Why cities tend to be blue and rural areas red

[bae]

If the rural areas are so much more generous then the solution to homeless would just be to send the urban homeless there and they will take them in? Right?

My rural area has a sizeable homeless population. The character of the homeless has changed over the past 20 years or so though. Used to be people who couldn't find housing in our odd and expensive housing market here. Now there is a big chunk of the homeless population that has moved into the area from elsewhere. Odd choice, considering we have very little in the way of social services here (it's a small rural island), and they have to purchase an expensive ferry ticket to get here. Encampments are springing up in various wooded spaces near/in our village, which has caused some public safety issues.

We also have another brand of "homeless" here, seemingly-fit early-20s individuals, with nice REI clothing and gear, and no means of support. Usually the first thing they do when they hike off the ferry is ask where the food bank is, and the free showers. Drifters/grifters. Plenty of jobs available here at $25-$45/hour for fit people, but these folks, primarily male, choose to ask for handouts and kick back. There's been some discussion about the wisdom of limiting what social services we have to known residents of our community.

[LDAHL]

We also have another brand of "homeless" here, seemingly-fit early-20s individuals, with nice REI clothing and gear, and no means of support. Usually the first thing they do when they hike off the ferry is ask where the food bank is, and the free showers. Drifters/grifters. Plenty of jobs available here at $25-$45/hour for fit people, but these folks, primarily male, choose to ask for handouts and kick back.

Wow. Even your bums are up-market.

[Chicken lady]

Wow Bae, as the mom of three twenty-somethings, I'd like to come offer them some motivation. (I used to have a hc college textbook entitled "applied child psychology" and when my kids were young teens, I used to wave it at them and threaten to "apply" it.)

you lead me to think though, at our foodbank, you can have all the baked goods (of which there is always excess) and fresh fruits and vegetables (which sometimes go by) that you want, but you have to show proof of residence to get a monthly "non-perishable" with cleaning items (plus meat, dairy, and eggs) package. So, if you were truly homeless, you could get food from us, but you would eat mostly bread, cake/donuts, and produce (which is usually not varied much - right now we have potatoes, onions, cabbage, apples, and oranges - last week we got a bag of grapes.)

we also give out - when available, clothes, shoes, books, toys, and personal care products, no questions asked. (Well, actually, we ask a lot of questions "what size pants does he wear? does he like trucks? Minions? Did you see we have a book about trucks over here? Do you like stories? Would you like that bear? Is it ok with your mom?(great! The bear is so happy!)

[bae]

Wow. Even your bums are up-market.

Well, the REI-grifter/wanderers are not the majority of our homeless, I mentioned them as they really stand out from the rest of the crowd. The folks in the longer-term encampments seem to have more serious issues in their lives :-(