of work for being sick they can seriously face homelessness because this country just don't pay enough for low skill labor and the cost of living constantly goes up.

[jshm2]

They must have shit for brains, then. Homeless people do work. They just live in their cars and streets due to other reasons.

[exitseven]

Most of the shelters do not allow drugs or alcohol so these people would rather sleep on tjhe streets.

[Anonymous]

There are resources and shelters for them but they still refuse because they don't want to wake up at 10 morning to get their bed cleaned for FREE. They do it to themselves, at least the ones who live in the city

[joeldalton]

Homeless are individuals. Some are there due to their own choices, but many are mentally ill.

[Anonymous]

My guess is most the homeless it's drug use and mental illness. Life isn't easy but typically there's there's a lot of options before homelessness.

[Anonymous]

It can happen to anyone.

[imfreeze95]

Sometimes not all the time

[Imsmurter1]

Or at least their parents’ fault?

[anylolone]

It's complicated.