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Comment by abraininavat | Hacker News Reader

Do you have any support for that claim? My experience in Chicago and Baltimore is that homeless shelters are packed. People do the daily 4:30 line-up to get a bunk, and those who don't get in find a place in the alley to try again tomorrow. None of them seem particularly bothered by the smell of their neighbors, they're more interested in the smell of soup.

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Anecdata: I am homeless. I will not go to a shelter. I have a compromised immune system. I am on the street to get well. I have goals. Etc. I do my best to avoid most other homeless people. They are typically unclean, unhealthy, have super poor boundaries and think I should want a hug merely because I am also homeless...etc..ad nauseum.

I run a small website where I am trying to put together ideas on how the homeless can solve their own problems. I am not looking for a handout. I think one of my biggest problems is the Othering of the label I have. But I had that problem long before I had this particular label. Anyway, I think on that a lot and learning to "behave normally" after a lifetime of never managing that looks to me like one of the big things I most need.

Edit: The homeless website whereof I speak: http://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/

Thank you for replying. Godspeed.

Periodically in my local paper there are articles where the reporter is scratching his head trying to figure out why there are people on the streets when we have open beds in the shelters.

The people on the streets say they'd rather be there than in the shelter. Some of it is because the shelters don't let you bring in weapons and don't allow people in who are under the influence. But some of these guys are homeless because they're an extreme case of a person who doesn't like to be told what to do.

No, only what I have heard claimed, which is mainly that homeless shelters are seen as an absolute last resort because they are typically less safe than the streets.

edit: http://www.npr.org/2012/12/06/166666265/why-some-homeless-ch...

Sounds like a reason to improve the homeless shelters.

It is, of course. Buses up on cinder-blocks is not the way to do it.

Agreed.

There is no one on the streets. here in Amsterdam. There are plenty of free shelters (the whole red light district is basically only red light windows and shelters) and it works

Are the homeless living in shelters in Amsterdam actually fixing their issues and getting back into the workforce and becoming prosperous though?

Whereas those on Seattle buses were?

No, but the success rate in homelessness rehabilitation isn't relative to any other places success rate, it is in terms of itself.

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