Yeah, at least a third have serious mental issues. Nearly all of the rest are on drugs or alcohol, and a scant few perhaps are "in between", something bad happened to them and they are out on the street temporarily.
I doubt the scant few camp anywhere near the others.
My observation of urban homelessness going on ten years of living in various large cities where crossing paths with the homeless is almost a daily occurrence:
90% avoid police interaction, though some of the older ones credit police for offering lunch leftovers, rides to hospitals and shelters, and calling in medical help
75-80% male
75% have operating cell phones
75% smoke pot
75% prior arrests
66% recovering addicts or actively using street drugs
66% use combination of panhandled change and EBT benefits to live off of Fast Food dollar menus and ramen from 7-11 or Circle K
66% have varying degrees of mental problems, some inherent to ending up on the street, some caused by PTSD-like stress from living on the street
50% have a drinking problem
50% minority
50% use homeless shelters about once a week
40% involved in “junkie markets” of actively obtaining, selling, and trading prescription meds (female homeless especially useful in this undercurrent because of the their easier time getting prescriptions written for Xanax and painkillers)
33% military background
33% customers of prostitution (almost always paid for with drugs)
25% use homeless shelters daily
20% rely on recycling programs to raise cash from scavenged glass bottles and aluminum cans
20% over 55
20% rely on public transportation to daily get around between hotspots for panhandling
15% dog owners, sometimes incorporating their dogs into shows of panhandling
15% for sale for casual prostitution (as opposed to subjects of organized or forced prostitution semi-comfortably housed by pimps and tricks to maintain street value)
15% use city libraries to stay warm in winter
15% live out of their vehicles (more likely to have jobs)
10% attend church
5-10% carry guns
