Reply #151: Yes, that's EXACTLY the way it is! [View All]

Re "I see it as forcing them to live like hunted animals seeking a safe place. Any refuge is subject to becoming unsafe at any moment. A person finds a little nook where they can sit and not be bothered and, as soon as it's discovered, someone is there demanding they be moved out."

I live in San Bernardino, CA, a city that has been hard-hit by the recession. It was always kind of a grungy working-class city even at the best of times, and some areas are absolute slums now. There are a lot of homeless people here, even where I live which is in the relatively "nice" part of town.

There is a homeless man I have befriended who sleeps behind the dumpster at the local Mexican market where I do most of my shopping. During the day he hangs out in various places in that rundown shopping center--sometimes in the laundromat, sometimes on the sidewalk in front of the market, etc. I buy him ice cream or coffee and a doughnut sometimes, and make a point of bringing him home-cooked food whenever I can. I just make a little extra when I make soup or chili for myself.

I've lived all over SoCal in my 50+ years in this area, and the way you describe it how the homeless are always treated. Always forced to "move on" whenever they find some forgotten nook or cranny to hole up in. It's sickening!