Today I Saw

homeless people. In my neighborhood. On my block. And it shocked me.

If you live in suburbia, you might connect "homeless" with that guy who stands at a busy intersection with a cardboard sign and a duffel bag. Or you might think of New York subways. I think of exactly those people I saw this morning: 2 men taking care of each other until they can get a roof over their heads. Maybe they were apartment hunting. We have some affordable apartments in my neighborhood, and you can usually find a "for rent" sign in front of a few.

I'll give you an example. We paid $60k for a small ranch style home in a neighborhood full of Victorian brick. The Victorians cost as much as a new home. Yet we have apartments for $250 a month. I think that's pretty affordable.
Anyway...

To see a pair of homeless men with their little black trash bags, (probably holding a change of clothes or two) in my quietly diverse neighborhood, was a shock to me. I wasn't offended. Homelessness offends me. Homeless people do not.

I wanted to stop and help them. Find them jobs (if they needed ones), find them apartments, something! And then I noticed that one of the men was carrying beer to the other. At 8 in the morning.
I drove home and blogged instead.