What is the deal with all the "young" homeless/beggers? (living, food)

[sammy87]

Obama

[jamesdenver]

4. Certain municipalities love to put their homeless on a bus and send them out of town, for whatever reason Denver seems to be a popular destination

Citation? I know this happens in certain metro areas - Vegas > L.A. or vice versa. Where is this documented for Denver? Just curious.

[Robert5]

I have not taken a survey, but I do not believe the panhandler demographic has changed much in the 8 years I have lived in Denver. My guess would be the typical street corner panhandler age range is 25-50, male, predominately white. Probably a lower average age, more women and minorities on the 16th street mall, but I don't spend a great deal of time there. Female panhandlers tend to hit people up in parking lots with some BS story about running out of gas. I am not believing it has anything to do with the Marijuana laws. Why so many?... because "we" allow it, and there are people that enable them. You don't see panhandlers in Manhattan because they don't allow it. Anyone else notice how you didn't see any street corner panhandlers during the 08 Democratic Convention?

[Robert5]

Originally Posted by Indigo Cardinal

The last case I came across was a family at a Safeway--they were so far in the entryway of the store that they were pretty much in the store.

No those were girl scouts, j/k. But scouts/etc... selling stuff right in front of safeway/king soopers is a pet peeve of mine.

[tcbelvis]

Some tips......

Ever Wondered What To Say To A Homeless Person? Here Are 5 Things to Say And 5 Things Not to Say

Read more: Homeless In America: 5 Things to Say And 5 Things To Not Say

[sammy87]

There are always homeless in superior on the 36 overpass. There was a young guy mid upper 20's, looked fit, begging. I told him I needed some trees planted and I'd give him $100, he told me to **** off.

[jwiley]

Originally Posted by jamesdenver

Citation? I know this happens in certain metro areas - Vegas > L.A. or vice versa. Where is this documented for Denver? Just curious.

In 2003, a Denver television station reported that at least 63 homeless people from Minnesota were given tickets to Colorado, upsetting the Denver mayor. The county officials in Minnesota who sponsored the program said the story was an exaggeration, and the tickets were designed to help homeless people connect with family members.

St. Petersburg offering more one-way tickets out of town for homeless | Tampa Bay Times

It has been and is still going on, my step mother and niece volunteer every week for a homeless shelter, they talk about all the young homeless men and families that were sent here from the upper midwest to stay with family only to be kicked out a few days or weeks later, and living back on the street. We are talking Minnesota, North Dakota, and a young couple from Michigan.

[jwiley]

Originally Posted by Robert5

I have not taken a survey, but I do not believe the panhandler demographic has changed much in the 8 years I have lived in Denver. My guess would be the typical street corner panhandler age range is 25-50, male, predominately white. Probably a lower average age, more women and minorities on the 16th street mall, but I don't spend a great deal of time there. Female panhandlers tend to hit people up in parking lots with some BS story about running out of gas. I am not believing it has anything to do with the Marijuana laws. Why so many?... because "we" allow it, and there are people that enable them. You don't see panhandlers in Manhattan because they don't allow it. Anyone else notice how you didn't see any street corner panhandlers during the 08 Democratic Convention?

During the convention the homeless were sent to the zoo and bussed into the suburbs and given vouchers for cheap hotel rooms, but you are right we enable them and allow them to prosper so they are a growing population, especially since some can make considerably more than they would make working a real job.

[zenkonami]

Originally Posted by jwiley

During the convention the homeless were sent to the zoo and bussed into the suburbs and given vouchers for cheap hotel rooms, but you are right we enable them and allow them to prosper so they are a growing population, especially since some can make considerably more than they would make working a real job.

Still trying to find statistics on this. Nightly news "studies" are hardly scientific.

And if it's true, and we all believe in a free market system, then really we should just acknowledge there's a demand for Homelessness (and the entrepreneurs who take on Homelessness as their career) that exceeds the demand for minimum wage jobs and just accept it.

After all, I don't like Wal-Mart being the blight it is in my neighborhood, but there's a demand (apparently) so I just have to accept it.

Or maybe we could come together as a society and a government and start figuring out better ways to get people self sufficient and back on their feet again by providing basic resources and assistance (job boards, showers, clean clothing for interviews, IDs as so many have lost theirs) with appropriate stipulations attached to encourage those that have lost hope to get back out there. Yes, that would probably increase the homeless population here for a bit, but if other cities took on a similar model, we might reduce the population of homeless while increase the population of productive people in our cities and making the whole country a better, cleaner, more productive, more compassionate place.

[Robert5]

Originally Posted by zenkonami

And if it's true, and we all believe in a free market system, then really we should just acknowledge there's a demand for Homelessness (and the entrepreneurs who take on Homelessness as their career) that exceeds the demand for minimum wage jobs and just accept it.

That is like saying if there are people making a living via extortion and thugery that there must be a demand for extortion and thugery and that we should just accept it. But the widely accepted solution is to outlaw extortion and thugery, not just accept it. Panhandling is just a mild form of extortion and thugery, it should be outlawed.