Inspired by this post...
Now this is just a THEORY based on observation. Please educate me with facts and information if you know something I don't.
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I live in San Diego, a fairly expensive city to live in. I live a block away from a large University, meaning my cost of living may be higher than other areas of the city due to space.
I figured out my daily cost of living. Granted, this includes no "extras" or "luxuries", but honestly I really don't buy that type of stuff.
Monthly rent: $415
Phone bill: $7
Electric bill: $15
Cable bill: $10
Internet bill: $50
Food bill (I eat good, too): $150
Grand total: $647
Which comes out to about $22 daily. It costs me around $22 a day to live fairly comfortably and happy. Now, a homeless person wouldn't have a good chunk of these expenses.
Monthly rent: shelters and hostels, no?
Phone bill: no bill, let's say $5 for pay phone use.
Electric bill: no electric bill.
Cable bill: no cable bill.
Internet bill: no Internet bill.
Food bill: when I first moved out I was living on $100 monthly eating crap. We'll say that.
Grand total: $105
A homeless man would need around $3-4 daily to break even. Anything over that $3-4 daily could be saved, spent on "extras" (medicine, entertainment, better food, drugs, alcohol, etc), or it could be used to better his life (buy new clothes and look for jobs.)
Ok, so homeless man needs $4 daily. Now how the hell does homeless man get $4 daily? Well, I often see homeless people recycling cans and bottles for cash (every week I give a neighborhood homeless man over 100 bottles to recycle), I ALWAYS see homeless people asking for spare change or food, OR they could go out on a limb and spruce up just a bit so they can get a job.
What jobs? Our economy sucks!
Whether you want to believe it or not, there are still plenty of jobs around. I see them all the time. One of the main reasons people always claim there are no jobs available is because they would NEVER consider working at any of the available jobs. Fast food, janitorial, washing cars, street sales, etc.
So again, this is just my weak theory. I've pointed out how much money is needed to live (and grow) and I've also pointed out ways to make that little amount of needed cash.
Why are there homeless people?
Originally posted by cluck
I don't think many homeless people choose to be homeless. It's easy to say anyone can work their way up but that's simply not true, especially in this Bush economy. It'd be nice if the government would create jobs in the US(possibly make foreign sweatshop labor illegal?). When you have nothing it's pretty hard to get money. Go visit an urban area and you'll see that even if the people find work, they're constantly in debt for the things they need.
I don't think many homeless people choose to be homeless. It's easy to say anyone can work their way up but that's simply not true, especially in this Bush economy. It'd be nice if the government would create jobs in the US(possibly make foreign sweatshop labor illegal?). When you have nothing it's pretty hard to get money. Go visit an urban area and you'll see that even if the people find work, they're constantly in debt for the things they need.
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I live in San Diego, a fairly expensive city to live in. I live a block away from a large University, meaning my cost of living may be higher than other areas of the city due to space.
I figured out my daily cost of living. Granted, this includes no "extras" or "luxuries", but honestly I really don't buy that type of stuff.
Monthly rent: $415
Phone bill: $7
Electric bill: $15
Cable bill: $10
Internet bill: $50
Food bill (I eat good, too): $150
Grand total: $647
Which comes out to about $22 daily. It costs me around $22 a day to live fairly comfortably and happy. Now, a homeless person wouldn't have a good chunk of these expenses.
Monthly rent: shelters and hostels, no?
Phone bill: no bill, let's say $5 for pay phone use.
Electric bill: no electric bill.
Cable bill: no cable bill.
Internet bill: no Internet bill.
Food bill: when I first moved out I was living on $100 monthly eating crap. We'll say that.
Grand total: $105
A homeless man would need around $3-4 daily to break even. Anything over that $3-4 daily could be saved, spent on "extras" (medicine, entertainment, better food, drugs, alcohol, etc), or it could be used to better his life (buy new clothes and look for jobs.)
Ok, so homeless man needs $4 daily. Now how the hell does homeless man get $4 daily? Well, I often see homeless people recycling cans and bottles for cash (every week I give a neighborhood homeless man over 100 bottles to recycle), I ALWAYS see homeless people asking for spare change or food, OR they could go out on a limb and spruce up just a bit so they can get a job.
What jobs? Our economy sucks!
Whether you want to believe it or not, there are still plenty of jobs around. I see them all the time. One of the main reasons people always claim there are no jobs available is because they would NEVER consider working at any of the available jobs. Fast food, janitorial, washing cars, street sales, etc.
So again, this is just my weak theory. I've pointed out how much money is needed to live (and grow) and I've also pointed out ways to make that little amount of needed cash.
Why are there homeless people?
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