Whose Problem is Homelessness?

"Well, obviously, it's the problem of the homeless people, and we need to be compassionate enough to help them solve it, right?"

No.
Nothing wrong with compassion, but if we tell ourselves that's why we act, we're heading down the wrong track without a paddle on thin ice.  So to speak.  Understanding comes first;  then compassion, based on truth, will have a slender long-shot snowball's chance in hell to make the grade and come up on top in the winners' circle.

Ahem; where was I...

No, homelessness is our problem, not theirs.  Two reasons.

First, we (the middle class and above) are causing homelessness, and the thing we're doing to cause it is causing a whole lot of other bad things as well.  Saying homelessness is someone else's problem lets us stay ignorant of the result of our actions, while still applying our "doing good" conscience salve.  By the way, it also makes sure homelessness never gets fixed.

Second, we ourselves are the ones getting hurt.


Now, I'm not saying homelessness is NOT the problem of the homeless -- there's plenty of "problem" to go around.  But here, as in other forms of relationship, "responsibility cannot be divided":  a homeless person is 100% responsible for solving the problem of homelessness, and each of us is also 100% responsible for solving the problem of homelessness.  There IS no "your problem";  there's just a problem that I (each of us) have to solve.