I asked what he meant and heard a story that was to be repeated to me by many people. A pattern began to emerge. Not finding a bed at the shelter, they are hassled on the streets by police. A person must feel awfully low inside to have to resort to panhandling as a way of getting money for food and a place to sleep, let along clean clothes and phone change. A person gets tired of sleeping on the streets.
Men are lucky to get a shelter bed once or twice a month.
Women fare a little better with a couple of nights a week, but even that gets tiring. After a while you need to sleep in a real bed, have some privacy, and take a bath alone. But you do not have money for a hotel room. Your last resort, panhandling. When you begin to see what a person must go through day after day, month after month, you gain a little understanding.