Why might peole try to avoid homeless people?

Question

Homeless people.

Answer 1

Fear of what the person might do, or not wanting to be near someone who is dirty and smelly as they often are, or perhaps fear they may ask for money or something that they don't want to give so they avoid them.

Answer 2

maybe because they are annoying and ask for money or we are afraid to see the truth of homless people!!

Answer 3

because alot of them  all ways ask for money or they just dont smell good so u wont to stay away

Answer 4

homeless people are now stereotyped as druggies, beggars, uneducated, dirty.....the list goes on..this is because they have been labelled this way by society and it is a deviant lifestyle..they are not following the norms of society and the socially accepted goals and means of achieving them and therefore people want to avoid them because a) they don't know about them b) people presume that their contributions will go on to fuel drug habits c) it is what the rest of society does and therefore a norm of society to ignore homeless people

Answer 5

It could be the 'homeless person' is mentally ill.....many of them are and they come across as quite strange.   It is a sad fact and a big part of the homeless problem.

Answer 6

They are one of the many groups we are taught to fear.  We don't ASK why we ought to fear them...just told and we subsequently fear without any reasoning...

Answer 7

as a rule, humans try to avoid conflict and uncomfortable situations.  Frequently we do not understand why someone is homeless, and there is an subconcious shame that we have and someone else has not and a flight instinct when confronted with an "abnormal" situation.  It takes a lot to retrain our instincts to reach out and help the homeless.  I do, I hope you do, too.

Answer 8

Yes, how do we know what their intentions are? I certainly want to help someone, but not someone that begs me...I'm not sure what they are capable of.  

American's are lucky people. Only in America can you live for free, eat for free, and have most luxuries that working people have.  What I am saying is this..why are these people homeless? There is help for anyone that TRULY needs assistance.  Somewhere down the road these people have to be accountable for themselves...If they settle for doing nothing all day and living from shelter to shelter, then what do you want from people who pay their dues????

Answer 9

Many families in America are one paycheck away from homelessness themselves.  It's often hard to look at a family (and most homeless people are families) and see what our own future might hold.  It's a very fearful thing to know that "there, but for the grace of God, go I"

Answer 10

Selfishness and disgusted with what they don't understand.

Answer 11

Fear of the unknown.