Please Help Me Help the Homeless

Dear "Creative Minds", First of all, I would like to applaud you for making such a poll. Homelessness is a growing problem in our society, yet it is little talked about. Now, about your poll. Under living status, you should have included a category where persons can describe themselves as "currently homeless". Also, consider using checkboxes instead of bullets points on that one because many people who rent a place also live alone or with others.

Now...about myself. I used to be homeless, both in New York and Los Angeles (which, by the way, is where I currently live). I had been homeless on and off in those and a few other places over the course of about ten years in my life. However, and it took a long time for this to happen, with the help of family, friends and kind people in community agencies (such as a local mental health clinic), I was able to get off the streets and secure a nice studio apartment, and I am still there--have been for almost two years now! I pay less than $200/month in rent, because I qualify for Section 8 housing subsidies, a special government program where persons pay only about one-quarter to one-third of their income for rent. My income mainly comes from Social Security Supplemental and Disability payments. Every once in a while, I will work at a temporary, odd job. And occasionallly my family sends me a little extra cash if I need it.

In two days--August 29--I am scheduled to begin classes at Los Angeles Community College. I am striving for a certificate/degree to become an accounting clerk or bookkeeper. (You see, I have worked in the past at places like fast-food restaurants, retail stores and other menial odd jobs. I'm tired of manual labor; I want to work in an office.) So you see, the main reason I am going back to school is so I can learn a trade and get a good job that will hopefully pay me enough to get off of welfare and enable me to move into a better place/better neighborhood. I want to do something with my life besides just sit around in my room, watching television or hanging out at a park, beach or the library all day.

There's one more thing I wish to say before I go. I don't mean to sound cold-hearted--and I do believe that there are some homeless persons who became that way through no fault of their own--but in my experience in dealing with the homeless community, in general, most of them ARE mentally ill, drug addicts, or are just plain lazy and are looking for a free handout from society. I have no sympathy for such people. If I came across a man shivering in the nighttime cold and rain, who wanted $40 so he can get a room at a local motel; if I can spare it, I definitely would. But if you're just going to run to a liquor store and buy some booze and cigarettes and "walk the streets all night", then you can go to someone else. You'll get no help from me! I have no room in my heart for so-called "poor, charity cases". Remember, there's an old saying: "God helps those who help themselves." If you won't do anything to better yourself, you get no sympathy from me.