The Poor & Homeless Are Getting Screwed: Now Working People?

Just about every city has its homeless and underemployed people. Those not participating in this horrific life condition are continually complaining about being "bothered" by the hungry and those without shelter. Even the most strapped "normal" person will dig into their possessions in hopes it will help another person. I have been quite discouraged by the lack of help state and federal government seems to put forth for these people. You hear the "deadbeat" chant a lot but for most "broken" is the most appropriate word usage. The lack of compassion for those left destitute in this economic crunch is disgusting. During the great depression people gathered round and helped those less fortunate now it seems like the attitude is "Get them out of my sight they are mucking up the landscape".

How many people on here has been to St Pete. ? Until you have seen the problem with pan handling there than I don't think there is room to draw judgement. There is a big different with someone being poor and someone who is basically called the local drunk. My last stop in Atlanta down town showed the same problem.

Now to the ones who work , Make a place where they can do their thing . But on US19 the only thing thats going to happen is a few getting run over which is very common in this area.

And thus we demonstrate the FEAR, ignorance and HATE that is, in fact, the problem

I just loce it when these same idiots claim to be "good, God fearing people" - read matthew 24

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was homeless and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you homeless and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick and care for you or in prison and go to visit you?'

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of my brothers, you did for me.'

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was homeless and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and you did not care for me, in prison and you did not visit me.'

"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a homeless or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not aid you?'

"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

Personally I am an agnostic but these are nonetheless words to live by; Not like the HATE, FEAR and ignorance expressed above

I remember long long ago, having a grandmother that would go to the back door and feed men that came to the door. Oh they didn't come in droves but there were quite a few for me to have the memory. Those days are lost and you are right ignorance dominates our world.

I think what we are seeing now will only get worse.

Without much better job creation and wages the amount of people simply unable to make ends meet in today's economy will continue to grow. You can only hide so many peasants before there are more than not, I think it is only a matter of a few years away.

Eriq, good quote and one of the reasons that I have very little respect for the so called religious right. Very few of them actually follow the principles that were cornerstone to christianity, most of them are far more like the conservatives that crucified Jesus in his day.

The ban is specifically for anyone who is panhandling or selling or taking donations on a street corner or the median..I don't think that the Salvation Army will be affected since they typically stand outside of stores. It will affect fireman collecting donations on "boot day" and those who stand on the street corners selling newspapers. The St. Petersburg Times have filed a lawsuit with the city of St. Pete.

A further crisis was caused in the early 1980s by the Reagan Administration's policies to reduce other federal human service program costs. A policy of accelerated reviews of individuals on the federal disability rolls left hundreds of thousands of people with mental illnesses without income as it exposed the inappropriateness of federal rules for assessing disability for this population.The Administration also slashed federal support of public housing. As low-income housing became less available, and income support evaporated almost overnight, a significant number of people with serious mental illnesses were left on the streets, representing at least a quarter of homeless individuals. With no money, nowhere to live and an underfunded mental health service system, many were in dire straits.

When this new enactment was set in place many patients went without needed medications and shelter. It would seem that this type of game plan would be a violation of human rights but no one seems to mind those need psychiatric care going without until one offends them. I was living on Hawaii at the time this was going on and it was a debacle of the weirdest type. On the Mainland there were mentally ill patients killed by police due to their behaviors. Further hopelessness for the hopeless is criminal.

Mad - comment 7 was obviously sarcastic - some people just blame everything on Obama, especially things that were started / happened before he was elected!

js - Reagan started this in California when he was Governor. I went to college in San Jose, the Local "institution" was closed by Reagan and these people ended up slowly drifting southeast along the main road into downtown San Jose

One of the things that made me proud of humanity (around a college) - the nearest 24 hour breakfast place would chase these people out but the college student fast food places would let them sleep inside at night, wake them up in the morning with a breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee and let them know that they could not be there during the day and weren't supposed to be there at night so please don't come back - they at least tried to be human

This was back i the day when you could have a single student working graveyard by themselves and to their credit I can not recall one of these workers being fired for this by management. Different times, we were a different people then

Great story, eriq. I lived on the island and many of the mentally challenged had children of normal intelligence and no one seemed to know what to do about this. I had one little boy in a behavior class that I was assigned to after 6 aides left. He was a handful but someone I could deal with so I was a good candidate. One of the things I did right away was have his mother and auntie come to school and help me with projects and such. As soon as he realized I held his mother and auntie in high esteem his behavior modified like magic. When he discovered his mother and auntie could help out and were good at the tasks I gave them it made a huge difference to him. It made me pretty mad that no one seemed to think that the developmentally challenged parent might be an embarrassment to a child. He also had a stepfather that was not a good disciplinarian and that was a strike against him also.

People get so tied up in themselves they forget all about humanity and our obligation to give a helping hand.

Carolyn Johansen, great post.

Randilly, I agree with you. I just read stories of Molokai and those with Hanson's disease. It is sad when someone is poor or ill people do not want to associate with him or her. Well, I can understand how this could happen but does this mean you cannot give them the time of day either? I have been on streets where every other step is someone begging or hocking their wares. I smile and say, "No Thank You" and move on. I give to shelters and other charitable organizations to assist the poor. It isn't so hard to be compassionate and set your boundaries. They don't have "cooties" they are just a bit broken and if you give them and smile and a "Hello" it makes their day feel a bit brighter. I wouldn't want to be someone who felt they must snub part of society because it made them uncomfortable.