This post inspired this question: What can be done on a community-scale to successfully accommodate our island's homeless population? [more inside]
posted by Mike Mongo on Oct 25, 2009 - 5 answers

I'm looking for a fascinating piece that I read a few years back that painted an extensive portrait of the lives and culture of runaways and other people living on the margins, written from personal experience. I think it was very long, divided into two pages, and possibly specifically directed at writers whom the author was criticizing for getting their culture wrong. I remember that s/he alked about getting started mugging or shoplifting, how to handle yourself in fights to minimize the amount of actual fighting you would be forced to do, and I forget what all else. One part that I particularly remember asserted that people in this sort of situation could be very conservative sexually but promiscuous emotionally, or something like that. [more inside]
posted by mayhap on Oct 15, 2009 - 4 answers

I've finally realized that I have a gigantic mess of mental issues that almost certainly require therapy and medication. Depression, multiple kinds of anxiety, who knows what else. Please help me figure out how to get better. [more inside]
posted by MyMetaAccount on Oct 5, 2009 - 24 answers

Sort of homeless/drunk dudes have set up camp on my street! Please read all of this before dismissing me as an unfeeling NIMBY!! [more inside]
posted by missmle on Aug 26, 2009 - 26 answers

What can an adult son do to help his homeless, possibly mentally ill mother states away? [more inside]
posted by lizjohn on Jul 16, 2009 - 18 answers

How can a homeless person who has been injured (stabbed, for instance) expect to be treated at a U.S. city hospital with no money or health insurance? Surely they wouldn't let him bleed to death? And if they do turn him away, what are his options?
posted by Sully on Feb 1, 2009 - 21 answers

What are the legalities of utilizing a homeless person/vagrant/urban outdoorsman for marketing purposes? I've read up on "Bumvertising", but other than some negative feedback from homeless persons advocates (wikipedia) what happens when one of these "employees" happens to do something illegal? [more inside]
posted by whiskey point on Jan 23, 2009 - 6 answers

When do you stop to help a homeless or disabled person on the street? [more inside]
posted by hydrate on Dec 7, 2008 - 45 answers

How can I help Southern California's homeless? [more inside]
posted by evil holiday magic on Oct 25, 2008 - 6 answers

I've got some sketchy details about a movie I'm looking for & I'm hoping it will sound familar to someone here. The movie is about a young social worker who is working in a homeless shelter. To learn more about being homeless, the SWer pretends to be homeless herself and befriends a homeless woman. The homeless woman gets very angry when she finds out that her friend is actually a social worker & is not homeless. It may have been a Lifetime movie or something as equally cheesy. Any ideas?
posted by whatideserve on Oct 10, 2008 - 4 answers

What is the difference between liking travel and being a global bum? [more inside]
posted by electronslave on Sep 26, 2008 - 23 answers

Is apartment moving always this hard? For everyone? I feel like I must be missing something. [more inside]
posted by squidlarkin on Aug 21, 2008 - 25 answers

Hey MeFi, long time listener - first time caller here. I'm looking for guidance on how to help out the homeless in my community, further my photography career, create awareness, and do this all with the utmost respect. [more inside]
posted by JRGould on May 17, 2008 - 7 answers

My sister graduates college this week, and I want to get her a gift that will be useful for her at work. She'll be counseling homeless people at various shelters and other locations in Washington DC. Besides pepper spray (our running joke), what are some practical gifts I could get her? [more inside]
posted by scottso17 on May 14, 2008 - 10 answers

Help us fill 100 hungry bellies. We want your ideas for a good meal to serve one night at a temporary warming shelter. [more inside]
posted by deathofme on Mar 6, 2008 - 27 answers

Staying classy cheap in San Diego.. where should I stay overnight? And any neighborhoods to avoid? [more inside]
posted by hobbes on Feb 20, 2008 - 15 answers

Temporary emergency housing in Stuart, Fl.? [more inside]
posted by pearlybob on Jan 30, 2008 - 17 answers

Is it condescending to give money and/or food to a homeless person when the haven't actually asked for it? [more inside]
posted by Jess the Mess on Nov 20, 2007 - 31 answers

Why are there so many homeless amputees in my city? [more inside]
posted by shwynn2 on Sep 6, 2007 - 14 answers

How do I get a homeless person(s) to stop peeing in my front doorway? [more inside]
posted by tangelo on Jun 11, 2007 - 33 answers

How do you maintain dignity and self-control while being dumped? Furthermore, where do you live? [more inside]
posted by somersault on Jun 1, 2007 - 46 answers

Should I leave the city I've spent my whole life in when it seems like things are starting to go my way? [apologies in advance. more information than is probably necessary/confused word vomit follows] [more inside]
posted by elr on May 18, 2007 - 22 answers

How can I help the homeless? [more inside]
posted by palet on Dec 14, 2006 - 30 answers

I need ideas on emergency shelters, for the homeless in urban environments, as well as for out in the boondocks. Must be inexpensive or free and easy to set up. Please blow my mind.
posted by dropkick on Oct 8, 2006 - 13 answers

Are there any confirmed and documented cases of famous people that have lost everything for one reason or another and ended up broke, alone, and homeless? [more inside]
posted by ChazB on Jul 21, 2006 - 39 answers

Why do you see more male homeless than female homeless? [more inside]
posted by Brainy on Jul 7, 2006 - 23 answers

Please help me stop the homeless person(s) from crapping on my stoop and rummaging through my trash. [more inside]
posted by paulrockNJ on Jun 6, 2006 - 23 answers

So the Florida kids who beat up three homeless men (killing one of them) were apparently outed to the police on a website discussion forum about street racing. Anyone know (or able to google) the site? I'm always interested when real-live criminal suspects have some connection to an on-line community. It would be interesting (maybe even worthy of the Blue) to see the web discussion forum that led to murder charges. [more inside]
posted by Mid on Jan 16, 2006 - 12 answers

What are the effective non-religious charities that help homeless people in San Francisco? [more inside]
posted by Nelson on Dec 19, 2005 - 9 answers

NIMBYFilter: The area behind my building faces an industrial and unincorporated area of the town, and homeless folks have begun to move in across the way. [more inside]
posted by fandango_matt on Sep 13, 2005 - 17 answers

I've been watching the Night Court marathon on TV Land and found myself wondering about Phil Sanders, the homeless man who works as a lackey for Dan Fielding. Was it ever shown or explained just how Phil met and began working for Dan? Online episode guides offer no explanation that I can find, and after nearly twenty years I have to know for sure.
posted by Servo5678 on Aug 14, 2005 - 6 answers

On public transit last night, I watched a man tell off a panhandler with such vitriol I found it roundly disturbing. Yet, I did and said nothing. How do you all, and how should I in the future, handle these moments of small scale injustice? [more inside]
posted by verysleeping on Jun 9, 2005 - 29 answers

I live in a city with a fairly high homeless population, and sometimes I wonder why the *really* destitute people (those seemingly beyond any help) don't just commit a crime bad enough that they would get put in jail for several years, where they would at least receive 3 meals a day, regular lodging, medical attention and the chance to learn some sort of skill or get a GED or something. I imagine a great majority of the homeless have a drug and/or alcohol addiction that they realize couldn't continue in prison, but is that the driving factor? If you were beyond hope and had to choose to either be homeless or incarcerated for the better part of your life, which would you choose?
posted by robbie01 on Mar 17, 2005 - 26 answers

I'm sure I'm mangling the pronunciation, and I'm sure I misheard a few syllables, but last night while waiting for a bus in Brooklyn, a man came up to me and more than once said something that sounded like "Sheh-deh-mah-shen-see." Does it mean anything?
Some clues: He was polish, also spoke -- in english -- about having just gotten out of a hospital, about how he was crazy, about how his wife was in poland, not america, about how he hadn't eaten, about how he was crazy, about "oh my god" (x3). I gave him some food and a cigarette: he walked a few paces away, looked up at the windows of a second-floor gym, laughed, and did a little dance that mimicked the man on the treadmill. Oh, and he kept apologizing: "I'm so sorry. I so crazy. Oh my God." (x3). Any ideas? I hope to see him again, and I hope to be able to reply appropriately.
posted by nobody on Feb 8, 2005 - 15 answers

My girlfriend and I are opening a savings account where we can put away some money to give to a charity for the homeless. We live in Boston--what organizations should we be looking at around here?
posted by josh on Jan 28, 2005 - 10 answers

Do you give money to homeless people, panhandlers, and/or beggars? Why or why not? Defend your position. [more inside]
posted by gottabefunky on Feb 25, 2004 - 56 answers