It's a lot of degrees below zero right now in Minneapolis - you could die out there.

So sad that someone would have to sleep outside with the temps that low!!! Makes one grateful that they are some place warm doesn't it?

I hate to think what happens to these people. Some don't even want to go to shelters because they are dangerous. It's a horrible situation.

You should post this to Sandy K.'s group on the homeless.

I'll look for that group

I feel for all of you.
Here in Pittsburgh they even bring the homeless IN when it is that cold.
My son and his family are near Mankato.
Stay warm.

Guess I'll stop griping about the 38 degrees it is here...

I can't find that group ...

A few years back some one living outside Ellensburg foun a homeless person in their dog house he had frozen to death

Nobody should be homeless. Nobody should be deprived of healthcare. Nobody should be without food. Nobody in a country with so much.

When it gets chilly here, there are armies of people who go out recruiting homeless people for shelters and handing out blankets.

I think many of the homeless people have untreated mental health issues.
I think those people panhandling at the metered freeway onramps are not homeless. I think they are looking for tax-free funds.

More than one homeless person freezes to death while sleeping out in the cold at night. The ones that do are usually new to the streets and haven't learned how to at least survive the temperatures like the old ones have. You learn quick...or you do die.

In California, the homeless don't get that cold, because it doesn't get below zero, but they do have to find places to stay, and in Los Angeles, cardboard boxes are the norm in some areas. I remember being there once and stopping to eat in McDonald's, and being hit up for money. I guess they're allowed to do that; the management doesn't kick them out, as long as they order something. Some of them have jobs, some of them don't. Most of them are not too well. I wish we could do something for them.

I think about it all the time, especially when it gets so cold.

BTW it is illegal to be homeless ( that is sleep on the streets) In Spokane Washington

I agree with Ellie

This country needs to give help to our homeless instead of sending everything overseas.

We have transients that camp at the end of our street. We tried to help them. Gave them coffee, warm socks, etc. Then they were asking for rides everywhere, wanted us to pay for a hotel for them... After they went out and spent $100 on a new dress for the girl??? We stopped helping them. They have to be willing to help themselves, you know?

I often worry about the homeless. Here, there is a church minister who gives away heaters to them. The homeless make little homes in tents in the pines, and people give them blankets, coats , heaters and other things. They have it better than your homeless, aparently. Makes me very sad.

Amen Maria!

that is sad but I do have a question where do the plug those heaters in at ?? dont that seem kinda silly to give you a heater when you dont have a home to plug it in to

Its too cold for anyone to be outside. I really feel sorry for the homeless.

A sad statement about this great nation

Very sad. Hopefully they find a church or shelter somewhere.

Good Lord -- Of COURSE they are not heaters that have to be plugged in! The minister is not that dumb! They use some sort of fuel, although I will admit, I'm not sure what kind, probably propane, or something. Anyway - He makes sure they have the fuel too, and goes back to give them more fuel.

This is something that has always bothered me.

Rents are so high, home prices outrageous- how are people supposed to do it. I looked at a house on LI( we are looking into a differnt one) and the real estate taxes alone was 14,000. That is crazy. That for taxes alone it would be over a thousand a month plus your mortgage. Now you get someone working at McDonalds or some other low wage job and they cant do it with have five of you chipping in.

It should be a right in this country to have housing

I spend a certain amount of time talking to homeless people. A lot of them choose to stay out and freeze because they are fed up with the way the shelters treat them. In Lexington, they breathalyze you at the door, so no real alcoholics can stay in the shiny new men's shelter. (Then they get more funding because their 'recovery' rate is so high.)

I knew one fellow who spent 2 weeks on the porch of a church rather than go back to the shelter... It was about January and about 10 degrees. He kept the wind off with a piece of cardboard. To make it worse, he was such a fierce alcoholic that he had alcohol-induced schizophrenia, spent a lot of time fending off demons that weren't there.

We closed our mental institutions to all but the most disabled. A lot of the rest are on the street. The sound byte about a kinder, gentler nation should be more than a stupid political slogan.

Lacey K,

If they could make good decisions, they probably wouldn't be homeless.

I found the group. Woot !!! Thanks JustMe 0307 !!!

Here's the group:

Homes for all

My brother was homeless on and off for years - by choice. Winters were the worst times, but at least he was in Pittsburgh and not in Minneapolis. Or northern Michigan. He sometimes slept in cardboard boxes even in winter. But he usually found old abandoned cars (obviously not anywhere near a downtown). Or abandoned buildings. Or, sometimes a relative would either insist on paying a month of a cheap motel or offer him shelter. But since his entire focus was on drinking, he wouldn't go to shelters because they wouldn't let him drink.

Up until last year, or the year before that (can't remember) we had a school that was specifically geared for the homeless children. I don't know much about it or where the funding came from, but it was finally closed. I was sad to see that.

I once took in a young homeless couple for three days, during a bad monsoon season. There was literally no more room left in our shelters. So they rested in my home, had a soft bed to sleep in, baths, a laundry to freshen up. She needed glasses, but couldn't afford them, so I had her trying on several of my old ones (who knows why I had kept them, since the script was no longer good for me). She found a pair that helped her a lot, so got to keep them. Then I gave them a small tent and a sleeping bag, took them to their choice of locations and dropped them off. They were ready and wanting to be on the move again. Both were sweet people, and very thankful for kindness shown. It was a good experience for all of us.

Phoenix has a very large and growing population of homeless. We've got a lot of shelters who open their doors at night during the hottest and coldest times of the year, and a lot of food kitchens. But still so many have to be turned away. Years ago I remember reading about a woman who made tons of sandwiches and went out to one of the downtown parks where so many of the homeless stayed and passed them out to anyone hungry. What an impressive woman she was...well, probably still 'is'. --- The shelters have showers for everyone, and I think some of them offer laundering help. Not sure, now that I'm thinking about it. Also, many of our thrift stores open for them during off-hours to allow them to come in and select any clothing and shoes that they need for free, without the stress of people staring. Some years, in our winter months, the news will pick up the call for a coat drive.

But as money gets tighter it gets harder for those homeless to find shelters. And we've been renovating our downtown area for years now, pushing the homeless from those areas. It's harder and harder now for them to find areas to be in.

It's important to remember that if you start drinking before your brain is mature (as do so many victims of childhood sexual abuse) you never develop the impulse control required to quit. It's easy to say 'They should stop drinking", but it's not always that simple.

Peter, first, I think it is terrible that men are turned away from shelters. I've fought that (unsuccessfully) in the past and thank you for bringing it to my attention again.

There are people in my city who drive around when it's this cold and look for street people. They try to take them to shelters and, if they refuse, give them extra blankets, etc. It's sad when some of them don't want to come in out of the cold but even sadder if they want and don't have a place to go.

It's all very disturbing.

> That's a shame a person can work all day and still be homeless.

That's no shame, that's a crime.

-7 here in NH right now. It breaks my heart to know there are people out there with no place to come in from the cold.

It is just so sad that so many are homeless in the first place.
I wonder what the demographics of the homeless tend to be, in different areas.
I tend to think that it is the white male that is discriminated more so than most other groups as it is not expected. Therfore i think that most homeless people are white males - especially the ones that are not able to find shelter on a freezing night.

We have a lot of homeless here in Georgia....a lot of them come down from up north...the weather is better/milder here.

To me if it takes opening churches, schools, warehouses, soup kitchens, shelters or whatever, there should not be one homeless person sleeping on the streets any time at all much less in the winter. I don't care if they have to sleep sitting up, it's better than freezing to death. I just really have a problem with there being a homeless situation anyway. It is so sad and scary.

I heard a news report a while back that said more than 15% (which sounds like a lot to me) of Americans are just a few paychecks from being homeless. They went onto say that if they missed two or more checks they have nothing to fall back on and could end up homeless. That is horrible and so scary.

yeah it's awful

It's sad to begin with but just awful when it gets so so cold out

Before President Reagan's Urban Policy of Block grants caused the destruction of SRO (single Room occupancy), there wasn't much of a homeless problem in America. Although there's no firm data, it is estimated between 3 and 5 million people were left to find new dwellings. At that time there were many SRO's that charged anywhere from $5 to $10 a night. Nothing has been done to address this issue. Before 1975, homelessnes was not much of an issue. The oil shock, recession and Reagan's policies all worked against the homeless. The homeless used to ride the rails to warmer climates, but since the early 1980's this has become very dangerous with many murders. I believe 60 Minutes had a report on this. We have a caste system, yet call ourself a Democracy. Lots and lots of denial, greed and hypocrisy.

Whoa, so very cold. I hope they find something else to keep them warm!

Things that make you say Hummmmmmmm Nobody should be homeless.

It really isnt fun, fortunately I was only in a shelter for a month before I had someplace to go. I am very thankful for shelter, they are an amazing thing!