What I hate about our homelessness situation is that people are so ignorant to the realities of the human race and the system we live in. The idea that everyone should be able to do what others do is extremely unrealistic and not accurate. The human species is factually widely varied from physical ability to intellectual ability to health and ableism.
People's idea of individualism and disability play an important role here. The assumption is that you're either able to work or you're not, and if you're not, you'll be taken care of. There is little to no acknowledgement that many people can do some work, but not enough to survive on, especially with the astonishingly low pay rates we have. It's not about pity; it's about realistic expectations. People with mental illness, physical disability, and the elderly are mostly left to drown under the weight on these expectations. They often end up homeless, because we refuse to meet them halfway, because someone else was able to make it work.
Zooming out, the people who are against social services and wage hikes, completely refuse to acknowledge that capitalism creates poverty and homelessness by design. In a system with the expectation and acceptance of people like Elon Musk hording hundreds of billions of dollars and having no obligation to pay a living wage, it is impossible for everyone to support themselves with all the money being siphoned to the top. We are a consumerist and service-oriented nation, which means there are a vast number of service jobs that people are forced to work that don't pay the bills. The number of well-paying jobs is far less than the population which forcibly creates poverty through no fault of the people at the bottom. It's completely unavoidable.
When the system says, X% of the population will be in a low wage positions or completely unemployed, how can you possibly blame those people. Some might say, that it's their fault they're on the bottom. That it's their responsibility to get themselves above poverty. This completely ignores basic math. If X% of jobs don't pay enough to live, then X amount of people won't be able to live. There is no option to get out of it.
Capitalism says that you don't have a right to a home but makes a home a commodity that by design can never be afforded by everyone. It's the ultimate bamboozle. Homelessness is not a moral failing, it's a condition people who are less capable are thrown into with no care or empathy for why.
On top of that, people have no idea how hard it is to get out of homelessness. They think if you just stop using drugs, shave, and ask for a job then you won't be homeless anymore. That alone can be the topic for a whole other rant. Anyone who has ever been homeless, worked with them, or had friends or family that have been homeless know that are so many barriers to getting back on your feet.
Republicans have convinced people to hate those suffering and everyone who tries to help. It's a sickness in society.
