Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Not to play up the blue vs. red states thing, but homelessness seems more visible in highly-blue areas, and less in red. I bet the actual homelessness numbers could be similar, but the visibility factor is different.
Probably because most Blue cities are much older with dense centralized cores where Red cities tend newer and less dense/more sprawled.
I would think those cities with longer, colder winters would be likely to have the smallest populations. If I was homeless, I'd head to someplace warm (if there was any way I could).
This is so true, and I have no idea why this is the case. I am thinking maybe it is because Austin is more touristy than DFW, where I am from, but the homeless, or visibly homeless at least, act as if they deserve money from strangers. Don't get me wrong, I often time do give money if I have extra change (I know all the arguments against doing so), but I can't afford to sometimes, or honestly don't want to-first world problems, but maybe I would rather have some extra pocket money to go out on a date that night.
I've heard that there is a stereotype in Austin that East Asians are wealthy tourists or wealthy college students, maybe that was part of the reason the homeless would be so aggressive and seemingly go after my group of friends and me, but I've never dealt with that sense of entitlement among the homeless in other cities.
I stopped feeling bad for begging bums. Last year in Minneapolis, on a cold rainy spring night, I had this old bum ask me for some money so he could stay at a motel for the night or whatever. Being that it was about 39 degrees and pouring rain, I felt genuinely bad for the guy, and gave him twenty bucks. The guy felt grateful, offered me a Bible, which I declined, said "God bless" and I continued on my merry way..... I noticed the guy kept following me. Whatever, its Hennepin Avenue, its a busy night, there's lots of people around... but he kept persisting and finally he got in front of me and had the nerve to ask me if I had any more money I could give him..... I was so annoyed I almost asked for my money back! -__-
Not to play up the blue vs. red states thing, but homelessness seems more visible in highly-blue areas, and less in red. I bet the actual homelessness numbers could be similar, but the visibility factor is different.
Could be because highly-blue areas tend to be the most urban, and homeless are more common in urban areas.
I would think those cities with longer, colder winters would be likely to have the smallest populations. If I was homeless, I'd head to someplace warm (if there was any way I could).
You'd think, but New York City has thousands of homeless. I don't know if you ever read Jeannette Walls's book The Glass Castle, but in the book she quotes her mother as saying, "It's so easy to be homeless in New York City."
You're always going to have access to food, although maybe not shelter.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.