Clean is hard to do on the streets

Different people have different reasons for being on the streets, but when they get there they all have the same issue: cleanliness. Young people; and older as well; face severe acne. Women have to deal with feminine hygiene. Then at the end of the day when there's tons of people in a shelter there's always foot hygiene.

I've heard the arguments from both sides regarding access to potable water for basic hygiene. Businesses don't want to be magnets and the service providers don't plan effectively for the masses they do attract. Local governments don't entertain basic public bathroom installation. In fact over the years of cell phone technology advancement, it's almost impossible to find a public pay phone anywhere outdoors in downtown Jacksonville.

When different people are asked what they believe the common factor is, 'the homeless' usually are thrown in as a reason by the armchair quarterbacks. Yet in what amounts to years the same people claiming to be confronting local government downtown haven't accomplished anything positive.

What's sad is there are initiatives in underdeveloped countries to create what's called 'toilet pits', thousands of people die daily due to having nowhere to 'go'. Face it, if a homeless person can't wash their hands and their 'going' outside...doesn't that hit close to home?