'Stunning number' of Americans living below poverty line - UN rapporteur, Newshour - BBC World...

Ah the only appropriate response to a story about homelessness. Agreed it is very sad.

MSgt Heather D. - Those are definitely contributors to the homeless problem, however more mundane issues like physical disabilities, job loss and medical debt are also serious issues.

MSgt Heather D. - A lot of times those services have soft barriers to entry that can not be navigated alone. There are lots of groups out there doing good work helping people get benefits, however that patchwork still misses a large percentage of those who need help. I believe people slip through the cracks in almost every country, however it was very rare to encounter a homeless person in Germany and I never heard of homeless camps with hundreds of people. Given that every city in the US seems to have such camps, I suspect we are by far the worst when it comes to allowing people to slip through the system. If you don't have advocates and people helping you work your way through the system, it is probably more likely to fail you than help you.

Panhandlers exist pretty much everywhere, I'm not sure most are homeless or even impoverished. Most of the panhandlers I see local here are transients, the roughly 300 homeless we have living in camps around this town of roughly 50K people are not going to be seen unless you venture into their camps or volunteer at one of the shelters where they give free showers and meals.