How can we help the homeless? Let’s start by asking them

The person below does not want help with turning around her life. She just wants free stuff. Quoting the article:

'Sitting on the sidewalk outside a newsstand on Fairfax, Shannon Soole, 44, who might look tough at first glance but has sweet eyes and likes to crochet afghans, told me a lot of things that would be useful to her: medicine for headaches and colds and stomachaches. “A lot of us have trouble with our teeth. We need aspirin,” she said. Cans of tuna and chili are good.

But she’s not into the proselytizing people “who try to stomach punch you with AA.” She’s frank about her vices — mainly crystal meth — and not eager to face her current existence without them.

“Don’t hand me a piece of Bible literature. I’m quite aware of where I stand there,” Mulloy told me in Van Nuys. “I don’t need to read the Bible. I want an apartment. I want my own set of towels.”'