(Crazy) cat lady outside the grocery store

[SoleMate]

You know the crazy cat lady on "The Simpsons" TV show? Well, she exists in real life. Only she seemed quite coherent and pleasant. I saw her outside the grocery store last night...with a baby stroller filled with....no kidding....eight Siamese cats. Five kittens, three adults. Actually the adults were sitting on the sidewalk. My boyfriend spotted her too and warned me not to give her money, only cat food. After a quick chat, she asked for cat litter and I bought her a 20 lb box of Arm & Hammer clumping cat litter. I also gave her 3 dollars cash and she asked to hug me in gratitude. I hugged her (lightly). She said that she was homeless, but was planning to buy an RV.

 

She disrupted many of my stereotypes....not nutty, not smelly, not scary. However, she did have that battered and worn look of someone living on the street, and I think she may have been missing numerous teeth. I would imagine that she has serious issues with either mental illness or substance abuse. Someone like this is an unusual sight in my fairly affluent Silicon Valley suburb.

 

What can be done for such a person? Is this type of homelessness preventable?

 

P. S. to cat lovers: They all looked well fed and healthy, with fur and skin in good condition.

[Tayla]

Homelessness in america is on the rise, affacting what was deemed the middle class citizens. UNknown what can be done other then the programs that are in place currently that havent been cut by the states.

 

Oddly a recent report on the news in my area showed some folks who are quite inventive. They deliberately dress as "homeless" folk to gain extra money, some (who refused to show their face on camera) basically said they can make anywhere from 200-up to 1k a week contingent on where they hang out. Its annoying to say the least. Some hang at shopping malls, near grocery stores and coffee shops. One lady even dress's down her kids and has them look haggard, seems folks have a real heart when a Mom is out with her kids begging. She basically said that from the panhandling and the money she gets from the state she is doing well....So I give products or anything to help them...clothes, umbrella, coats, but I no longer give money directly to them.