What's with all the Santa cruz and San francisco homeless people? (Santa Monica: homes, unemployed)

[g-oke]

It's the weather that makes them relocate to those areas. Both Santa Cruz/San Fran are desirable - no matter how much money you make. If you recall the popular Otis Redding song :


" ... left my home in Georgia, head to the Frisco Bay. Cause I've had nothing to live for, looks like nothings going to go my way, cause -
I'm sittin' on the dock of the (San Francisco) Bay, wasting time ..."


A lot of those homeless people aren't from the Bay Area/Santa Cruz. They sort of migrate from other parts of the country/state to warmer areas via hitch-hiking or city transit.

[UnhappyTourist]

Think you missed the point a little although I appreciate your comments on Santa Cruz life in general. I'm no youngster (54) and my daughter is 25. We are used to that kind of behaviour (spl. now you know where I come from) in certain areas such as Tottenham Court Road in London, which is best avoided by using parallel streets, which is the plan we used on the way back i.e. use Front Street and not Pacific Avenue. If my daughter hadn't been driving and had a couple of Stellas then it would have all been over very quickly, there are a number of her college friends who can testify to this. We did not look vulnerable, we were just taken by surprise but having been caught once we had the adrenaline going and weren't going to put up with any more nonsense. I didn't fly 5000 miles to put up with the kind of rubbish that I can find at home easily. I didn't expect to have to ask somebody if they liked hospital food (which did shut him up for a while until it dawned on him what I'd said). I'm still seething nearly a month later.

[Kathleenh54]

Last summer my daughters and I were verbally harassed by a homeless man in the subway trying to sell us something. He wouldn't leave us alone and it escalated into a shouting match with me telling him to go away and my girls cowering behind me. Finally a transit cop, who knew the guy, came along and took charge so we could get away from him. He was clearly an ex-mental patient who should have been in a safe environment somewhere. I felt sorry for him (and us).

Having said that, some folks with jobs are out on the streets too. Working people and those living paycheck to paycheck can find themselves on the street. Sometimes it is temporary but lots of workers fall through the cracks. Oh well, as long as millionaires keep getting tax breaks, all is well in the US of A, right?

[Lovehound]

It's the climate plain and simple. For example, Phoenix is too hot in the summer, Denver is too cold in the winter, and so on for many cities. California has mild winters and mild summers in most areas, particularly coastal cities. The homeless move here when it's too hot in Phoenix or too cold in Denver, and it's easier to just stay here than to return to where they came from.

The other part of it is that California is an attractive place to live irrespective of your wealth. If you're gonna be poor and on the street, might as well be poor and on the street in California.

[colleensue]

First of all I was injured on my job and found myself homeless 4 months latter. Why? no income could, not work and workers comp is fighting my claim as they can do in california even though the doctor determined it was work related. I was homeless for almost 2 years. The homeless problem does not stem from the wonderful weather. You try sleeping outside on the concrete in the winter time when its raining and the temp is in the 40,s. Its not very pleasent. Its not very pleasent when its not raining. People act like its warm here all the time. As far as all the free food many of the homeless can,t get to the places that have food due to a physical disability. Many residents also utilize this service other wise they would have nothing to eat. The average rent here is 900.00 month try paying that plus utilities and food with a min. wage job. Many homeless work they just can,t afford the rent. some are disabled, mentally Ill or addicts. Many become addicts or alcholics after becoming homeless and losing hope of getting off the streets. Praise God I am no longer homeless and have,nt been for over a year. Food is easy to get but other services are much harder and more needed such as alcohol and drug programs. A friend I have who is homeless due to very serious alcoholism wanted to quit drinking he had to be put on a waiting list. Many people would blame his diease on him. In actuality his parents created this problem by putting whiskey in his baby bottles to put him to sleep by the time he was six he was stealing their beer already addicted to alchol. Most homeless teens come from dysfunctional families and have mental disorders such as bi polar disorder. These are facts I learned from the people I met when I was homeless. There are also many families out here with children They stay hidden so as not to lose their children. Half a million people lost their jobs in the month of october 300,000 the month befor and the way things are going its only going to get worse and the homeless population is going to grow. Many people are now homeless who never thought it was going to ever happen to them. Befor you make a decesion about people you no nothing about take a good look and pray it don,t happen to you because it can. If you want to no the truth about the homeless go spend some time with them. Talk to them all of them are,nt crazy or dangerous they are people just like you. The only difference is they are very poor

[colleensue]

Originally Posted by sheri257

To be honest, I really hate to be hassled by homeless people. Day after day, it really gets old. The last time I gave money to the homeless, I saw the guy go buy booze with it so I never did it again.

If I'm on my way to work making an honest living ... I think I have a right to walk down the street without being constantly hassled for money. So I do tend to avoid cities that indulge the homeless.

I have found that those who are out there asking for money either pan handeling or on the freeway with signs are not usually homeless. They intentionally dress dirty to scam people into thinking they are homeless because they make more money than they would if they worked. I no this to be true because I have met a few people like that when I became homeless after a job injury. Thank god I am no longer homeless. Its people like those that make it hard for the ones who really need help.

[colleensue]

Originally Posted by Kathleenh54

Last summer my daughters and I were verbally harassed by a homeless man in the subway trying to sell us something. He wouldn't leave us alone and it escalated into a shouting match with me telling him to go away and my girls cowering behind me. Finally a transit cop, who knew the guy, came along and took charge so we could get away from him. He was clearly an ex-mental patient who should have been in a safe environment somewhere. I felt sorry for him (and us).

Having said that, some folks with jobs are out on the streets too. Working people and those living paycheck to paycheck can find themselves on the street. Sometimes it is temporary but lots of workers fall through the cracks. Oh well, as long as millionaires keep getting tax breaks, all is well in the US of A, right?

Heres a thought for you. Some people who appear to be homeless are not its a ploy or scam to get money instead of working most homeless people try to avoid contact with people who have homes all though there are those who are seriously mentally ill and need to be in a structured enviroment for their own safety and others. I was homeless at one time and have learned there are many reasons for people who are homeless and no one solution is going to solve the problem. The reasons range from mental illness to addictions to the economy to disabilities, lack of job skills for the current job market, loss of a job, a injury on a job, home forclosures etc, and the high cost of rent such as where I live your lucky to find a 1 bedroom for 800.00 to a 1000.00 dollars a month. Hard to pay that and utilities, transportation and food on a min. wage job. Many do work, and the way things are going many more people are going to find theirselves homelesss.

[Woof]

Very true, Colleen, I've noticed that many of the signholders and aggressive panhandlers aren't really homeless.

It's hard to tell who is and who isn't. If you see them walking toward the Catholic soup kitchen in Santa Cruz for lunch, they're probably homeless. That's on River St.

[Jonotastic]

High cost of living and high homeless population. If you are homeless why not go to the mecca to meet others like you and get drunk and smoke weed together? Especially in areas where they tolerate that kind of behaviour. That still doesn't stop me from loving San Francisco. Santa Cruz I could care less about, just lazy college kids who want the government to feed them and get rid of the military, so what do they do...let's smoke weed in protest, that will show them.

[youngmoney]

To be homeless in America is still a life with better opportunities than most countries. This is America! The easiest country to become rich. We are wealthy because we are free, and with freedom comes great responsibility.There are two types of responsibility personal and social. Any individual is to become responsible of his/herself and then go provide for the community, give back. In return, he who provides his/her community with needed services will prosper. The individual who fails to give to the community should become poor or in some cases homeless.

Democrats tend to push social responsibility. While Republicans tend to push personal responsibility. The difference is the great divide and pushed separately between the first testament(personal) and new testament(social) of the Bible.

Efficiency is greatly reduced of America when when the lazy take money out of the economic circle and invest in marijuana and valueless acts of self-indulgency. The best way to promote equality is to provide opportunity through laws regardless of sex, income, race, or creed. America has these laws on the books, the remaining responsibility and ambition must be within the people.