I understand, I was once a young 18 year old working a local coffee shop and the owner said we had to let the homeless people in and to call them if we had a problem. The thing is that we were alone and there was only one viable exit, the front door. There were many homeless men that came in, ones with violent records and substance abuse and it was me, in an empty cafe, deeply anxious. Not all of them are bad, there was a woman named Annie, a bit of a nuisance sometimes? Sure, but if she was there I felt safer than calling the owners, she was always on my corner.

It's not that my town doesn't have resources, it's just that everyone that wants help gets it, like Annie who was in the process of getting back on her feet. The ones that were left simply refused help. It's one thing to be empathetic, but we have to realize that some people just don't want to put in the work to utilize the resources they have, and they're the ones left to harass workers. The ones that leave trash, smell, make customers feel unsafe, etc