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Comment by RingwormOne | Hacker News Reader

What jobs are they working? How many jobs have they had in the past year? I can only speak to my own experience with the homeless I've come in contact with. Most are mentally ill or are struggling with drug addiction. Sure some of them have jobs, but jobs of the street sweeping, sign holding sort that can't afford them even the most meager housing.

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Well, going back to the article, one of the examples they give is a university lecturer. Her income is over twice the current Federal Poverty Level, and she lives out of her car.

I realize I'm going for the ad hominem here, but I get the impression that you were so eager to start victim blaming that you haven't even taken the time to read the article before commenting on it.

I actually did read the article. The article mentions one or two examples of mentally typical people who are homeless. Ok. I've dealt with many many more than that who are most certainly not University lecturers.

But you could perhaps at least see the problem in a university lecturer not being able to afford to maintain a basic standard of living in the community where she teaches, right?

And if you can get that far, then perhaps you can see that the homelessness problem being described in this article goes well beyond the two causes you're trying to reduce the whole thing to?

I don't have much sympathy for the lecturer because it's probably safe to bet she has made a conscious decision to maintain her homeless lifestyle. I find it very hard to believe that someone with a PhD could not find extra work, or do something else entirely, to afford an apartment.

She presumably has other options given her education, unlike other psychologically disabled people who have no other option but to live on the street. Of course pathological stubbornness could be a disability.

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