Are you noticing a large rise in the homeless population in YOUR city?

[TwixVoy]

I was out today and was stopped THREE times.

One was near the gas station. A homeless person came over to me and asked me if I could go with him to the KFC near the gas station to help him get something to eat. (yes, asked for the meal - not cash)

Another was a homeless lady at the light.

The third was a volunteer outside the grocery store with a table set up for donations.

This is becoming more and more common here. Three years ago it was incredibly rare to be approached by a homeless person. These days it is almost a daily occurrence.

People NEED JOBS. When the hell is congress going to actually address this? Do they realize they are risking a republican take over this November? In which case all bets are off for any job creation efforts.

Has anyone else noticed an increase in the homeless population where you live?

[provis99]

1. yep. Here in Indianapolis, I see a lot of white men in 20s and 30s begging.

Often, their wife and kids are begging with them. If you see those sorts begging, you know the economys in trouble.

[Cleita]

2. I'm noticing less. I think the cops are running them out of town.

There used to be homeless with signs panhandling outside of supermarkets and strip malls. They seem to be gone. They never were allowed in the Village downtown area with all the antique shops and tourist oriented cutsey shops.

[ipaint]

4. Yes and if you know how to spot them folks living in their vehicles. nt

[Mari333]

3. small town here but

lot of people knocking on door all winter asking me for odd jobs. I cant afford it.
one guy just came right out and asked me for money (for nothing)

i have a feeling this summer will bring the same thing.

[ParkieDem]

5. Maybe not exactly the same

but here in the Dallas area I am seeing TONS of out-of-state license plates. Michigan, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, etc. - they seem to be all over the place. Things aren't great here, but from what I understand they're lots better than in other parts of the country.

[TwixVoy]

6. My brother lives in Houston

He actually told me the same thing last time I talked to him.... TONS of out of state plates there. His guess is that they came down from states with higher unemployment rates too.

[ParkieDem]

22. No doubt

I guess it makes sense -- an 8% statewide unemployment rate doesn't look pretty, but if you're somewhere where it's 14% or 12%, it seems pretty good.

Overall, Texas is probably even in better shape, because the counties in the valley always drag down (or up, I guess) the unemployment rate in the rest of the state, even in good times. I just hope that people don't just assume that the economy is "better" in Texas because of Perry.

[Fire1]

9. I'm in Michigan and people seem to be leaving. Otoh, I see

more license plates from everywhere, too! I don't get it. Don't these folks read the news?

[pitohui]

11. the news is telling us, homes in detroit, only $4K!!! wheeeee!!!!

i think if you don't have a job and you don't have a real prospect of getting any, but for whatever reason you have an annuity (from an old lawsuit, say) or some other small source of income, then detroit can sound like a place where your money will last longer

i've heard a lot of people talking about $4K houses in detroit, whether this is illusion or reality, or whether it would cost too much to save the $4K house because of needed repairs, you can say better than i can but it's definitely something people are talking about

where there is gossip about possible gold, then there are people with big dreams who will rush and try to dig for that gold, even if it's a fantasy

[Fire1]

13. Yeah and rental properties going for as little as 7K. More

often than not, these homes have been gutted. It still may worth it to some investors, if they're willing to hang in there until the market bounces back. If they can, they've made a good deal. I'm filing bankruptsy on my rental and cutting my losses. There's no profit in it and the maintenance is just throwing good money after bad.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

7. No, it's always been extremely high.

[pitohui]

8. well no but it's one of those ironic twists of fate since i live in the new orleans area

obv. there can be no "rise" in the homeless here, if anything, i'm amazed at the speed of our progress considering there was a point in 2005 when virtually the lower half of the entire state was homeless

however, while it's not MY city, it's really striking the harsh economy in vegas --

the growing numbers of obvious street hustlers/performances in vegas is certainly WAY noticeable, to the point where you can hardly walk down the sidewalk w/out being hustled to pose w/ a parrot or an elvis imitator or to give to a street musician or cheap sunglasses seller -- the obvious long term homeless are still there but now i'm seeing a lot of people who don't seem to have obv. symptoms or any clear reason (other than the economy) for why they're on the street

in the past as i've rather unpopularly stated several times i've had a policy of not giving $$$ on the street but it's gotten to the point where even tho i don't wanna enable, BUT this depression/recession is just too big so i do keep some spare dollar bills out where i can get to them w/out putting my wallet on the street -- might be a drop in the bucket but what can you do? if they wanna smoke it, it's on them but u get to the point where it's too much, you can't just walk on by that many people -- sometimes we give out granola bars too but i prefer to just give the cash and let the dude choose his own food, granola bars are not necessarily what you're looking for when you're on the street, it just happens to be something we sometimes have too much of because we pack it for traveling

previously i'd only seen the parrot hustle in honolulu, a city which has had a long term heavy homeless prob. because the price of real estate is just so far out of line with what working people can pay and it isn't like a poor person can just fly away if they live in the middle of the pacific...i was a little startled to see the parrots working vegas now (they are cute and real troopers but it seems like they're working sometimes for over 12 hrs a day, a tough schedule for a parrot!)

[LWolf]

10. I live rurally,

at the dead end of a private dirt road, surrounded by public land. Nobody is wandering through the neighborhood.

I know homelessness is up, AGAIN, because I'm a teacher, and we keep track of our homeless population. We saw a sharp rise last year, and another this year.

[kickysnana]

12. Niece back home with Mom, nephew bunking with Grandpa.

There has been so much snow and cold the homeless do not stand out on the street so for the rest I can only go by what is in the paper.

OVERFLOWING DEMAND
http://www.twincities.com/ci_14394576?nclick_check=1

A social worker explained what homeless people were doing in a church basement.

The more fortunate families stay at shelters, with rooms and private bathrooms. But for years, those shelters have been chronically full, and this group was part of tonight's overflow.

That excess is sopped up by a St. Paul Area Council of Churches program called Project Home. Demand for the program doubled from 2002 to 2009 — with an additional 20 percent increase predicted in 2010.

[ThomCat]

14. I KNOW more people who are homeless

at least temporarily. More people are couch-hopping, crashing where they can with anyone who will be kind and let them in. I hear about people I know/knew who is now living in his truck for a bit.

I really hope it's only temporary.

But once you are homeless, getting and keeping a job is 100x harder, so getting back into a home requires a lot of help. Someone has to make the commitment to take you in and front you until you're on your feet.

How many people can afford to do that for someone else? Even worse, how many people are Willing to take in someone to do it?

People become homeless because they didn't get enough help, and they were expected to survive financial, and often physical and medical catastrophes all by themselves until it took everything they had, and they had nothing left. People can't become ex-homeless all by themselves with that same lack of help.

I know this personally. You don't get off the street without a lot of help. Nobody is that strong, or that lucky. People on the street need to help! People who still have homes and any resources to spare need to care!

[Don Caballero]

15. Oh yeah. And they are becoming more aggressive and are using very coarse language

I go to the downtown library at least once a week and they are everywhere. We have a real problem with these people.

[cutlassmama]

16. From what I've heard around here, people are doubling and tripling up

two, three, and four generations are all in the same household trying to just survive.
Tent cities have cropped up. It's bad

[bamacrat]

17. I live in Dallas and I don't see alot of them.

When we go downtown there are a few but no more than you would expect in a major city. I do see a few people with signs on the side of the road that say I have kids and no job, please help.

[Skittles]

18. Dallas has some new programs for the homeless

stuff like this:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-dmncharpebbles_10met.ART0.Central.Edition1.4bc753f.html

[bamacrat]

19. Wow that's way more progressive than I gave the Big D credit for.

[Skittles]

20. Dallas has its good points

I recently read a Dallas Observer cover story about getting longtime prostitutes into agressive programs and treatments that is working wonders

[Quantess]

21. Yes. I see them camping in wooded parks.

I frequently take my dog for walks in wooded parks (not campgrounds, these are large urban or suburban parks with a couple of trails) and I often see people with huge backpacks off to set up their tent for the night. Mostly young men.

The dog and I stumbled upon a homeless tent village, way out of the way. I heard a little dog barking and I saw at least 5 tents.