It may seem nonsensical for homeless people to live on the streets when there are homeless shelters for them to live in. However, as well-meaning as shelters, which are a good thing, are, the actual execution and establishment of the shelters, as well as the maintenance, has been very poor. (In the US, at least.) There are many reasons for homeless people to risk the streets, rather than stay in a shelter. For one, conditions in shelters are often very poor. Shelters, no matter how clean they are, pose the risk of getting parasites like head lice, pubic lice, scabies, or bed bugs. Diseases also spread easily in close quarters, and homeless people are often sick. Shelters also become something like hunting grounds for predators (Of the human variety); people in shelters are vulnerable and easy targets for jerks who want to rape, assault, or harass someone without consequence. Police don’t often take the complaints of homeless people seriously, so they’d rather the entire situation all together. Despite what the Americans with Disabilities Act says, some disabled people will be turned away from shelters and accommodations like walkers, crutches, or braces will be confiscated during check-in if they aren’t turned away. The biggest problem is that, no matter how many people willingly stay away from shelters, there are never enough beds. Yet, sometimes people will set all of these problems aside to seek shelters, but still get turned away. Even if caregivers give paperwork to shelters stating someone isn’t a danger to themselves or others, shelters may still deny them due to mental illness. 40% of homeless teens and youth identify as LGBT and avoid shelters because them of those places, like the parents who discarded them, discriminate against LGBT people. Even if people working in shelters care about the homeless they shelter and try to keep the facility neat and clean, there’s an issue with underfunding. Sometimes facilities don’t get the proper funding to cover maintenance and accommodations or take care of enough people. These are only a few of the many reasons homeless people may choose the streets over the shelters and they all need to be addressed to help the bigger issues at large.
