An upcoming National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) report shows that municipal bans on publicly giving people free food has increased sharply between January 2013 and April 2014.

The report, which has not yet been published, was shared with VICE News on Friday. It detailed new restrictions in 33 US cities that were passed during the past year alone. The report is set to be released later this month.

It is NCH’s third report on food sharing and highlights the types of restrictions cities use to shut down religious and community groups that give out food, and also examines the motivations behind the efforts to quash public food-sharing.

“We published the report in the hope that it would embarrass the cities, but they just keep doing it,” said Michael Stoops, Director of Community Organizing at NCH.

Homeless families in São Paulo are occupying the World Cup. Read more here.

Stoops said it’s hard to keep track which cities have bans on sharing food, but it could be in the hundreds.

And that’s one of the many problems faced by church and community groups.

“I can promise you that if a city enacts a law and there’s a penalty provision, they will enforce. And all of the laws have some kind of penalty,” Stoops said.

Statistics on homelessness vary as people enter and leave the population.

Hard numbers are usually identified through "point in time" counts performed at shelters across the country on a single night. On one such count night in January 2013, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development found 610,420 homeless people.

But the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty estimates that 3.5 million people are likely to experience homelessness in any given year. Over a million of those are children.

Are Groups "Enabling" People to Stay Homeless? 
Many of the political and criminal justice figures in the NCH report were quoted as saying that by feeding homeless and hungry people, the groups are “enabling” people to stay homeless and hungry.

Jeremy Rosen, Policy Director at National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP), told VICE News that’s an unrealistic viewpoint.

“Nobody would suggest that the ideal situation for a homeless person to be in is living on the street, but the reality is people are living there and they will die there if they don’t receive food,” Rosen said.

The US is using its youth as a credit card. Read more here.

In 2012, Houston, Texas passed a law that would impose a fine to anyone who is giving out food to more than five people in public, without prior written permission from the city.

Without such permission, each person doling out grub can rack up a $2,000 fine.

On March 31, Houston Mayor Annise Parker said on KUHF radio's "Houston Matters" show that “making it easier for someone to stay on the streets is not humane” and that groups who give free food to the hungry “keep them on the street longer, which is what happens when you feed them,” while groups were not coordinating efforts.

"You have the same group of homeless people that are fed by three different groups on the same day and yet there are folks on the other side of town who really need the resources. So all we asked was that, would you just please register with the city and we keep a master calendar and make the resources go farther," she said on the radio show.

Parker said no one wants to stop anyone from feeding people but she wanted groups to be mindful of where they are giving out the food.

"It's not illegal to feed the hungry. We do want you, if you're going to feed a large amount of people, to ask permission of the property owner," she said.

But others would argue that the purpose of the law is “intimidation.”

“A lot of people who used to serve food don’t serve anymore. The groups who serve in the street have largely continued but the individuals who were just going around giving out leftover food, those numbers have gone way down,” Nick Cooper, a Houston resident who volunteers with his local chapter of the worldwide food-sharing network Food Not Bombs, told VICE News.

"We have permission to serve in front of the downtown public library, but not for other locations,” Cooper said. “I drive around and give out bananas or whatever I have to homeless people. Under this law, I could be fined for that."

In 2011, more than 20 members of an Orlando Food Not Bombs chapter were arrested for sharing food. Houston, so far, has been lucky.

Cooper told VICE News that a diverse coalition formed to oppose the law when it was proposed, but was ultimately unable to stop the law from passing. Cooper said they still have the potential to get it overturned due to "our ballot initiative which at some point has to be put on the ballot."

“It included evangelical groups, Tea Party groups, Muslims, Jews, Occupy and leftist people. It was amazing. I’ve never worked in a group like that,” Cooper said.

The coalition gathered enough signatures for a ballot measure, Cooper said, but their efforts were blocked after a law limiting the number of changes allowed, per election cycle, to the city charter was passed.

Feeding the Hungry on Religious Grounds 

Evangelical and faith-based groups that consider feeding the hungry to be a vital part of church ministry may be the ultimate challenge to municipal bans on food sharing.

Rosen told VICE News that NLCHP recently won a Texas case in which Big Heart Ministries sued Dallas for its food sharing ban.

“The main grounds the judge used to rule in our favor was the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” Rosen said, “They ruled that the city’s food sharing ordinance violated religious freedom.”

Where the poor get blamed for the plague. Read more here.

A Daytona Beach couple made news recently when they were fined more than $2,000 for operating a food sharing ministry called “Spreading The Word Without Saying a Word.” Chico and Debbie Jimenez refused to pay and to stop feeding the hungry. The fines have since been dropped after public outcry.

But not every faith-based soup line has been so resilient.

“When cities enacted food sharing restrictions, it scared off a lot of groups. To a religious, middle class person who’s never violated the law, even being arrested for carrying out God’s work is scary to them,” said Stoops. “We’ve had a number of church groups say, we don’t want to go against the law. And it has resulted in a number of groups quitting the ministry.”

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Earlier this month, someone tweeted a picture of a series of metal spikes built into the ground outside a London apartment building. The spikes were intended to discourage homeless people from sleeping in the area, and their presence sparked a public outcry.

London’s mayor called the spikes “ugly, self defeating & stupid,” and the mayor of Montreal called similar spikes in his own city “unacceptable!!!!” Protesters poured concrete over a set of spikes outside of a Tesco supermarket. Then, after a petition was signed by nearly 130,000 people, the spikes were removed from the London apartment building, the Tesco, and downtown Montreal.

“@ethicalpioneer: @ethicalpioneer anti homeless spikes. So much for community spirit!!! pic.twitter.com/WE99xIM9fS” absolutely sickening!

— Paula Sherriff (@paulasherriff) June 7, 2014

It has been encouraging to see the outrage over the London spikes. But the spikes that caused the uproar are by no means the only form of homeless-deterrent technology; they are simply the most conspicuous. Will public concern over the spikes extend to other less obvious instances of anti-homeless design? Perhaps the first step lies in recognizing the political character of the devices all around us.     

An example of an everyday technology that’s used to forbid certain activities is “skateboard deterrents,” that is, those little studs added to handrails and ledges.  These devices, sometimes also called “skatestoppers” or “pig ears,” prevent skateboarders from performing sliding—or “grinding”—tricks across horizontal edges. A small skateboard deterrence industry has developed, with vendors with names like “stopagrind.com” and “grindtoahault.com.”

But in an echo of the protesters vandalizing the anti-homeless spikes, skateboarders find ways to combat or adapt to these measures. For example, there’s an abundance of YouTube videos in which tools are used to pop off the studs, one by one. The deterrent vendors respond with more tamper resistant alternatives.  And so on. 

The point is that it’s easy to imagine a non-skateboarder walking by skateboard deterrents every day and taking no notice of them at all, remaining entirely unaware of the social role of these devices. Such a person would be oblivious to the power relations at work in their surrounding environment. These dynamics are especially important in the case of homelessness.

An example of a pervasive homeless deterrence technology is benches designed to discourage sleeping. These include benches with vertical slats between each seat, individual bucket seats, large armrests between seats, and wall railings which enable leaning but not sitting or lying, among many other designs. There are even benches made to be slightly uncomfortable in order to dissuade people from sitting too long. Sadly, such designs are particularly common in subway, bus stops, and parks that present the homeless with the prospect of a safely public place to sleep.

When thinking about this landscape of homeless deterrence technologies like the benches and still-ubiquitous spikes, it is important to consider the role of laws against loitering. For many cities, loitering laws have the effect of enabling law enforcement to arrest the homeless simply for being around. Such regulations target things like sleeping in public, panhandling, or even outdoor charity food service.

This further complicates the relation of the homeless to this public landscape. Why do you think the homeless so often choose bus stops in particular as a place to sleep? One reason is surely that it affords a kind of plausible deniability: I was just waiting for the bus.   

And like the non-skateboarder that walks unknowingly by the skateboard deterrents each day, it’s easy to be someone moving through our world without seeing these power plays, enacted through design and policy, keeping the predicament of the homeless conveniently out of view. The problem remains, but it’s rendered invisible.

Homelessness is of course a persistent and pervasive problem, and of course solutions are neither simple nor easy.

But on the issue of the design and policy of public spaces, it is important to keep a view of what values guide our decision making, and what alternative values may also warrant consideration. 

Returning to the example of skateboarding, a surprising challenge to standard assumptions comes in cases like the Oslo Opera House and Germany’s Phaeno Science Center.

These buildings were constructed with skateboarding in mind, and designed with the consultation of skateboarders. Designs of this sort make it seem at least possible to strongly reconsider our basic assumptions about how to build our shared spaces. Maybe we can imagine other approaches to the problem of homelessness that do not include deterring the homeless from being seen.            

The London spikes provide an opportunity to put a finger on our own intuitions about issues of homelessness and the design of open space. Ask yourself if you were appalled by the idea of the anti-homeless spikes. If so, then by implication you should have the same problems with other less obvious homeless deterrence designs like the sleep-prevention benches and the anti-loitering policies that target homeless people.

This question applies as well to the mayors of London and Montreal. Considering the outrage they’ve expressed over the anti-homeless spikes, I am curious to see if their concerns also extend to the further anti-homeless designs and policies that mark their cities. 

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A three-course lunch hosted by an eccentric Chinese millionaire for 250 homeless New Yorkers in a posh restaurant degenerated into fury Wednesday when guests were denied $300 cash handouts.

It had seemed such a good idea. Recycling tycoon Chen Guangbiao last week took out ads in American newspapers promising a first-rate meal at the Boathouse in Central Park and $300 each.

Guests were bused in and treated to a sit-down meal of seared tuna, filet mignon and seasonal berries, waited on by staff in suits and bow ties, but anger flared over the cash no-show.

As Chen spoke to a gaggle of Chinese journalists while dessert was being served, one guest started shouting.

"Don't lie to the people!" Ernest St Pierre told AFP. "We came here for $300 but now he's changed his tune."

Chen announced through a translator that he was heading to the New York City Rescue Mission -- which helped organize the lunch -- and invited guests to join him there.

"This individual who's filthy rich put it in the paper," St Pierre, a former US Navy medic, told reporters.

Retired Vietnam War veteran Harry Brooks told reporters he would be "highly upset" if he didn't get the cash, despite enjoying the food "very much."

"I could use $300," he said. "Clothing for one thing," he said gesturing at his shabby attire when asked how he would spend it.

Not all guests were unhappy. Many said they enjoyed the food and called the experience "beautiful," saying they were touched that someone had flown all the way from China wanting to help.

- 'Fraud' -

But as they were herded outside to queue up to get the bus back, complaints multiplied.

Quin Shabazz, 34, said he felt the homeless had been exploited and branded the lunch -- covered by a mob of TV cameras and reporters -- "a big publicity stunt."

Al Johnson, 42, said he had been banking on the money to get his life together and go home to his family in Texas.

"This was going to change my life," he said. "Fraud. This is fraud with a capital F," he added. "I feel used for a photo op."

Craig Mayes, executive director of the New York City Rescue Mission, was left to deny there had been any injustice.

"I'm really sorry. It was misrepresented in the paper," he said.

Michelle Tolson, director of public relations at the Mission, said Tuesday that no cash would be handed out to individuals and that it had taken 1.5 months of negotiations to convince Chen to instead donate $90,000 to the group.

The money would be ploughed straight into the Mission's $5 million yearly expenses to feed and house people, she said.

The shelter provides people with a hot meal, a clean shower and a safe bed, clothing and assistance in addressing their problems.

Chen, known for publicity stunts and reportedly worth an estimated $825 million, serenaded his guests with a rendition of the 1985 charity single "We Are the World."

The smiling, bespectacled businessman said he wanted to give back after wealthy Americans had contributed to relief efforts after disasters in China.

"Hopefully, I will really lead the way to encourage other people who are in a position to help to follow through," he said.

Coalition for the Homeless says around 60,000 homeless men, women and children bed down in New York's shelters and thousands more who sleep rough on the streets or elsewhere.

The number of homeless New Yorkers has risen by 75 percent since 2002 and in recent years has reached the highest levels since the Great Depression of the 1930s, according to the advocacy group.

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The non-profit RainCity Housing works to provide housing for the homeless in Vancouver.

Last year, it teamed up with the Spring Advertising agency to turn seven bus stop benches into awesome billboards that simultaneously promoted the agency's services and furthered its core mission.

By flipping an additional backboard attached to some of the benches, a homeless person could turn the billboard into a covered place to sleep at night.

And other benches lit up at night with a special message.

Though the creative billboards have long since been taken off the streets of Vancouver, the project has been drawing international attention in the wake of actions taken in London that seem to attack homeless people rather than the general problem of homelessness. There, businesses and apartment complexes have been laying down spikes outside their buildings to prevent homeless people from sleeping.

Anti homeless floor studs. So much for community spirit :( pic.twitter.com/Yz8VF7Ryid

— Ethical Pioneer (@ethicalpioneer) June 6, 2014

"Yes, it's the opposite of what's happening in the U.K. and even in Montreal, but we still have so much to do to provide housing so that people aren't looking at benches as an option to sleep on," RainCity Housing communications manager Bill Briscall told CBC News.

(Via Gawker)

SEE ALSO: These People Didn't Recognize Their Own Family Members When They Saw Them On The Street — Here's Why

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In 1990, U.S. homelessness was most common among people in their 30s. In 2000, it was most common among people in their 40s. In 2010, it was most common among people in their 50s.

Every decade, the group facing the highest risk of homelessness was born between 1954 and 1963.

Problems facing this cohort of late Baby Boomers were discussed in a 2013 study published in the "Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy." In short, they came of age in the late 70s and early 80s in a period of depressed wages for unskilled workers, higher youth and young adult unemployment, and rising rental housing costs. At the same time, they faced a proliferation of crack cocaine, leading to social problems and incarceration.

"These conditions could have created an underlying vulnerability that resulted in a sustained risk for housing instability over the ensuing decades," the study concluded.

Here's a chart adapted from the study showing this disturbing trend:

A large population of aging homeless people is a worrying prospect. So is the idea that a similar cycle could be happening again.

Millennials are also facing high unemployment and a steep rental housing market, while heroin and prescription drugs are becoming increasingly prevalent.

Dennis P. Culhane, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who worked on the homelessness study, told Business Insider via email that millennials in their 20s "are not yet appearing as homeless at rates greater than we would expect based on their representation in the population" but that a similar lost cohort could emerge.

"All of the risk factors do seem to be present for another wave of adult homelessness," Culhane said. "And, indeed, while we don't see rates exceeding expectations yet, we do see that the proportion of homeless in their 20s is growing every year for the last five years, and that they now account for 25% of the adult homeless population."

Homelessness has been declining since 2007, but it remains a significant problem — on a single January night in 2013, 610,000 people were homeless in the U.S.

SEE ALSO: 15 important economic trends involving millenials

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The modern roadside billboard has been with us for nearly 150 years, and, let's be honest, it needs a bit of a facelift. Not much has changed since its inception — it's still just a big advertisement on legs, distracting you on your commute.

An architecture and design firm in Slovakia is setting out to change that. DesignDevelop recently unveiled a new project, called Project Gregory, which would convert the nation's traditional triangle-shaped billboards into living spaces, complete with bathrooms, kitchens, and beds.
The tiny living spaces could be used to provide housing for the homeless population in the surrounding areas. Whether that makes sense in a practical application sense remains to be seen.
The fee for the ad space would help offset the price of construction, and the firm says that by optimizing the electricity which is already hooked up in order to light the billboards at night, the homes could be powered at no additional cost.

SEE ALSO: These Bus Benches Transform Into Homeless Shelters In A Matter Of Seconds

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Transit police on San Francisco's BART commuter rail line on Tuesday stepped up efforts to discourage homeless people from sleeping in stations, issuing warnings that could eventually lead to a trip to jail.

The crackdown by the Bay Area Rapid Transit police started with verbal warnings to people sleeping in the hallway corners of Powell Street train station downtown, the first step in a widening campaign that will eventually include all stations.

"We felt we had a duty to protect our patrons and provide them safe passageway in case of an emergency," said BART spokesman Jeff Jennings. "If something happens, we want the people to be able to get up and move with the crowd and not trip folks."

The campaign comes as San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in the United States, wrestles with a nearly intractable problem of homelessness that has filled shelters to overflowing and left a meager amount of publicly subsidized housing available to the poor and mentally ill.

Homeless advocacy groups said the new enforcement efforts unfairly criminalize homeless people, who sometimes rely on the train stations for safety and sleep.

"There are fewer and fewer places where, if you're homeless, you can rest," said Matthew Gerring, spokesman for The Coalition on Homelessness in San Francisco. "The BART police cracking down is further reducing the number of places they can rest legally."

Most of the city's homeless shelters are running at capacity, and the waiting list for public housing assistance is closed, advocates said.

"The wait for one individual could be as long as 12-18 months," said Gail Gilman, Executive Director of San Francisco's Community Housing Partnership, which connects homeless people with housing and various social services.

Jennings said that BART officers will distribute flyers for homeless and mental health services to those who are cited.

Police will issue verbal warnings at first, followed by a citation for those who don't comply, he said. People who still refuse to comply could be summoned to court and potentially arrested.

On Tuesday, police asked 17 people to sit with their legs crossed, stand up, or "look alert," Jennings said. The new enforcement has led to one arrest, after police learned of a warrant for the arrest of a man found sleeping in the station.

BART may expand enforcement to nearby Civic Center and Montgomery stations within the next month, Jennings said.

(Editing by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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Before they rose to fame, many of the world's wealthiest and most recognized celebrities struggled for money.

And some weren't just poor — they were homeless. 

Here are 15 incredible stories of famous people who at some point in their lives had nowhere to sleep but the streets. 

They all eventually turned their lives around, becoming an inspiration to anyone who dreams of a professional career, despite starting from nothing.

Jim Carrey once lived out of a VW camper van and in a tent on his sister's front lawn.

Yahoo reported that the comedian dropped out of high school and lived in a VW bus with his family parked in different places throughout Canada. They eventually moved into a tent on his older sister's lawn and parked the van in the driveway.

Carrey said it was during these tough financial times growing up when he developed a sense of humor. 

Oscar winner Halle Berry once stayed in a homeless shelter in her early 20s.

When she first moved to Chicago to become an actress, Berry ran out of money, and her mother decided the best thing would be to not send her daughter more cash. 

During these struggling times, the actress acknowledges, she stayed in a homeless shelter.

In an interview with Star Pulse, Berry said:

It taught me how to take care of myself and that I could live through any situation, even if it meant going to a shelter for a small stint, or living within my means, which were meager. I became a person who knows that I will always make my own way.

America’s most famous psychologist once lived in a car with his father.

According to BusinessPundit.com, when Phil McGraw (Dr. Phil) was 12 years old, he was homeless and living in a car in Kansas City with his father, who was interning as a psychologist.

McGraw later went on to obtain his own bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D., and he joined his father’s psychology practice in Texas.

In the 1990s, Oprah Winfrey invited McGraw to appear on her show. He later became a regular on “Oprah” and eventually launched his own syndicated advice program. 

Today the author and TV personality is worth an estimated $280 million.

Most of us are aware that homelessness is a major problem in the United States. But what about those who purposefully forgo a traditional home life and instead opt for a nomadic life of travel, calling the road their home?

Every January, many of these travelers seek refuge from colder climates on the warm beaches and bays of southern California. Here, they regroup, reconnect, and plan ahead for their next move.

Photographer John Francis Peters began documenting these travelers for his series, California Winter, after spending time in San Diego and observing people living off the grid, hitching rides, camping, and communing with each other. 

"I found these scenes in the context of San Diego’s landscape to be strangely beautiful, intimate and surreal," Peters says.

Peters began frequenting the places where these travelers hung out and began meeting, speaking with, and photographing these modern nomads, learning about their travels and lives, and gaining insight into the motivations and choices. 

We asked Peters to share some their stories. 

Mike, who is originally from New Jersey, wakes up along the boardwalk early one cool December morning. During the winter months, San Diego becomes a temporary home for nomadic travelers from across America. Some will stay anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, while others call San Diego home for an extended period after connecting with the traveler community.

Mike from Tallahassee sits on a sand dune while he takes in his first view of the Pacific Ocean. This was Mike and his girlfriend’s first time in San Diego, having just arrived after slowly making their way across the country. For many travelers, San Diego is a “turn-around town” – it's as far south and west as they can go — so the setting becomes a place to rest, reflect, and contemplate their next move.

Karina and Tex, from Canada and Las Vegas, met on the road. Here, they cuddle during the early morning in a park where they camped out for the night. Karina had been traveling for an extended period across Canada and into the US and was continuing on toward Mexico and South America.

Could the tiny house phenomenon solve America’s homeless epidemic? Andrew Heben, urban planner and professional tiny house builder, says it can. His new book Tent City Urbanism: From Self-Organized Camps to Tiny House Villages explores the growing trend of American tent cities and how micro housing villages could transition people out of homelessness for good.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently announced that we are experiencing “the worst rental affordability crisis this country has ever known.” As a result, many of our nation’s homeless have organized self-governed campgrounds, called Tent Cities, to protect and shelter themselves within a community of shared resources. While many of the encampments offer safety and kinship, very few are sanctioned and many run the risk of shutdown.

Andrew Heben has studied dozens of tent cities throughout the country, lived in one Michigan-based dwelling, and is now working to develop the model into a more permanent solution. His new book delivers practical and affordable advice for transitioning tent city encampments into full-fledged micro-housing villages. The new concept enhances the naturally sustainable model of tent cities, in which dwellers effectively share and reuse a limited amount of resources.

Opportunity Village in Eugene, Oregon. The non-profit-run transitional community for the homeless consists of 30 tiny houses (60 – 80 sq. ft.), a common kitchen, a main office, a gathering area, and restroom facilities. Inhabitants of Opportunity Village live in a drug-free and violence-free safe haven that is meant to transition them to more permanent housing. The same non-profit, Opportunity Village Eugene (OVE), is now planning a permanent housing development known as Emerald Village, with slightly “larger” (120-150 sq. ft) tiny houses and a surrounding communal support system.

According to Heben, tiny house villages could also offer a sustainable housing model for the masses. Heben says, “It is opening the door to sustainable, human-scale housing options for other demographics as well—including those currently devoting an unsustainably high percentage of their income toward rent and those looking to simplify their lives and downsize their environmental footprint.” Thinking of starting your own tiny village? His new book is available for purchase here.

SEE ALSO: This Tiny House-On-Wheels Is Nicer Than A Lot Of Studio Apartments In Cities

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At last year's MTV Video Music Awards, a nearly naked Miley Cyrus twerked on top of Robin Thicke. This year, a fully clothed Cyrus sat on the sidelines and let a young homeless man named Jesse do the talking on her behalf.

We weren't sure who the man with long, blond hair was who accompanied Cyrus on the red carpet:

But after the singer won Video of the Year for "Wrecking Ball," Jesse — a representative from the shelter My Friend's Place— took the stage and explained:

“I am accepting this award on behalf of the 1.6 million runaways and homeless youth in the United States who are starving, lost, and scared for their lives. I know this because I'm one of these people. Though I may have been invisible to you in the streets, I have the same dreams as many of you.”

“Los Angeles, entertainment capital, has the largest population of homeless youth in America,” Jesse continued. “The music industry will make over $7 billion this year, and outside these doors are 54,000 human beings who have no place to call home.”

Cyrus was tearing up from the side of the stage as he spoke:Jesse then directed viewers to Cyrus’ Facebook page, where she posted a link to the the site accepting donations helping homeless youth.After the show, Miley and Jesse hit In-N-Out burger to celebrate. She captioned the below photo: "Me and my hero at in n out celebratin #myfriendsplace #mtvvmas2014.”

Watch Jesse's full speech after Cyrus' VMA win below:

SEE ALSO: Watch Taylor Swift 'Shake It Off' During MTV VMA Performance

MORE: The Most Outrageous Outfits At MTV's Video Music Awards

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A video from Elite Daily chronicling the exploits of a homeless millennial who gets by on going home with women he meets in bars and on the streets of New York City is making the rounds online.

The 26-year-old Joe panhandles during the day to make money — up to $150 a day — and at night he cleans up his look and focuses on meeting women he can go home with. He says this tactic provides shelter about three to four nights out of every week.

Sometimes, Joe manages to shack up with a woman for a few days before he's back out on the streets.

Elite Daily's video team followed Joe around for about a week. They show him picking up women on the street (often crassly):

He uses drug stores to freshen up before a night out:

And he spends his panhandling money on drugs and alcohol, keeping up his appearances, and buying women drinks.

As Elite Daily describes it, "his only responsibility is to not look homeless." Joe's appearance is crucial to his survival.

When he can't find a woman who will take him home, he sleeps on cardboard on the sidewalk:

Joe says he became homeless after his mother found his drug stash and kicked him out.

"This abstract lifestyle is not for everybody," he says. "And I'm pretty sure that if you look around you ... at the homeless people in New York City, I'm the only one that can pull this s--t off."

Watch the full video below:

NOW WATCH: The Scientifically Proven Way To Flirt Better

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A record number of homeless students were enrolled in US public schools last year, according to new numbers released Monday by the Department of Education.

The data – which most experts say under-report the actual number of homeless children in America – showed that nearly 1.3 million homeless children and teens were enrolled in schools in the 2012-13 school year, an 8 percent increase from the previous school year.

The number of homeless students has been rising steadily for a number of years, and has increased about 85 percent since the beginning of the recession.

“The data released today confirm what our members see every day – increasing numbers of children and youth struggling to survive without a home,” said Barbara Duffield, director of policy and programs for the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, in a statement.

According to the breakdown of numbers in the data released, the vast majority of homeless youth – 75 percent – are living "doubled-up," meaning multiple families are living together not by choice. Another 6 percent are in hotels or motels.

None of the youths in those categories are recognized as homeless by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), meaning that while those students are eligible for assistance through local schools, they don't qualify for HUD services. A bill currently before Congress would amend the HUD definition to include those additional homeless youth – a priority for a number of children's advocates.

“The new data means that a record number of kids in our schools and communities are spending restless nights in bed-bug-infested motels and falling more behind in school by the day because they’re too tired and hungry to concentrate," said Bruce Lesley, president of the First Focus Campaign for Children, in a statement Monday. "This is a desperate situation, and the first step we must take is to get homeless students the housing assistance they need today by passing the Homeless Children and Youth Act.”

For the first time this year, the Education Department asked schools to report whether homeless students were living with their parents or on their own. Some 6 percent – nearly 76,000 students – were living on their own, a category that homeless advocates say is at particularly high risk for sexual and physical abuse and exploitation.

The data gathered in the report comes from schools, but doesn't include infants and toddlers or homeless children and teens either not enrolled in public school or not identified by school officials.

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A couple of weeks ago I listened to a podcast from a fellow who mentioned that he always gives money to homeless people when he has money to give them. It got me thinking, because I’m the opposite and rarely ever give to the homeless.

I don’t think it's going to make me many friends among the bleeding hearts out there, but screw it. This is how I roll.

Why I don’t give money to homeless people:

1. I don’t know what they’re going to do with it.

What people do with their money is their business. If they work 40 hours a week and want to buy a bunch of shovels every payday, cool. If they want to buy alcohol and drink themselves silly, that’s their right as well. America, baby.

But when I give others my money, it then sort of becomes my business, and I don’t know where my "donated" money is going. I don’t do drugs. I hardly ever drink alcohol, and when I do, it is not to the point where I am walking through plate glass windows. I don’t support intolerant alcohol abuse or street drugs. That’s it. Case closed.

If I give my money to a homeless person it might very well go to drugs. That means I’m an indirect supporter of drug use and/or drug dealing and/or other illegal things. Sorry, I’m not playing.

And yes, I know not all homeless people do drugs and drink. But it’s often fairly obvious which ones do, and lots of others are iffy. I refuse to support that scene with even a dime and wish to err on the side of caution.

2. I don’t like being duped.

When I moved to Seattle in 2000, there was a homeless fellow outside one of the big movie theaters downtown. He had a gas can in his hand and said he’d run out of gas and needed to get back to his family. He looked fairly clean and tidy and I guessed he wasn’t going to go boozing with it and gave him some money.

Now it’s 2011 and guess where this guy is? Outside the same movie theater, with the same empty gas canister. I know gas is expensive, but 11 years to fill a gas tank? Basically, he’s making a living by lying. For politicians, this would probably earn a second term (ouch), but I’m not gonna donate to that particular cause.

3. Do they really need it?

When I lived in Portland, I used to walk by a bunch of young kids along the park blocks who looked like they were in need. I’d pick one or two and give them some change on a fairly regular basis. And this was a time for me that was quite lean. I wasn’t doing well financially … not at all.

A little bit later, a local paper ran a story and I saw this same group of kids pictured. Turns out these weren’t street urchins at all, but rather kids from a rich suburb of Portland. These were private school kids who were very well off and very well taken care of. And they were in the park panhandling partly as a goof, partly in rebellion to their folks.

So, at a time when I actually really needed my own money, I was giving it up to some kids who were using me for a science experiment.

4. It’s criminal exchange.

No, I’m not calling homeless people criminals. I’m calling that type of exchange criminal, at least in part.

You and I have jobs. We work and probably work very hard. We put in the time and we get paid for it. That is called fair exchange. In our current society, right or wrong, we have to exchange a product or service for money. That’s the game.

Sure, there are other ways money can be made to switch hands, like lottery, theft, and altruism. But panhandling isn’t a lottery, nor is it theft, because one donates by choice.

So it must be altruism.

But is it altruistic? While giving someone five dollars might silence the roar in their belly, what does it really do? Better yet, what would a homeless person say it actually does? More on that in another article.

5. Does my money really help?

I can buy Bob a sandwich, and it’ll fill his belly. That is somewhat helpful. But then Bob is going to need another sandwich. What happens after that? I have to keep buying Bob sandwiches … or at least someone does.

Bob stays the same. He does nothing, produces nothing, changes his stars not at all. The potential for growth is increased by roughly zero and he doesn’t learn anything by the process, other than he prefers pastrami over turkey.

This is a never-ending process and one that is inherently destined to fail. Sort of like giving money to a drug user who has run out of junk. He’s about to go into serious withdrawals and you’ll feel bad knowing he’s going to suffer. So you "help" him by giving him more drug money. You sissy out because you can’t confront the short-term pain he’s going to experience and instead prolong the agony because that edge is just a bit duller. It isn’t help at all. It’s becoming an accomplice to a broken way of life, a broken system, yada yada you get it.

6. Homelessness isn’t the problem, it’s a symptom.

I wish homelessness were cured by money. Then you and I and the government could throw a pile of money at it and it would be solved. And honestly, I’d be all for that.

But obviously that’s not the solution.

One can wind up on the streets for many reasons: bad luck, rebellion, lack of money, bad planning, trauma, divorce, neglect, or even just a decision. "Screw it, Ima go out and be homeless."

Regardless of the cause, the duration and longevity of that homeless condition comes down to responsibility and a "what am I going to do about this?" attitude on the part of the homeless person.

Meaning … there are homeless people who sadly will die on the streets. There are homeless people who will change their stars and get off the streets right quick. And there are rich executives and CEOs who were once homeless themselves.

There are resources everywhere. Free libraries with free internet, cheap clothing at Goodwill and Value Village, places to stay for cheap or free, government programs to help … the list goes on. One thing is certain, homelessness is not incurable. And the biggest part of the cure is not waiting for handouts, but deciding the condition one is in must change and taking advantage of the resources available.

7. Giving people money is sort of a pansy way to avoid real help.

That’s right. You heard me. Giving someone five bucks is never going to change what has happened to their life and why.

But I know people who give money to homeless people for all sorts of awful reasons:

• "If I give them money, they’ll leave me alone."
• "There’s nothing else I can do for them."
• "I feel guilty for making as much money as I do."

And I’ll be honest, I’ve felt like this too at times. But that inability to confront the homeless condition, and throwing money at it instead, isn’t going to do a damn thing.

If we want to actually help, it’s going to make more than money. And that’s obvious, ain’t it? I mean, homeless people make money. They do. But if they’re still homeless, then there must be some other problem.

No, I’m not a total jerk.

I’m not a heartless shell of a person. I do understand that a sandwich can save a life. I don’t like to give cash for the reasons stated above, but I’m not going to ignore someone knocking on Death’s door.

I know there are ramifications to what I’m saying. I’m aware that if everyone immediately stopped giving money to homeless people right now, there would probably be a few dead homeless people tomorrow.

I don’t know what to say about that. But what if we all stopped giving money to homeless people and started talking to them instead?

This is an edited version of a post that originally appeared on Ignite Living.

SEE ALSO: This Hollywood Director Gave Away $50 Million And Moved To A Trailer Park

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Previously, I took it upon myself to offend everyone by saying why it is I don't usually give money to homeless folks. Well, I thought it would be offensive, but was surprised to find a fairly unanimous chorus of similar-minded people. Read the comments and you'll see what I mean.

If you've ever thought of homeless people as just grimy folks, people with bad luck, idiots, ne'er-do-wells, subhuman … all those wonderful sentiments we humans are capable of, I think you might like what you're about to read.

What follows are real conversations I've had with real homeless people.

The unicycle guy

If you've spent any time downtown Portland, Oregon, you may know this particular homeless guy. You can't miss him, as he's a jazzy fellow who wears checkered pants and rides a unicycle around. And he does this Jackie Chan thing where he'll run at a wall, run up it a couple steps and then do a backflip off it.

I spoke to him a few times in the years I lived in Portland, and in one of the most profound conversations I've ever had with anyone, he told me why he does what he does. He said that panhandling is dishonest and makes you worse. That's right … a homeless guy said that to me.

I asked him how that could be. He said it doesn't feel good to be on the receiving end of unending altruism, knowing you can't pay it back. He said he'd tried it for a long while and hated how it made him feel. He started to dislike himself and the people who gave him money for the simple reason that the equation was broken.

Begging, he said, is in itself very demeaning, whether you're making money at it or not. He also mentioned that the people who gave him money for panhandling never looked too happy about it and wanted to just get the hell away. He was, ultimately, being paid to stay away and not bother people.

Way to go, us. Our handouts just made him feel like a leper.

Instead of panhandling, he turned to what he knew from his school years: gymnastics. He started performing on the sidewalks. Not amazing Cirque du Soleil stuff either. By performing I mean he'd ride his unicycle back and forth and not break his head open. He'd end off each performance by doing his trademark back flips off a wall. Not the greatest show on Earth, but the kids loved it. And because the kids loved it, so did their parents. He'd get quite a throng of people around him from time to time and make a big chunk of change.

I once asked him if was ever going to get a real job (shame on me, I know) and he looked like he was going to punch me. Which I would have fully deserved, along with a kick to the groin.

He said, "I do have a real job. I just performed for you. I do shows for kids, parents, anyone. I get paid for it. That's my job. I just don't work in a cubicle."

*Game, set and match to Unicycle Guy. Crowd goes wild.*

The last time I saw him he had a shiny new unicycle with pneumatic shocks and some bitchin' checkered pants. He was doing just fine and had the smile to prove it.

Now, Unicycle Guy was fairly enlightened, and the viewpoint he had is certainly not shared by all homeless people. In fact, I'm sure most of the gainfully employed folks I know don't say shit that bright. But look what he did with his life. He didn't like panhandling. He didn't want people feeling sorry for him and he didn't want handouts. So he got a "job," had "clients," discovered self-worth and was a productive and additive member of society. Awesome in every way.

The joke guy

"Not everybody can ride a unicycle and do backflips."

A bum said that to me. I had just gotten done telling him about the Unicycle Guy and how he at least did something in exchange for money.

I said, "Well, what can you do then?"

Long conversation ensued and it turned out he used to be a sailor. Being a sailor and hanging around other men all the time, he was an endless fountain of jokes so godawful they'd curl your toenails and strip the paint off your house.

I said, "Dude! I love jokes! Tell me some jokes!"

And he did. And I laughed my ass off. And I gave him money. As will happen, my laughing attracted a few more people, who attracted a few more. I stood nearby as he continued to tell people these absolutely horrendous jokes. He got a quite a payday. I gave him a wave, he smiled and said, "Dude thanks, bro!" and that was that.

The thing I didn't mention is that when he started talking about jokes and his old shipmates, his eyes lit up. And when he started telling his jokes, he looked alive. He commanded the space like a pro who'd been doing it for years. And just ten minutes before that, he'd just been a depressed guy who could barely mutter, "Spare change?" under his breath.

So tell me honestly, what do you think would have helped him more? A five dollar bill we gave him because we felt sorry for him? Or a real conversation that added to his self-worth and increased his income?

Paul Bunyan guy

There was another homeless fella I met in Portland. I remember him vividly because he had a big red beard and a huge disaster of bright red hair on his head. This dude was like Paul Bunyan, but ultra skinny and without the axe. He also didn't have a big blue ox, but that should be obvious.

I spoke to him a couple times and told him why I didn't want to give him money. And every time I spoke to him I'd leave thinking, "Something is wrong with this picture."

One day I realized what it was. Paul Bunyan was amazingly "there" and present. Every time he and I talked he'd look me square in the eyes, not blinking, not looking away. He was fantastic at communicating, immersive even.

So one day I saw him again and told him straight out, "Dude, I can tell you're brilliant. What are you doing out here?"

He said, "I don't want to go back to work."

He told me a story of being a executive bigwig at his old place of employment, getting fired for no reason and how it destroyed his confidence. He was basically too afraid to go back to work because he never wanted to feel that shitty about himself again. At least on the streets, he knew how shitty he was going to feel from day to day, and no surprises were coming.

I asked, "Do you think 'I don't want to work' is a good enough reason to not work and just keep panhandling? Hell," I said, "I don't really want to work either. Do you want to pay me for that?"

Without pause he said, "Nope."

I said, "That's why I never give you my money."

He said, "Cool. Now what?"

I asked him what he wanted to do. He wanted to make t-shirts with his art on them. In fact, he was wearing one and it was awesome. I asked him why he didn't get some printed up and sell them at street fairs. He laughed and looked away uncomfortably, which I'd never seen him do before. Finally he said, "I don't know why I didn't think of that."

I'd be lying if I said I know what happened to him, or if he started his own t-shirt business. I have no idea, but that's not the point.

The point is that somewhere beneath the facade, here was another homeless guy who actually had a personality, had interests, and was a somebody.

Now what?

I don't know now what. I'll carry on doing what I do and you'll carrying on with what you do. I doubt a blog post is going to change anyone's mind about such subject matter.

I think the only thing I want to leave you with is the idea of help. Real help. Continue to donate to homeless folk if you wish. I probably will, too, when I feel the time is right.

But you can also donate time instead. You can donate conversation. You can donate money to a group like Citizen's Commission on Human Rights (CCHRInt.org). CCHR International's sole purpose is to clean up the mental health industry, which itself wreaks devastation on veterans and the homeless.

This is an edited version of a post that originally appeared on Ignite Living.

SEE ALSO: Why I Don't Give Money To Homeless People

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Here is a quick follow-up to the discussion on the looming rental crisis in the US. The gap in growth rates of rental costs vs. wages continues to widen. This divergence is creating a drag on the GDP growth by suppressing household formation, consumer spending, and labor mobility. Over time this trend will also increase homelessness.

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One night a few weeks ago, I was driving down Chambers street in Manhattan toward the Brooklyn Bridge, when a disheveled old man in a wheelchair, who was probably homeless, ambled out into the middle of the road.

I slowed the vehicle, trying my best not to hit him, steered to his right side, then stopped.

I clicked the little button that saves me the extraneous effort it takes to roll down the window, then reached into my pocket. I pulled out three dollars that were crumbled up in there for god knows how long, and handed them over.

"I wouldn’t have blamed you if you just drove right by," said the old man, smiling. "Thank you so much for stopping. God bless you and have a good night."

I nodded my welcome, raised the window and cranked the volume on the car stereo. Then I sped onto the Brooklyn Bridge on my way back to my home in Staten Island. Forty-five minutes later, after sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, plus paying a whopping $15 toll to cross the Verrazano Bridge, I walked into my cozy little apartment.

I quickly stripped off my multiple layers of clothes, took a steaming hot shower, then had a generously-portioned late night snack. I slid into my warm bed, selected some newly-released movie I can’t even remember from the millions available to me via the on-demand streaming services I pay a miniscule monthly fee to access, and fell into a deep, restful sleep for eight hours.

Life was good.

…

I’m not a fortunate son — compared to many New Yorkers these days, I’m not very fortunate at all — but I am more fortunate than many.

My parents, divorced, both worked civil service jobs for the City of New York, and after moving from South Brooklyn at an early age, I was raised in a working class, mixed-race neighborhood in the middle of Staten Island.

My mother was a teacher before she died of cancer, and my father, though he’s eligible for retirement, still commutes three hours a day to and from his job with the Human Resources Administration. Neither of my parents had money to spare, but because I watched them spend their lives helping others, I was brought up to not turn a blind eye to someone desperately in need.

So, when I can, I give money to homeless people. If they’re asking for it on the street, and the conditions are right (ex: I have a few extra dollars on me, plus the time to stop), I will reach into my pocket, just as I did that night weeks ago, and give someone what I can spare.

Sometimes it’s a few dollars, sometimes it’s just some change. Sometimes I walk right by without stopping. Sometimes I tell them I only have a few dollars myself, and I can’t spare it at the moment.

It’s always very situational. There is no overarching edict like "I MUST GIVE MONEY TO ALL HOMELESS PEOPLE." When asked, I make a quick judgement call — will they use this in a decent way? — and proceed accordingly.

What is a semi-decent way? I don’t know. I would assume that if a person looks like they might actually buy something to eat with the money, or if they might use it for something else they need — like an I.D., which they might be required to have in order to check into a shelter — then I’m all in.

But truthfully, it doesn’t matter what the hell they’re using the money for. People get so hung up on this, playing God on a street corner.

"I’m enabling them," they think.

That’s possible, but I don’t really know what the big deal is. We’re all so righteous and judgmental.

"They’re going to buy a drink with it!" says some uptight yuppie, probably on their way to a bar where they will drink too much.

If a homeless person wants to buy a drink with my measly dollar — especially in New York, where a dollar doesn’t get you much — let them buy a drink with it. Who cares. If it makes their life a little easier, I’m all for it.

Some would argue that it’s better to give to organizations who will make sure that my charitable donations are used the right way. They’re probably right, and I don’t see anything wrong with that. If you can do it, do it.

Presently, I do not give money to homeless people through a charity, because helping the homeless is not necessarily an overarching life goal for me. I just find it unreasonable to tell a person to go screw themselves right there in the street, when I know in my heart I can spare a dollar or two.

But with charities, it’s not an either/or situation. One can hand a panhandler some change and I can give money to a charity, too. The big difference is that when I give someone money in the street, I actually have the experience of physically seeing with my own eyes what being destitute, down and out and in-need really means. And I can see what effect handing that cash to them has, almost immediately.

If I give money to a charity, I have no idea what the hell is happening with it. Nonprofit organizations and government agencies are notoriously shady and mismanaged. If you think your money is trickling down to that guy who keeps asking you for cash on your way to work, you are sorely mistaken.

…

The vibe on the street amongst the young, elite, and successful in New York these days is that every man/woman has a choice to make for themselves. Even the homeless. That’s to say that if the poor, the needy, the downtrodden want to rise up, get off the street and become productive members of society, they just need to do it.

What a crock of shit that is.

So ultimately I give money to homeless people not out of any extraordinary internal need to be charitable, but rather, the understanding that not all people are born equal in this world, and not everyone gets a fair shake. There is systematic poverty – as well as mental illness and other assorted issues – that afflicts millions of people in the United States and no amount of positive thinking, prayer, or half-baked government assistance programs will ever do much to change that. These people are the have-nots, and likely, they will always be that way. Their American Dream, nothing more than a nightmare.

Maybe my dollar or two won’t help them much. I doubt it will. But it’s not troubling me to give it if I can. In the grand largess of what my life will be and all the money I will spend during the course of it, will a few dollars really matter to me? That’s highly unlikely.

Paul Cantor is a writer, editor and music producer based in New York. Formerly an editor at AOL Music, his writing has appeared at Rolling Stone, Gawker, VICE, Medium, MTV News, and Billboard, among others outlets. Throughout his 10-year career he’s written/produced records for dozens of artists and provided creative services to brands like Disney, the CW Network, Verizon, Converse, and HBO. His commentary has also been tapped by the likes of CNN and Al Jazeera. Subscribe to his newsletter here, and follow @paulcantor on Twitter.

SEE ALSO: Why I Don't Give Money To Homeless People

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It could be easy to assume that those living on the streets of New York City don't own any gadgets, but that's not always the case.

Over the course of two weeks last year, we interviewed dozens of homeless people to find out what kind of consumer electronics they own — and more importantly, what they use them for.

From laptops and iPhones, to government-provided phones, it quickly became clear that many homeless people use gadgets to stay connected, search for jobs, and pursue their own creative interests.

Note: All people shown have given their permission for us to take their picture, though some requested we not show their faces.

This is Calvin, who owns both a Dell Inspiron laptop and a Samsung smartphone.

Calvin uses his phone mostly for listening to music, and if he turns down the graphics settings on his laptop, he can run most modern games. "I can run 'Oblivion' or 'Skyrim' just fine," he said.

"King" is originally from Virginia. While he has been in New York for most of his life, King is trying to change that. "I'm trying to move away as we speak," he said. "I would like to go to North Carolina."

New York City has a long and sordid history with its homeless. While the city has been attempting to deal with the problem for years, the issues still persists. 

In fact, since 2006, the number of homeless people have steadily risen, reaching all-time highs of over 58,000 homeless people sleeping in shelters each night.

And those numbers don't account for New York's homeless who seek refuge on the streets.

Photographer and filmmaker Andrea Star Reese discovered a community of such people, living in makeshift dwelling inside a 2.5-mile long Amtrak tunnel on Manhattan's west side. Over the course of 7 years, Reese met and photographed many of them, gaining intimate access to their lives.

She found that the people she met, mostly shunned by society and living in relative squalor, were strong, resilient, and had knowledge to share.

"They took care of one another, saved lives, stood together against predators and extended comfort to the damaged, to the sad," Reese tells Business Insider.

Reese's work has been compiled into a new photo book, titled "The Urban Cave," which will be made available soon. You can see more photos can been seen on her website and on her Kickstarter page.

The section where the homeless seek shelter is a stretch of tunnel that runs 2.5 miles from 72nd street to 122nd street in Manhattan, directly under Riverside Park. It was used for freight trains until 1980, after which a well-documented shanty town evolved at its south end, reported to house roughly 100 people.

In 1991 it reopened for use as an Amtrak tunnel, triggering a massive eviction of the homeless living there. But as time went on, more people moved back in, making homes in small crevices and in rafters.

Reese was in need of a subject for photojournalism class she was taking in 2007, and recalled the evictions in the tunnel during the '90s. She decided to explore the south end, the opposite end of the tunnel where the evictions occurred.

Ogden, Utah's Matt Tribe was the lucky recipient of one of Olive Garden's $100 Unlimited Pasta Pass. Instead of using the pass on himself, he decided to give it out to random people.

For $100, the pass offers unlimited pasta, breadsticks, salad, and Coca-Cola beverages for 49 straight days. The passes expired November 9. Only 1,000 passes were made available.

While Business Insider Intelligence's own John Greenough snagged a pass and used it to eat only Olive Garden for an entire month, Tribe had a different idea. He decided to try to feed as many people as could off the pass over the course of the seven weeks. He called it Random Acts of Pasta.

While he initially fed random people all over Utah, he soon realized that he could feed those who could use the meals the most: the homeless.

He recently posted a video on YouTube of his story. Here's a taste.

This is Matt Tribe's Olive Garden's $100 unlimited pasta pass. When he bought the pass, he planned on using it for himself. Then he realized that it was far more food than he would ever need.

Tribe came up with a new plan: use the pass 100 times during the seven weeks to feed random people. He called it "Random Acts of Pasta."

He initially fed friends and neighbors, but often people weren't home when he came to give them the meals. Then he decided to hand out meals to homeless people. The homeless people he gave meals to were extremely grateful.

Each day, he went to Olive Garden several times to pick up pasta. The most he visited Olive Garden in a single day was nine times. He went to eleven different Olive Gardens over the course of the pass.

He ended up using the pass 125 times to give out meals. He kept a list of everyone he fed and stories to go with it on a blog, Random Acts of Pasta.

h/t Digital Journal

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