Follow up to the Woman on the Corner

 Earlier I posted an essay about an older, allegedly homeless woman who stands across the parking lot from the Shugart Road Home Depot with a sign: Homeless, Anything Helps.  She's not there every time I go by (there's a Walmart on the property, too) but pretty frequently. 

Yesterday I decided to ask the checkout lady at the Home Depot what was going on with her. I got an earful, which is fine. "There's a whole bunch of 'em. They lived in that motel over there, I think.  One of them has a sign saying she's blind, but she isn't, and there's an old guy.  They are too lazy to work. I go to work. If you offer them food or help, they won't take it, they just want the money. Some of them were coming in here stealing and throwing it in the ditch and then selling the stuff to contractors for cheaper than we do."

My priors were confirmed. But it doesn't answer the question, why do people get in these states in life? Why is living like that better than the alternative? Or really, why is it seen as the only alternative, and is it for such people? 

And does my writing this confirm my priors?