[C19fan]

You always have people who cannot handle modern life although opioids have made things a lot worse.

[relictele]

Why are tax, zoning, dog leash, noise, traffic and other statutes zealously enforced but not laws on vagrancy, eliminating waste in public, causing a disruption, blocking sidewalks, littering and any other infraction associated with bums?

And if the laws don’t apply to bums, then neither do the laws regarding hosing them and their trash down to get them to flee.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

How DOES one differentiate between a ‘Crusty Punk’ and a trendy ‘Hipster?’ ;)

[willk]

I can’t believe all the people giving them money at stop lights. Bet they wouldn’t do it if the bums were in their neighborhood.

[fishtank]

[Diana in Wisconsin]

“No one in this room believes homelessness is a good thing,” Councilwoman Sophie Hahn said, according to the news site Berkeleyside. “Yet, through massive failures of [local, Democrat-run Governments], it is a persistent reality in California, and [all Democrat-run Cities] across the United States.”

FIXED!-

[Obadiah]

Needs more study, but I bet if you scratch the surface you’ll find a lot of these kids came from either broken homes, were latchkey kids, or lacked a father in the household. So very sad. A generation that is driftless, wandering in the desert, unmoored to faith and loosely tethered to rational and critical thought.

This is the “freedom” liberals have been teaching and preaching for decades now. Those who choose this path will increasingly cycle down into an isolated stupor.

[Flycatcher]

... this group of young adults has rejected a more traditional 9-to-5 lifestyle in favor of train hopping, panhandling and voluntary homelessness.

How romantic. [Insert eye roll here]

[ek_hornbeck]

There are two categories of homeless people: those who, thanks to mental illness or severe addictions, could not function in normal society, and a second category who choose not to function in normal society. The opioid epidemic is to blame for the expansion of the first, while the broader culture is to blame for the second. A “Crusty Punk” or whatever they call themselves isn’t so different from the 30-something still living in mom and dad’s basement, or from a college kid demanding “safe spaces” on campus.

[Blue Jays]

"...crusty punks / crusties / hipsters..."

---

They probably all have the latest iPhone with the monthly bill sent directly to their parents in Chappaqua, NY or wherever.

[VR-21]

Don't the Europeans call these kind of folks Roma?

[marktwain]

Nor is there an easy explanation for why many of these young adults — upper-middle-class and rich kids among them — take up such a difficult lifestyle.

---

Sure there is. It is a lifestyle of adventure, travel, and little to no responsibility.

These people do not go hungry. They choose to be a modern version of the hobo, but with much less difficulty. They do what they do, because they *want* to do it.

[Menehune56]

It’s good to live in a place that can have truly miserable weather for long stretches of time. Although I guess nowadays you can just hole up in a Starbucks if you need to.

[waterhill]

As seen on TV?

I was bingeing on season one of Gotham last night. Selena(Catgirl) takes Bruce to the orphan underground or whatever it was. It was a commune, I think that’s what some of these kids are searching for. A community, but they cannot see the forest for the trees.

[pfflier]

In the 60’s we called them hippies. Nuthin’ new.

[varyouga]

“Doing what you are supposed to do” no longer even guarantees you even a crappy home. Most of their working peers have debt up to their eyeballs, work every waking hour and see no hope of ever raising a family. They are one missed paycheck from being homeless themselves.

Of course vagrancy is becoming a more attractive option. The worse case scenario is being locked up with 3 meals a day and more vagrant friends to meet