denial of assistance

i recall when i was homeless encountering a social worker who refused to beleive i was homeless. why? i was wearing a nice pr. of sneakers.(!)can you beleive it?excuse me ,how bad does it have to get? how far down the spiral must one go to merit help?

i recall when i was homeless encountering a social worker who refused to beleive i was homeless. why? i was wearing a nice pr. of sneakers.(!)can you beleive it?excuse me ,how bad does it have to get? how far down the spiral must one go to merit help?


Lazy i know , even in my hay days yrs ago , i still dressed ok why wouldnt i?? its that stigma again with things what one outa act like, dress like be like??? homeless without a home????? not clothless geez! what all homeless ppl have no taste?

I believe a stereotypical view of homeless people has always existed. The majority of the population tend to think that every homeless person gets around in dirty clothes and shoes with holes in them.....And it simply isn't true in alot of cases. When I was homeless I still had a reasonably clean and tidy appearence (Shoes and clothing courtesy of the charity bins found close to shopping centres.....Yes, I went dumpster diving on many occassions in search of better clothes and I'm not ashamed to admit it). I met several other homeless people during my time of homelessness and they were reasonably clean and tidy too. But on the other side of the coin I have also seen some homeless people that have been filthy and wearing dirty worn out clothing....Those are the ones I really feel sorry for. On several occassions I have helped out other homeless people by giving them clothes that I had retrieved from charity bins that I had intended to wear myself.
Even now that I am no longer homeless I still see it as my duty to help out the homeless where ever possible because I've been there, I know what it's like to be homeless and I also know how easy it is to fall back into homelessness.
I think the majority of the population who tend to stereotype the homeless need to walk a day in the shoes of the homeless just so they can see exactly what it's like.

That is very true Revcore no-one can judge anyone till they have walked in their shoes, even if they are a nice pair of sneakers :P