Disturbing Homeless trends in SA (San Antonio, Spring: foreclosure, limo, homes)

[Bo]

Seeing the headline this morning on the Drudge Report about how a British newspaper declared that the US is now in the "Great Depression of 2008" made me think of this story I heard recently.

Mrs. Bowie volunteers for an organization that helps the homeless in San Antonio. At a recent meeting of this group, a volunteer who hands out blankets and food under one of the bridges downtown where the homeless congregate told about some trends she had noticed in recent weeks.

The volunteer said that in years past, they would recognize many of the same people living there and accepting the handouts week after week. In recent weeks, they've noticed that they rarely see the same faces. They see many new people there week after week.

This volunteer also observed that some of the people accepting the handouts would walk away from the bridge and head over to a vehicle that was fairly late model. (She was a bit taken aback by this, since some of the vehicles were newer than the vehicle that she had driven to get to the bridge.) Since she wanted to make sure that the donations were getting to people who truly needed them and not to eBay sellers, she decided to follow a couple of them and ask them what they were doing. It turns out that the people accepting the donations had lost their homes to foreclosure and were now living in their vehicle.

[SnappyBob]

Is there any way to verify that their story is really true? If so that would make a really good news story. Maybe they should pitch it to one of the local walk'in / talk'in heads.

[Bo]

Originally Posted by SnappyBob

Is there any way to verify that their story is really true? If so that would make a really good news story. Maybe they should pitch it to one of the local walk'in / talk'in heads.

I don't think this volunteer was inclined to ask for documentation. But since she got the same answer multiple times, I think that was satisfactory to her.

I do admit that I posted this here because I know that people in the local TV/radio news departments follow this board and I thought they should know. It wouldn't take much to verify it. They could send a reporter along on a regularly-scheduled blanket/food distribution at the bridge and see it for themselves.

Also, this is not an April Fool's joke.

[SnappyBob]

Let us know if Mrs. Bowie finds out that the local media is doing a story on it and what media outlet it is.

[firstclassflyer]

Where's the "depression/recession" thread when we need it? Times are only going to get tougher.

[rd2007]

If someone does investigate this, hopefully they dig a little deeper into the story and find out where these people are coming from.. Texas, especially San Antonio, has been in the news quite a bit lately for it's ability to weather the current economic storm and that usually attracts people, especially the financially challenged..

[Paka]

They once aired a broadcast on 20/20 or Dateline about a guy that "appeared" homeless that use to beg money at a corner in NY area...can't remember exactly where. He was a landmark at this particular corner, and had been for years.

They showed him after a day's "work" where he went to a payphone, made a call, and was picked up by a CASINO LIMO a while later...seems when confronted he admitted he does VERY well, started talking about how he is a "big spender" at the casino and he cleared more than (If memory serves) $600 per day PAHANDLING!!! He was an educated guy, and smart enough to know he could live the good life, avoid taxes and do what he wanted WHEN he wanted doing this for a "living"....I remember how fustrated I was seeing that he made more in annual wages than we did at the time going to work (both of us)!!!

[rd2007]

A news station in San Diego also did a story on this and the average annual salary for a panhandler was something like $85K.. It was their chosen profession and they were pretty good at it. I personally never gave them a dime though

[the_dimwit]

Paka,

We had a similar story in DC, only the professional panhandlers admitted to spending their winters in the Caribbean and then coming back just in time for tourist season (late Spring to early Fall).

--Dim

[sapphire]

I still give anyway. It's on them--they get bad karma if they are begging and don't need to. I think I get the reward for helping. These are just my beliefs.

( I don't give tons of money. But if I have a couple of bucks they will get it. There used to be a guy that hung out at the Stone Oak Valero that I used to buy Subway for, because I asked him if he was hungry and he always said yes. He was obviously suffering from mental illness. He's someone's brother, son, whatever, and if by some awful turn of events that was my kid, I'd be home praying every night that someone was helping him if I couldn't. )