*spin off* Homeless People - WDYT

[DaddyLarge]

The sad reality is that most of the population are only a bad season or two away from the streets themselves.

[delirium]

lol does this person actually realise waiting lists for public housing can be up to a decade?

and I agree with DL - it can happen to anyone. A series of bad luck, maybe some bad choices and anyone can end up homeless with nothing.

[SassyMummy]

I think anyone who says anything like that is just showing that they're a person of priveledge.

I have never been homeless, but I have been lucky in that I have been able to rely on others AND that I'm a woman with a daughter... so finding help if I absolutely needed it would have been much easier than if I didn't have a child or family/friends willing to make sure I didn't end up on the streets.

You need an address to get Centrelink - and even then, Centrelink is hardly enough for someone to solely rely upon to live, especially if all they get is something like New Start... so it's not as easy as just getting benefits. You need the benefits to get the house but you need the house to get the benefits...

[CakeyLoaf]

I don't agree. Sometimes the most unlikely people become homeless. I know of a lovely, well respected lady who was a teacher and she became homeless and lived in a shelter for a while. Reason being she was a victim of domestic violence, husband was a police officer and she was too frightened he would be left off if she reported.

As others have said often it's due to mental illness and people have fallen through the cracks which is just so sad.

[CakeyLoaf]

The sad reality is that most of the population are only a bad season or two away from the streets themselves.

Very true- look at the USA where people are living in 'tent cities'. They are just average people who've been impacted by the GFC. It really could happen to anyone.

[HarvestMoon]

I've been homeless before with 2 children. It was a horrible time and it was not by choice.
I was living with the ex and enduring dv. The lease was ending and I saw it as my opportunity to finally get away.
One night after yet another beating my friend called the police and he was removed from the house. I packed everything up as quickly as possible, moved it all into storage. I started applying for rentals...146 knock backs in the first 3 months, I had no luck with doh and community organisations, refuges wouldn't help me because I had already left the dv situation. So after 6 months I had enough, admitted defeat and moved back in with the ex.
There isn't always a choice when it comes to homelessness or if there it's not always a good or easy choice to make.

[MsTruth]

The sad reality is that most of the population are only a bad season or two away from the streets themselves.

I think that the situation is even more dire than this with so many people living from pay cheque to pay cheque.

Secondary homelessness (where people are living on family or friends couches/spare rooms/cars) is on the rise and takes a toll on all concerned.

The original quote sounds like the one that Jerry Harvey (owner of the Harvery Norman chain) made when he said that it was a waste of money donating to homeless services.

[InBetween]

This is a hard subject for me because on the one hand, I know people who are homeless by choice and who subsequently bludge off people because they feel that this is owed to them but I've also come across a lot of people who aren't homeless by choice. Like others here, homelessness can be an eviction notice away or you lose your job and you have to wait 13 weeks for benefits to start or you just don't want to handle your partner's fist anymore or you wig out one day...there are so many reasons behind homelessness and to try and generalise by saying "most" or "all" or "the vast majority" would be unfair. Having tried to obtain govt housing and paying high rental which keeps me, oh, about two weeks from being homeless, I try to be as compassionate as the circumstances warrant. But there was a time when I used to volunteer at a community based charity for a few years until I got fed up wtih the problem we had with homeless people and I eventually left because of them. We set up gardens, had chickens, planted seeds etc - people worked really hard to get these things up and running. But every night a homeless group would come through and steal and wreck and ruin. They would go to the toilet everywhere, leave their needles, blood, vomit and bottles behind them. They even set up house in the on site toilet and terrorised the general public who came to enjoy the place on weekends. Some were quite violent and dangerous. And they used every excuse in the book to get away with what they were doing. Police would come and take some away but then they'd come back, full of revenge and people would get hurt. I admit that for a time I hated these people and what they were doing. The law makes killing unlawful but if I am to be barefaced honest, I would not have batted an eyelid if they were found in the nearby river, they caused that much havoc and heartache for those who were trying to give something back to the community and I admit it hardened my heart. Too many "do gooders" in the public service were crying mental health or misfortune or they-had-a-bad-upbringing excuses to let these people continue to do what they were doing and it killed off the bulk of what was a wonderful volunteering force. It just got too dicey to work there! Since then, I understand gates and walls have gone up at the community garden which is unfortunate but I don't blame people for their lack of sympathy regarding an issue such as this.

The police called for his identity saying that only a surgeon could have done what he had done and if anyone knew who he was they wanted information on him etc.

He was actually a former paramedic.

[beebs]

Inbetween - I totally hear you, I really do. But that is because the system is failing. Humans are stupid - we are really. We are a self destructive bunch at heart really. The police should have done more, at the end of the day they were breaking the law and the law should have been enforced.

This is a true story;

Me and my friends were walking through and inner city park at night - we heard a cry for help, went running over and a fella told us his friend had Od'd and he wasn't breathing. My friend was studying to be a nurse and I had 10 years of first aid training behind me. We did resusc on him - brought him back (and yes - we were very very careful not to mix fluids). When the ambos came they literally had a go at us "thanks alot, now another junkie is going to back on the streets, why didn't you just leave him - we should be out there saving people who really need us" etc etc. I totally get the disillusionment it can cause. I feel it too.

But at the end of the day we are all people and all people start out as innocent babies - as I said in another thread everybody has a story. Thats not to say I think people should get away with things because they are junkies or homeless or whatever, but I really think that there should be far more in place to help people get out of these situations...

[InBetween]

and all people start out as innocent babies

That's the image that comes to my mind anytime I start thinking hard thoughts. I try to think of them as someone's son or daughter or my mother or my father. God love them some of them I have seen huddling from the cold on trains or picking food out of bins...I just want to go over with a hot meal or something but I'm stopped by past lessons. I regularly grapple with the desire to assist and the urge to protect myself. Just a few links for thought: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/man-killed...829-1jhgg.html http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/q...P5ooudVuEd8fbI