Hi, powerful article.  It is so important to hear these stories. Families, women and young people have been the changing face of homelessness in Australia for sometime now.  Ironically it is economic growth in parts of Australia which has caused homelessness through the changes in the labour market and decreased housing affordabilty.

And now, an economic downturn will see people lose their homes in Australia too. We haven't felt the full impact yet.....

Regards
Michelle
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

POOR PEOPLE'S CAMPAIGN   WE MUST STAND UP

I don't know much about how economy works, really.  But I do know that it is wrong that many families, poor or middle class, are living under the condition you described, while the government is spending tons of money for the war, killing innocent Iraqis and American soldiers. 

Also, I just heard on NPR something like some young people are encouraged/willing to go to military because they can't find a job.  No!
If young people are willing to join military, I would rather send them to Africa or Asia to help people in need.  It's not impossible, if the government has enough money to spend for making weapons.  Right?

Again, I don't know much about economy and I may be naive, but I know that no American people should be starving or living on the street while money is spent wrong.

Many things need to be done, and the stimulus needs to provide a lifeline to families in the vortex of homelessness.

Unbelieveable, but the families going from motel to motel don't fit HUD's definition of homelessness, therefore they aren't counted nor are the eligible for some of the HUD funded services they need.

HR29 has been introduced in Congress, the Homeless Children and Youth Act, to change HUD's definition of homelessness. It's about time! We need to get as many Congressional sponsors as possible on this bill!

For those frustrated by the endless stories of homeless families and youth -- join the HEAR US grassroots campaign, Piggies. It's easy, and with enough participation across the land we will succeed!

http://www.hearus.us/compassion-epidemic.html

It is critical as money is allocated from the stimulus and bailout packages that companies receiving funds be held accountable for maintaining their American workforce.  I find the thought of bailout funds further aiding in outsourcing overseas or off-shoring jobs to help the bottom line to be reprehensible.  Likewise, caps should be instituted on total compensation for corporate officers of companies receiving federal assistance.

Put simply, run the company successfully, repay the government and THEN reap the benefits.

The issue of homelessness is shocking in this country!

We are a "wealthy" nation. We should be able to offer every person who WANTS a job, sufficient employment to meet their family's needs.

And, as a "civilized" (if not "compassionate") society, we should assist those who will not or cannot work. We need to provide medical care and therapy to those with physical and mental health issues. We need to educate those who want to learn.

We need to restore "community" and "inter-connectedness". Let's improve the "safety net" and "entitlements" and ensure that those who receive benefits are able to fully "participate" (in some meaningful capacity) in our society.

If we don't address the homelessness issue (along with poverty), we will only have rising incarceration (already the highest in the world) and crime rates to show for it...

Well said, Jody.
And guess who enjoys the highest incarceration rate?  Private prison contractors.  1 out of 9 young black men are in prison.  The more inmates they have, the more money they make.
The same sickness as weapon making companies make money by killing people...  it's just so sad.

Your Businessweek link is broken.

All the attempts at dealing with this economic crisis are aimed at solving it the SAME WAY IT WAS CREATED:  Trickle Down.  It's absurd- If you give money to people at the BOTTOM, they will spend it locally in their communities, and it will trickle up.  As the water level rises, eventually even the yachts will rise with the tide!  AND there will be less suffering amongst the people who have ALWAYS been on the bottom - the poor and the WORKING poor:  People without mortgages - who can hardly afford their rent and food!  Why isn't anyone talking about them?? ALSO, another group is completely left out:  People who owned small businesses that have gone out of business.  Friends who have had businesses tell me that they are NOT ELIGIBLE for UNEMPLOYMENT insurance - even though they have paid money into that fund (even if they were to sole proprietor) when they had their business!! What are THEY SUPPOSED to do?? They have no income, no money, can't borrow, can't find a job.... I know small business people who have moved in with friends, but have no support system!!  
This stimulus package is USELESS to MOST of the people in this country.  It's shameful!

The thing that continues to amaze me is that, with all the talk about how horrible the unemployment rate is, nothing is being done to stem the tide of our jobs being sent overseas. The company I work for (one of the largest IT outsourcing companies in the world) is laying off loyal, hard-working employees and sending their jobs to locations like India, Brazil, and China.

The government needs to kick these companies where it hurts and tell them if they want to decimate our workforce by sending jobs overseas, then they lose all tax breaks/incentives. This is the only tactic that will work since they have made it crystal clear that they have no conscience or integrity, and the only thing that matters to them is the bottom line.

Shannon-  Nice work here-  We're a new National Recession Survival Resources Web Portal-- http://www.HereToHelp.Us  we might be interested in carrying your blog if you you are going to keep this up.  Of course we'd appreciate being listed as well-
Check out the portal and send me an email if you're interested.

Best regards

I agree with Jody and Michael's viewpoints, I am an independent democractrepublican faction.

The outsourcing and too many immigrant is the biggest problem for unemployment.

We need to have an emergency recessional changes. Politicians need to treat it as emergency.

When you become homeless, you loses your mailing address... it harder to collect your mails. It is hard to create bill contract or pay bill contract. You get less respect from people who are not homeless. You are more likely to get in a crosshair of crime if you are homeless which is theft, rape, murder, sexual harrassment, assault battery, etc.

We need to reform the free market system and make the large corporation to create more jobs or there will be some kind of riot beyound the control of the police (I don't approve rioting but a hungry people is more aggressive than a content people).

The new stimulus package will NOT help.. the wonderful goverment thinks we need MORE H1B workers brought in and that if your just a worker don't worry they couldn't put the e-verify into it to protect the American worker.. therfore it's open season on who gets those construction jobs.. lots of luck.. no more homeless AMERICAN'S coming this way.. or if lucky they can get a job at MUCH less than they were making before.. since now they will have to compete with the lower wages the H1B and illegals get for the same jobs.. However, we are printing money.  What the government hasn't figured out but they are not and this bill will NOT create long term jobs.. it's a joke for pet projects and pay back to those that supported them last election.. Even China won't lend us money.. which makes them slightly smarter than the U.S. Politicians..

think of all the homeless made to leave there homes through wars brought about by the U.S, these new homeless maybe need a reality check like this to wake them up to it, though i wouldnt wish homelessness on anybody. forget your government and its lies, if you want to blow this thing apart and get your lives back in order you should do some research on the rothschilds as they are the ones completely running(ruining)the show for everybody! 

When will citizens connect the dots.......

1). Visas are given in large numbers to import skilled workers at lower wages to replace white collar workers
2). Illegal migration is ignored to provide lower waged workers for manual, service, and trade jobs.
3). Despite its effect on citizens and thier protests, and its economic burden on government services it continues with the persistent assistance of our "representatives" in Congress. They tout "humanitarian" concerns; that is not their motivation.
4). Our manufacturing base has been decimated and our "representatives" have entered into "trade" agreements that prevent that productive base from being reestablshed.
5). Family farms are replaced by corporate farms that control the production, purchase, distribution, and processing of food all along the supply chain.
6). From a diverse economy that produced the variety of goods it consumed and exported it surplus, we have become a weak productive economy based on consumption and debt.

They no longer teach shop or civics in schools, much less produce graduates in large numbers that have a basic quality of education that includes basic reading, writing, math, and thinknig skills. Rather we have culture wars over sex education and evolution and any other number of stupid distractions.

This is not simply an economic process, but a process of gutting a nation and its sovreignty to make it more malliable for longer term goals.

We've been had big time and our "representatives" are selling us down the drain and making us more and more dependent on supranational organizations that do not represent the interests of citizens.

No doubt this information is disturbing to say the very least.  Having lived in San Francisco for many years, the homeless problem is nothing new for me.  I witnessed it during the boom times so now is no surprise. 

However, over the years, I have studied the problem from a legal perspective.  I have teamed up with some of the most progressive legal minds in America.  Over the last several years, our research has found some very interesting but disturbing conclusions.  The result from this research here in California (and it looks like it is mostly the same throughout America) is a lawsuit.  The purpose of this litigation is to reform the laws that govern housing. 

It might interest the readers to know that here in California the State Legislature purposely enacted statutes specifically designed to usurp the Constitutional Rights of those who hold mortgages and/or rent.  That's right!  The system here was designed to make homelessness much more efficient!  Never mind it is completely illegal and immoral.

I plan to be in the 9th Circuit Appellate Court very soon.  Anyone interested in my project is welcome to contact me.

gmcoutin@gmail.com
mkriley@gmail.com

Unless you reform the legal system, the problem will just get worse.  Start with the foundation, and the build upward.  That's the proper way to deal with this matter.

Thank you

Actually, a measure of light has been shown on the "new homeless" for a few years now.  The problem is that people in the middle class tends to remain oblivious to U.S. poverty until they, themselves, become poor.  That's unfortunate. The majority of Americans who, in past, turned to welfare WERE working/middle class families that encountered set-backs (some 80% of welfare recipients used welfare for well under 5 years).

Our mistake has been in assuming that "the poor" were a distinct and inferior subset of society, and that we can avoid poverty simply by "working hard and playing by all the rules".  Welcome to reality.  The poor are us, We the People.

The only difference today is that, with welfare reform, we tore out most of the social safety net, making it far harder to work one's way back out of poverty.  With each economic downturn, more people fall into permanent poverty, fewer are able to work their way back out.

One of the problems in this crisis is the loss of jobs for middle aged and older Americans, whether from immigrants or from layoffs due to business pressures.  Let's face it, if one is over 50 the chances of getting another job are slim to none unless highly qualified.  Many of these same people would love to open a small business, and they can't get loans to do so.  
Why not include a provision in the stimulus bill to give consideration to the involuntarily unemployed in getting SBA loans to start or buy an existing small business?  

The Vietnam Veterans of America did a study on homelessness amongst veterans. The study concluded that the MORE educated a veteran is the more likely it was that a veteran would become homeless.
The VA Homeless Program and other homeless programs, however, unreasonably assume that the only reason(s) that a veteran becomes homeless is because of substance abuse and/or psychiatric problems. The result is that, if a veteran has neither of the same, he will face difficulty and/or delay in receiving assistance with homlessness. When he does receive assistance, that assistance addresses and a assumes these same issues exist without regard to the true cause(s) of  his homelessness, unemployement and economic distress.
There appears to certain organizations and entities which financially benefit from those programs which incorrectly assume that substance abuse and psychiatric disabilities are the sole causes of homelessness. They are, of course, rigidly supportive of these false assumptions.
Appropriate preventative and remedial legislation should be inacted to address the aforementioned. 

At 40 years old and having worked as a nurse (Licensed Practical Nurse) for the past 20 years, I never thought that I would be in this shape.  I haven't worked in 5 months.  States are screaming about the shortage of nurses, but what is not being said is that the shortage is with Registered Nurses and not LPN's.  It's like we don't even exist anymore. 

I've never heard the term "invisible homeless."  I suppose that would include myself.  I lost my home last September to the economy.  I now live with relatives, which is difficult because I have to depend on someone else instead of myself.  I went from being a self-sustaining, hard-working, tax-paying citizen (and a veteran), to having no home and believe it, jobless because the medical facility that I worked at downsized (actually laid off nurses).  I have a hard time admitting it to myself, but I am homeless at this point. 

I've been applying like crazy for the last three months for grants and loans to go back to school to become a Registered Nurse, but guess what?  9 out of 10 scholarships, grants, and loans are geared towards minority groups (latin, Indian, Asian, etc.).  Here I am an American, born on this soil, yet I cannot qualify for any grant, loan, or scholarship thus far because I'm not a minority.  So now I'm part of the "invisible homeless", can't find a job, and apparently cannot go back to school because I'm not a minority.  So in all of this, how is this stimulus package being approved by our government going to help folks like me?  The government has willingly bailed out the auto industries and banks (with my tax dollars).  But who is going to bail out folks like myself and others in the same boat (with my own tax dollars)? 

I am also 40 and I never thought I would ever be homeless. I made the right choices, worked damn hard, made better then decent money, but not bein able to work for nearly 4 years while caring for my sick Pops and myself a cancer and Sickle Cell Patient paying most of the bills out of pocket before Blue Cross refused to pay at all. My checking and savings went fast.

I was homeless here in Los Angeles (Santa Monica) for 22 months. Became aware I am HIV positive in April 3, 2008 and if anyone says HIV isnt a death sentecne, they must have medical coverage. I dont, nor do I have a doctor for this disease, so for me and thousands of others who fight it alone, it is very much a death sentence.

Yesterday I went to a depostition for a formerly homeless family who was thrown into the street by Beyond Shelter along with their 9 month old child and the attorney tried to paint all homeless people as worthless and no good. This seems to be the thinking surrounding most programs that serve homeless people.

You are either a drunk, crazy, criminal or a drug user. Anyone else who is homeless and says they arent one of these is just a lair. At least this is what agencies will have us to believe.

"How many families have you helped get into housing Mr. Carr?" was the question I was asked.

In other words Beyond Shelter and Tanya Tull the owner can do whatever the hell they want to homeless people as long as she helps some families get into housing. It's ok to throw families with children into the street and dump their belongings into the garbage. They are homeless and who gives a fuck about homeless people?

I have very little or no respest for many of the agencies that are in place in here in Los Angeles County, which happens to be the homeless capital of the world. Their services are ore abusive, confrontational and downright disgusting. It is this nations shame that a woman says "I am safer on the streets then in a shelter" It is this nations shame that cities all over this nations passes laws and ordinances that make being poor and homless a crime.

Please dont go pointing your finger at Obama or his adminstration, this was a problem long before he came to live in the White House, so dont go putting that moneky on his back, not that he cant carry it, it's just not correct to do so.

CHANGE for homelessness start with each of us. YOU, YOU and YOU, so dont sit back at the end of four years and say "see he's done nothing" when you sat and did nothing to help besides make comments on blogs and who is and isnt in his administration.

I am happy to see middle class people hitting the streets. No I am not, just as I am not happy to see poor people on te streets, but maybe if more middle class were homeless then maybe things will be fixed. The current old guard isnt working. It never has and too many people are turning a profit runnning non-profits and acting like "I've done nothing wrong. I helped people get into housing, so what if I screwed over familes here and there and got paid very well for doing it. They are homeless remember."

Stop talking and get to work. Come out of places that do more harm then good and start some community action, grass roots work and bring real change to people who need it.

I started my outreach program while I was homeless and it is now two years old. It's grass roots and it does what it can, if we all just did what we could homelessness and poverty would begin to decrease. www.dosomethingsaturday.org and NO it aint no non-profit, I dont have money to buy my damn buss pass to get to my chemo therapy, so how the hell do I file for non-profit status with no money? I learned yesterday that what I do can be a crime and I could be thrown in jail for it. How freakin sad is that?

Tanya Tull and Beyond Shelter can throw people into the streets and treat them like crap because she is a non-profit and she has an upstanding reputation in the community, but me a simple formely homelessman who is sick better not try to do a damn thing unless I am a non-profit. Give me a fucking break. I will die for my organization and what it does and who it helps, so jail aint shit to me.

It's time for us to wake the hell up

One more thing. I get so sick of reading or hearing and watching people who have no idea about homelessness other then what they have read talking about how to fix it or where to begin.

Why arent we talking to homeless people about what is needed? Why arent we on the streets or in inside the shelter asking "Hey what do you need?" or "what would help you most?" But that would be too much like right.

How do I fight homelessness? I do it the old fashined way. I care, I love and I ask how can I help you? and I dont ask places like missions and shelters either. I ask homeless people. If they say "I just want some socks" then thats what I provide. If they ask "Can you help me get into a drug treatment?" They I will work my ass off trying to find ne that will help them.

Howw do I fight HIV a disease I have and battle with no medical care. I raise my voice in protest at the lack of medical care for those who are poor and homeless. I am also riding in the 2009 AIDS/Life Cycle from San Francisco to Los Angeles. 545 miles over 7 days on a bike to raise funds t help find a cure for HIV and AIDS. I am not riding because I am IV positive. I am riding in support of Universal Health Care here in the US and for 7 people I know who have died from AIDS with no health care. I am riding because I could very well one day be one of the 7 people I know.
www.tofighthiv.org/goto/projectkengikat click on the orange box that says "donate to support Louis" I must raise $3000 in order to ride. I've set a personal goal of $10,000. All of money donated to my ride goes directly to the Gay and Lesbian Center here in Los Angeles.

More hangover from the BeelzeBush criminal regime. He and wall street have ruined this nation forever.

Boy, this "global economy" crap just keeps getting better and better doesn't it?
Everytime they ship 100,000 blue collar jobs overseas they're also shipping 30-40,000 white collar jobs overseas and 20,000 support jobs with them.
All these "free-trade" deals are nothing more than "outsourcing" deals for big cos.
Look at "Nafta" is has been a *DISASTER* right from the start! Where are all the "millions of high-paying manufacturing jobs" that Clinton and the U.S. Congress promised us if "Nafta" were passed in 1993?
We have a seperation of "church and state" in this country.
We need to get big business and the lobbyists on "K" street o-u-t of our government!
Everytime you buy anything at Walmart and other stores that those big cos. make overseas you're cutting your own throat!
President Obama needs to end all these disasterous "trade deals!"

There is only one way out of this intentionally created civilization-destroying-depression, and it is NOT by giving the criminals who created this mess trillions of dollars in "bailout" money.

No. What must be done immediately is for congress to pass a bill canceling ALL consumer debt. All residential mortgages; credit card debt; car loans, etc., CANCELED! Only then will people be out from under this crushing debt that will never be repaid anyway (you can't buy, sell, or pay off debt living absolutely broke and living under a bridge).

This will allow the fraudsters running the banks and brokerage houses to actually fail, as they must. Then, investigate them; prosecute them, and recover all of the stolen money.

The economy will bounce back in short order and stay strong without the thieves around to steal everything not nailed down.

Oh, and about those 535 criminals occupying the congress who facilitated the crimes..........

The problem started when the same people in trouble today rushed headlong to embrace the debt lifestyle.

The same group today lament to the fact both their parents didn't have to work, that mom stayed home and they all lived fine on a single income.

So what changed?

In 1950 the average size of a new house built in the United States was 983 sq. ft. for which grandpa got a 20 year mortgage with payments not exceeding one weeks take home income in a month.  Typically these had but one bathroom with two to three small bedrooms.  Certainly not grand but they were liveable.

In 1950 it was rare for mom to have a car and on those days she needed one she gave dad a lift to work keeping the car for the day to run errands.

By 1990 the average size of a new house being built more than doubled to 2,080 sq. ft. and by 2005 the average size of a new home was 2,349 sq. ft.. 

Little wonder the dads of today have to work their butts off, they're buying two and a half times more house than grand-dad did. Not only buying two and a half times the house but paying two and a half times the utility bills, property taxes etc.

Then it became a requirement for moms to work too.  Got to pay for that home you know and for that mom needs an SUV too along with gasoline and insurance.  With counting a two earner income it became acceptable for mortgage payments to exceed 75% of dad's take home pay, we became a nation of debtors turning on savers bringing the recipe for disaster to the very doorsteps of those who lived the debt lifestyle.

For the last ten years many managed to make $100K salaries while making $2,700 a month house payments plus the payments on two new cars but during all those good years they couldn't manage to save a lousy $100 a week? A lousy $100 a week for five years at 4% would insulate many an American family from financial disaster for a year or more especially if they were receiving unemployment. 

Far to many lived well beyond their means and today the bill is due.  Now pay it.

Besides folks living a debt lifestyle, corporate greed is the main reason for most homelessness.

At the core of corporate greed is our health care crisis.  Of those that file bankruptcy because of medical costs (which, by the most recent study, accounts for 54% of all bankruptcies), more than 75% of those had full-coverage medical insurance when they got sick!   Why?  Because private, for-profit, health insurance companies pay bonuses to their administrators to deny paying the health claims of their policy holders. The predatory intent of health insurance is to categorize, isolate, and exclude risk to create profit.

Medical debt is the main reason for bankruptcies which leads to foreclosures and homelessness. The United States is the only industrialized nation that has a greedy for-profit private health insurance system that puts profit above compassion and care resulting in more than 100,000 unnecessary deaths last year and more than half of all bankruptcies.

No one becomes homeless in any other industrialized country because of medical bills.  We NEED a Quality Non-profit Single-Payer National Health Insurance Program NOW! There is already a bill, HR 676, that needs more political support to get passed.  Check it out at:
http://www.ninenineohnine.org/pages/HR676
Please click on the page links in the left column and see why we need this important legislation NOW! 

Help the homeless (and prevent a lot more homelessness), the unemployed, the ill and our economy by supporting the IDEA on Change.org "Free Single Payer Health Care": http://www.change.org/ideas/view/free_single_payer_health_care

I have lost my Condominium by a corrupted elected officials, who colluded with the Condominium Association. He forged my family's signature and sold it with the cheapest price. Listed with higher price than it actually was sold! After he pocked more than half of the money for him self.

Consequently, I'm homeless now!!

Kengi,

I'm completely with you.
And one thing, HIV is NOT a death sentence only if we have a single payer health care system and human heart for everyone.
That's why I'm strongly supporting HR676 and getting rid of drug companies' greed....  We now all know that we can make generic medicine for $4...  I don't care who makes it as long as it works, would y'all?

And Jeff,

It is wrong that you can't find job as a nurse.  If a nurse can't find a job, who else can?  That makes me angry.  In my opinion, nursing is becoming like business as well.  Sure, if you are RN and travel to out of state, you may make lots of money.  But, where does the money come from???  Where is our nurses' self-less act philosophy?  Besides, we are forced by the bad health care system not to give equal care to all Americans.  That's killing nursing and medicine.

Good post A. Gould!

I grew up in a 1,000 squ. foot house you described in the 50s. But in second grade my mother went out to work part time, then full time a few years later. Why? Because my dad made the relatively decent salary of $5,000 a year (about what a teacher made then), and was a damned good typist. So I had my older brother to watch me. Then, in the late 60s, dad got promoted and his salary more than doubled, but still the same house. Their house size doubled when they retired to Florida, and, boy, they both had great retirement packages. Mom retired early at 58, and only collected a few months of SS because she died of lung cancer at 65. Funny how that happens sometimes!

So, I grew up relatively comfortable, but not like many kids have the last 20 years...TVs in every room, several computers, 3 or more bathrooms, etc.

So when I got married it was to a really poor guy, but after 25 years (and me teaching, now retired from it) and him being a paramedic/EMS director, living in a 1,000 ft. house HE BUILT HIMSELF on 25 acres paid for, and almost no CC debt, helping a kid in college and one more going there in 2010, and being in good shape but prepared for the worst on our rural land, I'm sorry but no one put a gun to these people's heads to buy more house than they could afford.

I DO blame the bankers. But I also blame the BS consumerism of the Baby Boomers, most of whom, unlike this baby boomer, who became all materialistic, wouldn't save, and had to have the latest gadgets. They wanted to be wealthy without actually being wealthy, and love money, and love things, and become spiritually shallow in the process.

It is the bankers fault, but it is also their fault for getting enslaved by the love of money and things.

Maybe now these folks, at least, will leatrn their lessons. It's just I feel so danged sorry for their kids they are putting through this!

OK lets get this straight our manufacturing base which is what MADE THE MIDDLE CLASS started leaving after NAFTA.. Clinton not Bush signed that bill.. he had the option of not doing so.. however, Bush signed his share all of these were FREE TRADE agreements.. however, they were not free they cost this country it's manufacturing base.. we make very little here.. therefore we CAN'T create anything but temporary jobs.  Why did they strip out of the stimulus bill by AMERICAN? The WTO said they would sue.. Why was e-verify stripped out of the bill?  The U.S. Camber of Commerace said NO.. Tell me again how it is all Bush.. Don't get me wrong, Bush by NO means supported the citizens, but neither does this Democratic Congress or Pesident.. The bill just passed is to help states with tempory jobs and pay back those special interest groups that supported their re-election and Obama's election. It will give a single working person 6.50 a week more on their paychecks and Obama's statement is we have to get AMERICAN'S spending again.. sounds like Bush after 9/11 telling us not to worry go shopping.. One thing those American's working and those that are not working had better start worring.. watch what the right hand is doing while the left hand is showing (Obama is left handed).  There is NO help coming for those that are struggling to make ends meet if you cut back and pay your bills you get NOTHING.. if your homeless your chances of getting help are better.. While Obama is strutting a Victory it's as empty as Bush's Victory on the war.. It's a smoke screen.. Obama is not listening to the people.. Many of my friends who voted for him and after reading the so called stimulus package are screaming.. they called, emaied and faxed and he as well as their Democratic representatives in both houses they will be voting republican next election.. Unless the banks are made to redo all mortgages and put them at a 30 year fixed with low interest we will be having more homeless.. it's not just those in foreclousure that need help, those who had 2 incomes and are now to one need help and how about those who's mortgages are going to reset in the near future?  It has to be stopped all at once or this will keep up.. Not everyone bought a big house, second house etc.. some bought small homes to live in and lost jobs.. at the time they COULD afford them.. It's time for some common sense and logic

It's disconcerting to read that a husband and wife must sleep in separate quarters.  After all they've suffered, they can't even be together? 

THERE ARE NO appropriate safe accessible transitional SHELTERS FOR MULTI AND SPECIAL NEEDS DISABLED NOW.Dont beleive  allt hose returning vets  usually multi disbled with ptsd depression tbi and/or pain chose to commit suicide in the road  because they were offered  and  turned appropriate good help.
INSTITUTION OR THE ROAD.WE ARE too much work .PLENTY OF SUBSTANCE ABUSERS NAD UNeMPLOYED EASY AND FAST TO FILL THE BEDS. supply and demand. controlLed by the supplier.I JUST LEFT A WOMAN - HOMELESS with seizures migraines and going through  CHEMO THERAPY CARE. THE HEALTHY CAN manage the nights in vehicles overnight only shelters and TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES  when WE CAN'T. WIHTOUT MORE ER VISITS PAIN AND HELL.

WE ARE THE CRISIS THAT HAS BEEN IGNORED FOR YEARS. UNDER THE  NOT DEAD YET STANDARD OF CARE.
PLEASE HELP THOSE  WHO CAN'T alone BE MORE ABLE AND THOSE WITHOUT A VOICE  to BE HEARD.

End Taxes make the fed and local governments for profit.

PRO for profit government no taxes the government should sell at cost plus 2% pot, booze, cable, off shore oil, spring water, power from wind farms, solar power, Lotery, ETC and end all taxes.

No taxes on business all the jobs would come to america.
We would get cheaper pot, booze, cable, off shore oil, spring water, power from wind farms, solar power, Lotery, ETC.

The Economy would boom like mad.
Please help promote this idea, for a tax free life.

I think of the movie "Fun with Dick and Jane" when talking about white collar homelessness. But because it is a fictional story, everything worked out. For most working families with kids, it doesn't work out once the primary residence is lost.

It is very difficult to deal with homeless shelters and government agencies when you have NO experience dealing with before. Most of these places, don't care at all.

How do I know? I was married to a husband working as an engineer. He had a degree in engineer and a masters in computer science. I was a law student registered with the CA bar association. Why were we homeless? Bad credit when I lost employment due to complications during pregnancy of twins and we lost the employer survived housing that made us relocate to a new state. There were no services that could help us because we didn't fit their mold. My husband is now gone, returned to India were he could get a job. The problem could just be that we both have undiagnosed and untreated asperger's and can't deal with strange and bizarre circumstances but we were not treated fairly and no one could help us. We had to take an apartment next to a drug dealer and his posse and faced death threats because we complained about the activity.

With my husband gone, itleaves me and disabled kids with very little. I have to put my children in child care to work full-time and they have been abused in the past from child care workers because they are special needs. If I could find a job, I would still make that trade off, but I can't even get hired at Wal-mart though I was a retail store manager by the age of 20. As a single mom, I had housing assistance (the only thing allowing landlords to overlook my credit!) that I couldn't transfer because I couldn't get to the office. Most cities have barriers in place so that locals get priority for any assistance and if your car broke down on the highway, you were still stuck. No exceptions to the rules are made for people who were not long time residents or new to the system or process of needing help.

I have been trapped by poverty for 8 years!No current program exits to help. The system does not help people get out of poverty but keeps them there. It would make sense if the sytem went to help those who need the least help to get back to tax paying mode which build the sytem but it doesn't work that way. There are not enough programs to help with child care and fewer to help families with disabled children who need better child care.

If anyone needs my story to help advocate for others, I am tired of being silent. It takes voices to yell before change occurs. I want to help others from experiencing what I did and do not want to be restricted from doing so anymore!

After losing our business to the bad economy, I had my second heart attack, well, we lost everything. Our home, cars, savings accounts and retirements. We are in an RV park in a 5th wheel trailer. My wife is on SSI and I am fighting for mine. My daughter is in school and her baby is a baby. We don't have medical because California cut off our Medical?!?!??? With the address tonight, NOTHING was said on helping people who have lost everything and CANNOT find a job!!! Very disappointing.

Great story and so timely. Amazing how many people are affected by the economy, lost jobs, and no safety net. To do our part, we launched a new venture called SmallCanBeBig.org on January 14th. Our goal is to directly help 100 families this winter. The simple vision is to make small donations have a big impact on families in need. While many families are struggling to make ends meet, our hope is to connect those with a little extra to families without enough. Please help us spread the word.  https://www.smallcanbebig.org

I'm mad as hell and don't want to take it anymore!  I'm  a white 55 yr.old male. Bankrupt and divorced. I lost my home, job, health care and credit.  Savings gone and I'm living with a friend and inconveniencing his family. I'm on unemployment for a few more weeks then I'm done... I also have a daughter in College.  I can't get approved for any type of grant or loan to help her w/ College.  I'm also recovering from knee replacement surgery [ 6 months to 1 yr.]

The real bad news here... As bad as my situation is there are Millions of people worse off!  

Our President / Congress / Government          

Need to realize its time to stop taking care of the rest of the World.