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We need to help the homeless in our community. Exorbitant housing prices, income inequality (what if I didn't study computer science or engineering?) and a lack of decent health care contributed to this crisis. When I hear Mountain View residents say: "these people should leave, this is not our problem", I feel like someone slapped me in the face. If it wasn't for my privilege (good health, free education - in Germany- and parents who helped contribute to what our living expenses are in the Bay Area), I could be homeless. The idea:"you just have to work harder" is BS. Can people brainstorm what we can do to help?

Well said, Christine! Ideas to the effect that only the privileged few should be allowed to live in our city are hard to take. Any of us could be homeless under different circumstances, regardless of how hard we work. I work with the son of a family who are almost all holding down multiple jobs and live in an RV in San Jose and it breaks my heart. Why don't they leave, I used to ask, until I realize that the cost of leaving is also high, especially if you have no support network outside of the Bay Area. We need to show more compassion than saying, "not everyone can afford to live here, move to a slum if you're deemed unworthy."

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The retired woman who is living out of her sedan said she can't go to her friends for help because they don't know what it's like. If her "friends" know she is living in her car (and how could "friends" not know?) and aren't helping her, they are not friends. How some people in this area can turn a blind eye to those around them who are suffering and need help is baffling to me.