The Durango Herald is correct that there are many causes for homelessness, but an increasingly permissive society is one of the root causes. It's easy to say that many of the homeless have mental problems, but the giveaway is that 75% to 80% of the homeless have alcohol and/or drug addictions. If you start young and get high or drunk every day, you have a 200% to 300% better likelihood of developing schizophrenia or other mental problems. So the problem isn't mental problems but a society that has become so permissive, schoolchildren often get high, daily.
I was once at a meeting in San Francisco that was attended by a group of homeless people. During one of the breaks in the meeting, one of the homeless men lectured other homeless people about how to persuade a social welfare official that you had ongoing mental problems. I remember that one of his main points was “never look them in the eye and they'll put you down as having mental problems.”
Let's address the problems without always making excuses for bad behavior. Without a degree of discipline, any society will gradually fail.
Mike Sigman
Durango
