Re: [Leica] Re: calling on the LUG to do a good deed: leica scholarship

["Joseph Codispoti" <joecodi@clearsightusa.com>]

From: "Karina Klaas" <shutterbug@iinet.net.au>
>
> That is not to say homelessness down not exist in Australia but having
never
> visited thte States before my preconceived notion of what to expect formed
> on the basis of the  movies and TV watched, my impression, wrongly, was
that
> most Americans lived reasonably well.  I asked my friend, whom I was
> visiting at the time where the "poorer" areas were - she lived in Santa
> Monica, and she responded there weren't any - she must have had her head
in
> the sand because I caught a Greyhound (not like they are in the movies -
> another shock in itself) to San Fran and started noticing these areas
during
> the drive on the way.
>
> Karina
>

Karina,

Social ills such as crime, homelessness and others, exist in the USA for
different reasons than in other parts of the world.
In the case of homelessness, there are three major reasons for it in the US.

1) Mental illness. This is the overwhelming cause. This group includes
alcoholics and drug addicts.
In the past mentally ill patients who were deemed non-violent and not
dangerous to themselves where "housed" and cared for in mental hospitals. In
the eighties, in a move to save expenses, the Reagan administrations ordered
all non dangerous patients released. The result was a swelling of the
homeless ranks. That I know of, the policy is still enforced.

2) Destitution. Many individuals and families are destitute to the point
that they are reduced to living in the streets. The causes of such calamity
are many, from abandoned spouses to loss of job, to poor personal choices,
devastating illnesses, etc.

3) Non conformism. There is also an element that refuses to conform to
conventional life styles and chooses to be homeless.

I have worked as a volunteer in shelters for the homeless and these seem to
be the prevailing causes.

Joe





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