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I personally know a guy who was homeless for over 15 years. He would soundly agree with Stossel's take. His opinion is... if I can attempt to summarise in a few

I personally know a guy who was homeless for over 15 years. He would soundly agree with Stossel's take. His opinion is... if I can attempt to summarise in a few words, that homeless people nearly universally choose that lifestyle, and if you ever give them a 100% guaranteed way out of it, they will run the other direction as fast as they can. I suggest you re-think your opinion of Stossel based on that segment.

spywaregorilla 5y ago
A quick google suggests that his opinion is strictly incorrect and its a myth. The largest reason for homelessness is addiction.
throw_m239339 5y ago
> I personally know a guy who was homeless for over 15 years. He would soundly agree with Stossel's take. His opinion is... if I can attempt to summarise in a few words, that homeless people nearly universally choose that lifestyle, and if you ever give them a 100% guaranteed way out of it, they will run the other direction as fast as they can. I suggest you re-think your opinion of Stossel based on that segment. --- > that homeless people nearly universally choose that lifestyle, I'm sorry but I can't really let that slide. A lot of homeless people aren't homeless because they chose that lifestyle and your anecdote doesn't change that fact. A lot of homeless people (roughly half of them) have serious psychological issues that make them barely able to function normally in society, this is why a significant number of war veterans are homeless. Don't make me started on people of all sorts or people that are unable to have a home because of their history (former criminals, illegal aliens, ...). https://www.bbrfoundation.org/blog/homelessness-and-mental-illness-challenge-our-society https://www.bbrfoundation.org/blog/homelessness-and-mental-i... Few people would chose that lifestyle willingly, certainly not "universally". I slept rough 2 times in my life, in dangerous places, and it was already bad, I can't imagine having to do that for months or years.
- barbacoa 5y ago
  Anecdote warning: My experience living in a city with a non-trivial homeless population is most homeless -- at least the visible ones -- are predominantly able-body young men (and increasing women too) in their 20-30s. We're not talking factory workers who got laid off after 15 years due to outsourcing. They strike me more like urban, drug addled version of Chris McCandless from 'into the wild'. Of course this experience may not reflect other regions.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - throw_m239339 5y ago
    We all personally know outliers. It changes nothing to the statistics. As people of science on HN, we must not rely on narratives, this is the sort of thing the grand parent is pushing, associating homelessness with laziness in a cunning fashion. This is a mostly a lie.
barbazoo 5y ago
That claim is beyond ignorant. I'd suggest reading up on the topic beyond individual anecdotes. There are hundreds of organizations dealing with that topic so there is more than enough information out there you can learn from. I recommend searches like https://duckduckgo.com/?q=study+reasons+for+homelessness https://duckduckgo.com/?q=study+reasons+for+homelessness to get started.

spywaregorilla 5y ago

A quick google suggests that his opinion is strictly incorrect and its a myth. The largest reason for homelessness is addiction.

throw_m239339 5y ago

> I personally know a guy who was homeless for over 15 years. He would soundly agree with Stossel's take. His opinion is... if I can attempt to summarise in a few words, that homeless people nearly universally choose that lifestyle, and if you ever give them a 100% guaranteed way out of it, they will run the other direction as fast as they can. I suggest you re-think your opinion of Stossel based on that segment. --- > that homeless people nearly universally choose that lifestyle, I'm sorry but I can't really let that slide. A lot of homeless people aren't homeless because they chose that lifestyle and your anecdote doesn't change that fact. A lot of homeless people (roughly half of them) have serious psychological issues that make them barely able to function normally in society, this is why a significant number of war veterans are homeless. Don't make me started on people of all sorts or people that are unable to have a home because of their history (former criminals, illegal aliens, ...). https://www.bbrfoundation.org/blog/homelessness-and-mental-illness-challenge-our-society https://www.bbrfoundation.org/blog/homelessness-and-mental-i... Few people would chose that lifestyle willingly, certainly not "universally". I slept rough 2 times in my life, in dangerous places, and it was already bad, I can't imagine having to do that for months or years.

barbacoa 5y ago
Anecdote warning: My experience living in a city with a non-trivial homeless population is most homeless -- at least the visible ones -- are predominantly able-body young men (and increasing women too) in their 20-30s. We're not talking factory workers who got laid off after 15 years due to outsourcing. They strike me more like urban, drug addled version of Chris McCandless from 'into the wild'. Of course this experience may not reflect other regions.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- throw_m239339 5y ago
  We all personally know outliers. It changes nothing to the statistics. As people of science on HN, we must not rely on narratives, this is the sort of thing the grand parent is pushing, associating homelessness with laziness in a cunning fashion. This is a mostly a lie.

barbazoo 5y ago

That claim is beyond ignorant. I'd suggest reading up on the topic beyond individual anecdotes. There are hundreds of organizations dealing with that topic so there is more than enough information out there you can learn from. I recommend searches like https://duckduckgo.com/?q=study+reasons+for+homelessness https://duckduckgo.com/?q=study+reasons+for+homelessness to get started.