I work with unhoused folks on the regular - some of them are definitely on the street because of their actions. Some of them know it, some of them blame the world around them. Others are certainly victims of the system where they were dealt a shitty hand and played it as best they knew how. The only problem is that the best they knew how was not very good, likely because of a lack of support/parenting growing up. Oh, and the disabled folk. They just get straight up screwed by every system.

The really frustrating thing is how many people just straight up need a parent (we call them case workers but let’s be honest about the work they do) to get through life - a responsible adult who will guide them to the right choices and educate them on how to interact with society - but we simply can’t help everyone and even if we had the people power you can’t help someone who doesn’t see the problem or will not accept your help. The human in me says we need to reach and help these people, but the logician in me says there are diminishing returns on trying to help people who don’t or won’t change their behavior.