Hm, that sounds like blaming the homeless for their situation along the "they're just too lazy to work and like to get drunk" line, but I can't believe that's what you thought of. So, what were you thinking of?
Myself, I think there is very much a correlation even (or especially? In poor countries there are shantytowns) in richer countries, at least the bums I remember were typically older, not the young runaways. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
I'm thinking more of the facilities and resources made available for dealing with the issues underlying the homelessness, which range from mental illnesses to addictions and history of abuse and other good things. Coming from an impoverished background probably doesn't help - it seldom does - but it's not causative.
Put it this way: as far as I understand it, nobody needs to sleep on the street in Ireland - there is sufficient help available to get a roof over your head and a little income if you're capable of getting it and want it. Hell, there's no need for my cousin to be homeless - she has a father and extended family who's taken her home several times only for her to disappear again when her physical health improves. She's an adult, she isn't technically ill with anything sufficient to commit her against her will, so what are you going to do? If money could solve the problem it would be found. It can't. She needed intervention twenty years ago, when it wasn't available and her immediate family conditions precluded it anyway.
