(01-20-2022, 10:50 PM)snaxdelrio Wrote: Those stats are incorrect. 91 percent of homeless people have destroyed their lives with drugs and alcohol

I volunteered at the City Rescue Mission here in Jax for 2 years in the late 80's. I talked with many many homeless during this period, both men and women. Now, I know this is all antecdotal data and I didnt keep any official records on paper, but thinking back on it, i found a couple of things seemed to be the case:

80-90% of the homeless population was male. This high % could have been because Jax has other facilities for homeless women, most of which are shelters for battered or abused women and thier children.
Of those 8 / 9 out of 10 men, 6 to 7 of them admitted to some sort of current or past history of drug or alcohol abuse.
The remainder of them had recently lost thier job thru layoffs or seemed to have some sort of mental illness/issue.
There were a very small number who seemed actively able to work but were gaming the system for free food and shelter. They felt that they were freer by not being tied down to a job/family/etc.

Now again, this was personal observation and was over 30 yrs ago, so it may not be relevant today (and also depends on the truthfulness of the homeless and thier stories, which is questionable sometimes), but drugs have gotten more addictive since then and society certainly hasnt gotten much better, if at all, so im guessing these percentages might still be similar today.

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