calgary's quite a different situation for the homeles than other big cities i have visited.
there's quite a bit of help here, but a run of bad luck can still put some people on the street.
guys that lose their jobs because the ex-wife sends them to 'maintenance' and they lose their driver's license, a screwed up situation with people they live with, you name it there are many circumstances where a guy making $10/hour simply cannot make it in calgary.
i was just living there at 10 bucks an hour while searching for real work and it was literally not feasible. no way jose.
in 95 when i moved there i lived on like $600 per month - rent was way cheaper. the cheap rent has completely disappeared, the only decent situations are by knowing someone with a house and living in a non-zoned basement. technically illegal...
i'd say bad-luck situations contribute to less than 5% of the homeless however.
was working downtown at a crappy night job while going to school, $8 per hour, basically $50 a shift, and the same guy asked me for change three days in a row while waiting for the train. i vented on him pretty bad because i had a crappy job but was still making it, somehow. he was early-twenties, able-bodied, backpacker-type, i just can't see helping out people like that much because he's capable of picking up those free workboots and waiting at the one corner with the other day workers.
it ain't glamourous but it's enough to get fed and maybe explore more options.
there are people in this world that simply start from zero and don't have the parents etc. to help, but the majority of homeless people in calgary are on the streets because of poverty _plus_ some other reason.
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