> Why are there so many people living in the streets of the big cities?
Because the US is an extremely decadent society and people have a lot of free time to become addicted to drugs. In my home city of Portland, where we have a huge homeless problem, a solid portion of the homeless actually come from families with higher-than-median income, and are choosing to be homeless. I just recently went to a talk by a local homeless non-profit group and the social worker flat out said the majority of the people he interacts with do not want treatment. They exist on the street simply because the city tolerates it.
> Something failed in their lives.
Yes... indeed. The United States is too rich and this is a 'we have too much money' problem, and a 'too much freedom' problem. No one is willing to do what's necessary to force the homeless to live in a civilized, hygienic manner.
Look.. my family is from a third world country. Whenever we visit... we see true homelessness. True homelessness is when families are simply too poor to be able to afford housing and live in slums. This looks nothing like the homeless in Portland, who are all single men / occassional single women. These are mentally addled drug addicts, not simply 'normal' people down on their luck. Contrary to what the activists say, poverty itself does not cause people to behave this way. In my parent's home country, the poor homeless behaved normally, they just didn't have homes, and should one give them enough money, they would move into one. In Portland, no one wants to move into a home, which is why we have empty beds every single night.