I think it's safe to say that all homeless people suffer from a variety of mental disorders.
You're correct, that's a perfectly safe thing to say, in the sense that you will suffer no unpleasant consequences from saying it. The saying of it (and, what I really mean is, the believing of it) suggests to me that you have very little grasp of what life is like in the US. For example, someone in a country with low- or no-cost, widely available health care might make the sweeping statement that no one dies from lack of access to medical care, so if someone didn't receive it, it must be because they refused the help that was available. Fine for your country, not true in ours. Same with university education. If your country offers free or almost-free university education to everyone, then you'd conclude that if someone says they can't attend a university because of the cost, they're delusional. True in your country, not in ours.
There are
more than a million homeless children in the US. They may develop psychological issues as a result of being homeless, or malnourished, or neglected, or chronically ill, but it certainly isn't their mental issues that have made them homeless. It is the lack of money. Period. Likewise adults who have lost their jobs and are ineligible for unemployment benefits (a large number of people, by the way) and can't get a new job right away. When the rent comes due and you don't have the money, out you go. Some people become homeless as a result of the actions of someone else. For example, domestic violence: if someone points a gun at you and tells you to clear out of the apartment or wind up dead, I bet you're going to gather your stuff and hit the road, job or no job, money or no money.
I suppose it is very difficult for people in countries with extensive social programs and safety nets to comprehend what life is like in a place like this, where food, shelter, and health care are all available at a price, and if you don't have the cash, too bad for you. Yes, we have SOME free stuff, like free food from churches and food pantries and such. But they are all volunteer and scattered around what is a quite large country. Someone who's hungry in rural Indiana isn't getting fed by a Salvation Army kitchen in St. Louis. Same with shelter. Some places have what are called Section 8 vouchers, so that a landlord who rents to low- or no-income people will get paid rent. Section 8 housing tends to be, let's just say, sub-standard, and even at that, there is not enough tax revenue to support all the people who are eligible for it. The point is, that in some countries I think the idea is to match up what people need with what resources are available and get everyone to a certain standard of living. In the US, the paradigm has been to set aside a small amount of money to assist SOME people in SOME way, and the rest are just out of luck. That system must be really difficult to comprehend for those who live in the other kind of place.
