The LA Times reports that the number of homeless has increased 4% since 2016 in the Bay and Harbor areas.
Those with homes in those locations fear the homeless camps may be permanent. A sign of that is that mobile public hygiene facilities have been installed.
Others around the U.S., especially financially struggling Millennials where housing costs are high, fear they could wind up on the street.
But, aside from social workers and researchers, few understand the stories of those who are homeless. Even in this era of narratives, they're the stories which usually don't get told, at least not with insight and respect.
In 2007, there was an exception.
In the UK, highly educated Alexander Masters got to know Stuart Shorter, a man who considered the streets home and fellow homeless people his trusted companions.
When placed in a bedsitter by a social service agency, Stuart always found ways to blow that up and return to the streets. In a sense, he was an anti-hero, putting together a life on his own terms.
Masters had the open-mindedness to allow Shorter to tell his story, directly and indirectly.
That became the best-selling book "Stuart - A Life Backwards," a theatrical production, and a film starring famous actor Benedict Cumberbach. Here the book can be ordered from Amazon.
Shorter, as is typical in homelessness, got off to a rocky start. He was disabled, then suffered a trauma at age 13. He coped through alcohol, violence, and suicide attempts. But, he always took charge. His journey was not one of drift.
His death by a train seemed staged as an accident. That could have been to spare his mother the burden of knowing her son died a suicide.
Shorter isn't unique. There are myriad compelling stories among the homeless.
When I was traveling in England, I accidentally wound up in a London shelter for homeless women. The travel guide had misrepresented it.
Among the residents were those with a clear sense of self. They were the ones structuring how they lived on a daily basis. An unhappy doctoral student at the time, I envied their having direction. Eventually, I left academia and found writing as a career path.
Few of those stories get told. But, as with the LA Times article, that could change.
As we get to know more of the homeless as human beings making choices, not just giving up, the legal systems around the world will have to deal with this phenomenon. There will be new laws and regulations about where and how human beings can manage a life without conventional housing.
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