Some people might become destitute by succumbing to bad habits such as gambling or addictions. I’m not arguing that people should (or even can, ultimately) avoid responsibility for their actions. But two points can be made.

Firstly, attributing addictive behaviour merely to character defects or lack of will-power — while ignoring other potential factors such as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) or traumas or other compounding factors outside of the individual’s control — is presumptuous and superficial — potentially deeply arrogant and misguided even.

Secondly …​ Even if a person becomes destitute through their own foolishness — or even selfishness — they still (from my perspective) don’t forsake their claim to the land itself. Even if we temporarily withhold our financial or other support from such people (in the hope that they might ‘come to their senses’), we are not justified in blocking their access to the land itself.

From my perspective we can only be ‘stewards’ or ‘caretakers’ of the land — not its outright ‘owners’. And the role of steward — again, from my perspective — does not grant us the authority to turn away people who have nowhere else to go (with perhaps rare exception such as when we perceive that they are a potential threat to other people’s welfare).

In a more ‘evolved’ (dare I say ‘civilized’) society, access to land would be abundant — and such people might have a choice of places to, e.g., build their own temporary shelters, etc. We don’t currently live in such a society, which makes it difficult to find moral and practical resolutions for such scenarios.

Anyway …​ Many of the people who are homeless in our society are not homeless due to ‘foolishness’ or ‘selfishness’ on their part. On the contrary, they are homeless due to the recklessness and selfishness of others.