The homeless !

On any given night welfare workers estimate that there are a hundred thousand homeless people scattered across this nation. They range over all ages and both genders and the only thing they have in common is that they have no permanent place of residence.
Home to many is the shelter of a bridge or a cubby constructed of cardboard cartons - with maybe a sheet of iron or some plastic to ward off the rain. They are vulnerable to those seeking to force sex upon them or those who consider doing them harm a form of sport.
Many agencies try to help. Soup kitchens provide a mobile service and welfare agencies maintain refuges, but the provision of such services never manages to accommodate the numbers that need such help.
The young homeless are of most concern to many. Their situation deprives them of any hope of finding a job and extricating themselves from the mess their lives have become. Employers usually need an address and expect their employees to present in a neat and tidy manner, something impossible when that person has rolled out of a cardboard carton and must come to work without either breakfast or the use of a bathroom.
The question of why they are homeless can present many answers. In some cases it is their own fault. Those that rebel against reasonable parental authority have a lot to learn about life, but for many it is a case of escaping sexual abuse - or of simply being rejected by those supposed to be their " loved ones ".
There is no answer. The homeless exist in every country of this world and the combined thinking power of governments, churches and welfare agencies across the globe has not been able to find an answer. Unfortunately homelessness is part of a journey that usually leads to life in a prison or at best - as a dependent in some sort of institution for those unable to fend for themselves.
Centuries ago such people were consigned to what was known as " the poor house ".
We are now a rich and cultured society - but as far as the homeless are concerned - nothing much has changed !