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Well, given you have money, where does choice end and mental illness begin? I talked to a few army vets who are homeless and stayed near the building where I l
by lqdc13 10y ago
Well, given you have money, where does choice end and mental illness begin?
I talked to a few army vets who are homeless and stayed near the building where I lived. They still had income but chose to not be a part of the system. They were cogent and fairly convincing.
I think the problem is largely cultural. People see it as an acceptable thing to do if you fall on hard times or if your philosophy changes.
This is in contrast with Japan where people wouldn't see it as an option and even Russia where income/expense ratios are even smaller.
- seanmcdirmid 10y agoJapan has plenty of homeless people and people who live outside the system, they are just much tidier than those in other countries, but extremely visible if you just look around a bit.
- Crito 10y agoHow do you explain this? Are Japanese homeless less mentally ill, or less anti-social?
- seanmcdirmid 10y agoSocial pressure is still there. They can crash in the park, even setup tents, as long as they are discrete and clean about it...the police/society just have a contract with them of sorts to let them be if they aren't too bothersome. Their are definitely those who are mentally ill, anti social, or just down on their luck...Japan doesn't have a very strong welfare system, which is a bit surprising.
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- lqdc13 10y agoIf you look at the official figures: San Francisco - 7,539 homeless out of population of 837k[0] Tokyo - 1500 - 5000 homeless out of 13.62 million [1] It is orders of magnitude difference. [0]http://abc7news.com/news/data-shows-sf-has-2nd-highest-homeless-population-in-us/1407123/ http://abc7news.com/news/data-shows-sf-has-2nd-highest-homel... [1]http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/10/17/homelessness-in-tokyo-hits-record-low/ http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/10/17/homelessness-i...
- seanmcdirmid 10y agoJapanese statistics are hardly reliable, many people hide their homelessness quite well. Anyways, it isn't socially unacceptable to be homeless, after encountering a few homeless encampments in Osaka parks, it doesn't feel that unusual.