Quote:I know four guys personally that have been homeless for an extended period of time.

 

1. he was undiagnosed schizophrenia he couldn't keep a job or a place to rent. he was convinced the CIA was watching him and the Devil was running the CIA. Once he was baker acted and forced onto medication he settled down, ended up with a steady job and last I heard he got married and started a family. For him it was a medical issue

 

2. he was and still is an alcoholic. He calls himself a functioning alcoholic but when I worked with him I wouldn't call it functioning at all. He works enough to pay off bills to keep from shutting off his lights or TV and the rest goes to drinking. Had his Father not given him a trailer to live in he'd still be homeless, he was homeless in New Jersey but always talked about it not being that bad. He always said, if things went south all he needed was beer and a tent. for him it was an addiction issue

 

3. he's not legal, he's not even supposed to be here so I'm not surprised he's still homeless. Basically he's been living state side "illegally" for a while I think at one point he might have been legal not sure? But leaching off Family for a while, so they finally go tired of it and he's homeless at the moment. They got sick of it because he has addiction issues, they'd give him money and he'd spend it on drinking.

 

4. Lost touch with him long time ago, we where in grade school together, heard from the grapevine he was homeless. He was always off but I'm assuming whatever was wrong got worse over time. his parents have tried to bring him home but he refuses from what I know, for him it's a choice.

 

I'd say it's accurate and fair to say most homeless in the United States are either by choice or addition.