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I saw that happen once in a homeless shelter in Toledo, Ohio. It was in a city owned building downtown but it had a few rules like no smoking, no drinking and no drugs. That simple and it was January (cold as all heck) and I was totally amazed at the people who preferred to stay outside.
But I also know in this small town if she asked for help, money or not, there would be a good number of good people who would step forward and do the right thing.
Many, if not most, homeless shelters are only for the night. They make you leave during the day. You have no choice.
The feeling that I got is she showed them her bank statements without them asking for it. Seeing a lady in her condition would a normal person even ask to see their bank statements? The cops in this small town are a group of pretty good guys that will look out for anyone and I sure as heck know that nobody was looking for some sort of payout. We're small where it seems like everyone knows everyone else.
It may be possible that the woman is from there, and is known by others. The police may have heard about her through the grapevine without speaking to her directly about her finances.
Yeah, and if I run across another homeless person that appears >65 I will write about them too. At 70 myself I find myself wondering how they got that way because it is something I can not imagine.
And actually two older ladies in two different town... the first one I encountered was in a much larger town 30 miles away... I travel a LOT for business so I see things.
Yes, many areas have an enormous homeless problem. It's not just in big cities. And if you go downtown you will see more homeless on every visit than you would ever care to see. And many are women. It's the sad truth. So seeing two older ladies in that length of time is not at all farfetched. With the OP being an older lady too it would make the homeless ones stick out more. Because you would be thinking that could very well be me out there instead.
If I give a panhandler money, I am fully aware it may be used for drugs. That's on him. I don't give money with strings attached. I don't give money because I want to control that particular person. I give money so he can get something he needs and maybe he needs drugs. Do I wish he wouldn't buy drugs? Yes, of course, but I'm not going to judge. I'm not the one standing there on the corner.
As I'm reading these posts, I'm becoming convinced more and more that your average homeless person may be able to get a place to live, but without supervision, he's not going to be able to keep one. So maybe that's what we need to factor into housing costs for the homeless - a live in supervisor who can check up on them and remind them to take their meds, go to AA meeting, etc.
The assumption is that veterans are on the street for different reason than anyone else. A great many are addicts - military service doesn't preclude heroin use. Many were heavy alcohol users before they went in the service and continued after their service. Some have been released from prison and are unemployable because of their records, and a good number have burned the bridges to family who have given up trying to help them. It's easy to bash the VA, but every single veteran I know has gotten superior medical care through the VA.
The implication is always that of the helpless veteran who has been cast aside by the country he served to live on the streets. That he had no part in his condition. Wrong!
Addicts, veterans or not, are poor candidates for housing assistance (where are all these mythical landlords who want to rent to a mentally ill addict?), and even the best rehabs have very low success rates. It is very naive to think just another trillion thrown in the direction of addiction will solve the problem. That is not how addiction works.
I don't know how they come up with the veteran homeless figures. Where is the registry of the former occupations of the homeless?
There are benefits that military members are awarded for their service. In many cases our military is exposed to horrors that most of us can not fathom, they sign up for these duties in exchange for certain securities.
Clearly we are not fullfilling our promise to many of our Vets.
As I'm reading these posts, I'm becoming convinced more and more that your average homeless person may be able to get a place to live, but without supervision, he's not going to be able to keep one. So maybe that's what we need to factor into housing costs for the homeless - a live in supervisor who can check up on them and remind them to take their meds, go to AA meeting, etc.
"remind them to take their meds"
Reminding them doesn't work if the meds are to control a mental problem.
( many of the homeless have a mental problem )
I had a cousin who was married and the nicest guy you could meet.....when he took his meds.
His own wife and mother told me at his funeral ( he committed suicide) that he many times refused to take his meds and he would go off the " deep end"
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