One of the biggest trends discussed with regards to the public perception of the homeless is the idea many have that the homeless are lazy. Many people believe that those who are homeless could easily find housing or a job, but continue to live on the streets because they are unwilling to put in the work necessary to ‘better themselves’. This perception characterizes homelessness as being a symptom of deviance, and a failure to operate within the confines of social conventions.  In a survey I conducted in Redlands, I saw many examples of such attitudes in the responses I received, some of which are as follows:

“Maybe my belief is harsh but I believe so many are there just because they lack the drive to pick themselves up, work and earn their keep. The effort it takes to carry hundreds of cans to earn a few dollars could be spent finding a real job.”

“…. have no desire to better their lives.”

“I would encourage them to better themselves”

“…majority of people that are homeless choose to remain so…those that are homeless by circumstances beyond their control can find services available to help them with jobs and housing”

I don’t believe in completely absolving the homeless of their own responsibility, because to do so assumes that they  lack agency, but at the same time, placing all of the blame for homelessness at the feet of the homeless seems overly simplistic. I believe, at least to some extent, that people prefer to assume that those who are homeless could stop being homeless at any time, if they were willing to work for it, because this belief allows them to feel that they have no responsibility to help.