Enterprise
(This page is under development)
The most visible enterprise among homeless is likely that of asking for help on prominent street corners – often with a cardboard sign declaring their plight. The various other forms of panhandling are endless, and some of the stories are very creative, often beginning with something like: “I just need two dollars and thirty two cents to get my bus ticket home to Hawaii.” I was approached by one man who asked for a dollar because “the blood content of his alcohol was getting too high” (I gave him a buck).
Phony stories not withstanding, it's good to be generous, because the needs are real. Something I do – and highly recommend – is to never give money, but buy the guy a hamburger. Many have substance abuse or other expensive addictions which money can never help. Better still, is to get to know some of them and be helpful on an ongoing basis. Also, compare notes with others that may know them whenever possible.
Some homeless who manage to score donations of goods or food beyond that they immediately need, will turn around and actually sell them to other homeless.
Another visible form is that of collecting recyclables. Many work long hours for no more than they would get for a single hour at minimum-wage. This brings up a situation that makes the homeless problem so complex: There are large gaps that separate the homeless from mainstream society.
Housing: Their lifestyle and anything they can afford to build to live in is illegal. If it was legal to live in something built from a few hundred dollars worth of materials, and to actually give it some an address, they would not have to live in mud when it rains and in a sweltering tent when it suns. Misery remains however, because the illegality of it all prevents them from creating any shelter too substantial to be removed within a few minutes time.
Health & presentation: Consider how clean and well dressed you would feel if you lived out of a tent and backpack – take your pick of a few wrinkled items.
Any job opportunities would need to be within convenient walking distance. If you have any significant volume to move, you steal a shopping cart.
The minimum wage laws that buy so many liberal votes from low income people, also prevent many thousands of them from getting jobs at all.
The growing mountain of regulations fees licenses and taxes cause many businesses to fail and prevent countless others from starting in the first place.
The above realities define the environment in which homeless enterprise must exist. I do not want to suggest that the mainstream is evil or should not be obeyed when possible, but it is simply incapable of dealing with some real and growing problems. Having said that, it remains obvious that homeless enterprise is forced to be technically illegal, as well as invisible to the mainstream system.
I could speculate endlessly on types of enterprise that might be considered, but since I want to stick to that which is proven, I will suspend further development on this theme until I have learned more.