Atlanta and Homelessness... (new home, living, buses)

[Freeminds]

Originally Posted by LovingSummer2013

In places like NYC, you see a lot of homeless, but you also see lots of activity and a thriving bustling city with lots of pedestrians walking around.

How does that make them any less of an issue?

[AtlJan]

The guy who some sauntering up to you in a pair of $200 jeans saying "yo, yo, yo- can you spare some change, bro? My car ran out of gas and I need to get home", is probably not homeless.

That is dead-on, BobKovacs. I am accosted by a "yo, yo, yo" scammer guy at least once a week. . .And we also have a number of resident homeless in our area. To the earlier poster who said they see mostly black homeless in Atlanta, in our area around south Buckhead/midtown, ours are about 50% white, 50% black, and both male and female--and 100% mentally ill (or so addled by drugs as to appear mentally ill).

I lived in the West Village in NYC in the 1990s when Ed Koch was mayor, and, let me tell ya, the homeless problem was WAY, WAY worse there at that time than it is there now, or here now. We had an entire village of homeless people living in big wooden crates on the sidewalk in front of our building . . and it was considered a very nice street. It wasn't safe to walk by their crates alone at night, and we had to wear earplugs or their violent, boozy fights would keep us up all night. My heart broke for them, but seriously for the taxes paid by residents there--something needed to be done--for the homeless themselves and for those they disturbed.

[JoeTarheel]

Originally Posted by LovingSummer2013

I've lived in a number of cities, and ATL most certainly does have a sizable homeless population. It's very noticeable, because certain areas (like downtown) have high numbers of people walking around looking very bummy or sleeping on the ground.

In places like NYC, you see a lot of homeless, but you also see lots of activity and a thriving bustling city with lots of pedestrians walking around.

In my opinion, pockets of San Francisco, L.A. and San Diego seem to have more homeless people than downtown Atlanta.

Very true...the warmer the climate, the higher number of homeless. Usually.

[JoeTarheel]

Originally Posted by Freeminds

How does that make them any less of an issue?

That doesn't make them less of issue, but they certainly don't stand out as much.

[AtlJan]

Yes, re: warm climate = more homeless. I remember seeing a slew of homeless people in Hawaii. Perhaps they spent their cash and had no way to get off the island--and since they could pick a pineapple off a bush and sleep in the sun all day, what was the hurry?

[joey86]

Atlanta has a good many that go south for the winter. You know it's springtime when there are crust kids in Little Five.

[westau]

After spending the last week in DC and New York I think the ones here harass people much more then they do in those 2 places. Not that we necessarily had more or less just that the ones there seemed to generally leave people alone.

[DTL3000]

Originally Posted by westau

After spending the last week in DC and New York I think the ones here harass people much more then they do in those 2 places. Not that we necessarily had more or less just that the ones there seemed to generally leave people alone.

Exactly, and I know this from personal experience having lived in all three places. Atlanta bums will get in your face and follow you for blocks. Some even get hostile when you tell them to get lost. The vast majority of bums I've seen in NYC and DC stay in one spot and ask for money as you pass by. Very rarely do they try to hit you up with some BS story about needing money for the bus or whatnot.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by DTL3000

Exactly, and I know this from personal experience having lived in all three places. Atlanta bums will get in your face and follow you for blocks. Some even get hostile when you tell them to get lost. The vast majority of bums I've seen in NYC and DC stay in one spot and ask for money as you pass by. Very rarely do they try to hit you up with some BS story about needing money for the bus or whatnot.

I had a guy here come up to me in a parking lot once (and he was white) to try to hustle me by telling me some story about how his car was down and he had a pre-paid cell for which he needed money to put on there to call for help. I told him sorry I couldn't help and I don't have any change.

He was kind enough to offer to escort me to the ATM so I could get money out to give to him lol.

I have also gotten that I-need-$20-for-a-U-Haul truck story many times. I would get those scammers approaching me usually in the parking lot when I went to the bank.

[ATL_II_DMV]

Originally Posted by tonygeorgia

I agree but homeless people are everywhere especially in cities that have a high cost of living. I don't think the homeless problem is that bad here because the cost of living is cheap. Being homeless for the most part is their fault. Most of them are homeless due to using drugs and doing bad things. It's mostly their fault. I'm sure there are more homeless people now because of the recession but I recommend you traveling to other cities like LA or San Fran and see how bad their homeless problem is. Being homeless here isnt as bad as in other cities. They can get still get a one bedroom apartment in the hood for $300 a month. Get a couple of people to move in and that is $100 a month per person. I'm sure they can get $100 a month if they really wanted to

True, in most southern cities people are homeless for a reason.

My friend from Houston that moved to DC said that in DC, someone can be trying and still struggle b/c the cost of living is so high.

He said, in Texas, if someone is homeless it's usually b/c they're on drugs.