The Jazz Funeral

Some homeless mentions in The Jazz Funeral by Julie Smith.

"Turn into pediatricians who work for the homeless on weekends, that kind of thing."
"She's currently homeless and probably penniless. She probably feels like she doesn't have a friend in the world."

I wonder if all homeless have that feeling of not having a friend in the world; I sure did. It seems to me that a person with friends would not end up living on the streets. I know if I had the means to keep a friend from becoming homeless I would help them stay homed.
Yes I had places I could stay. The trade-off was being treated as a child after having been a self-supporting adult for years by those offering shelter. Not something my pride and mental health could tolerate. None of those adults would consider themselves to be verbally abusive people with their little jabs at my character designed to whittle away at self-esteem. Not being able to pay ones own way in life, makes one as helpless as a child. Being thus treated as one made street-living preferable.

"...a place called Covenant house ~ a shelter for homeless kids." "They call it the Hilton for the Homeless."

"They say homeless teenagers have a pretty lousy chance of growing up."

The characters in the book said they die from murder, suicide or accidents due to "self-destructive behavior". They thought 3% was a large percentage of homeless teen deaths. I do not know the percentage for teens who did not live to grow up, among the non-homeless population. It seems to me every high school graduating class losses at least one teen due to drunk driving. A lot of L.A. teens die due gangbanger violence. Yet I guess if 3 out of 100 homeless youth die on the streets, that is a lot.