[livefox]

Having been homeless before - fuck that mentality.

The majority of homelessness is brought about as a result of circumstances, not drugs.

Domestic Violence, lack of affordable housing, lack of social safety nets, LGBTQ individuals ousted from their families, mental illness with lack of support.

I was homeless for 3 years, because I was LGBT and my parents cut me off from support. Rent in Seattle doubled when Amazon moved in, and the roommates I was living with were unreliable. I ended up homeless and moved to a small town that had even less amenities and had the mentality that if I was homeless I must have been on drugs.

I was treated with disdain by most of the people I was trying to get help from, finding a job was much harder without a permanent address. Housing assistance programs had 3 year waitlists. I was told if I wanted more assistance I should have a baby because it would push me to the front of the list.

The "cracked out methhead smearing human excrement on the walls" is someone that needs psychiatric help, not jail. And they are a relatively small portion of the homeless population.