My former boss, a nun, has a homeless friend named Kevin that she watches out for. Kevin lives in an illegal tent community beside the American River in Sacramento, and my boss doesn't think he'd be able to calm down enough to live in a building. But when she was in town, she would pick him up once a week and take him to her home to have a bath and a hot meal. She also helped him manipulate the medical bureaucracy.

My daughter has been homeless once in a while. It's hard for her to live with or around people. Right now, she's living in a room provided by my ex-wife, but she's not very happy there. We're trying to buy a condominium for her, but we're not sure she'll want to live there - or if she'll be able to live with neighbors.

Homelessness is a sad and complex situation. There are no easy answers, and no one-fits-all solutions.

-Joe-