Duplicate thread.

I used to allow one of the homeless women in our community to visit several times a week and have meals with us.
I stopped allowing her inside when one day she lifted up her shirt to show me all the bites she had. Her car was infested with bed bugs! I bought her some repellent to use, but really didn't know what to do. Her car was filled to the brim with dirty old boxes of belongings, and she was showering at Cubberley at that time.
She has since moved to Stevensen House, and I heard that they are trying to evict her for filthy and unhealthy living. Her pack rat style of living, odor, and bedbugs are a real problem.

When homeless people put their backpacks (full of their personal belongings) on the carpeting and upholstered furniture, the bugs crawl out.

Movie theaters also have bed bug problems. It is dark, and they love it in there.
I advise my daughters and their friends to never wear shorts to a movie theater since the seats a filthy with not only bedbugs, but other people's DNA (if you know what I mean).

I had a feeling that the new libraries would quickly go downhill since the Main library was a favorite place of the area's homeless before the remodel.
Men were camping out in nearby bushes, women would regularly wash their clothes and dishes in the little sink in the women's room...

The problem has resurfaced.

What can we do as a community to stop this? We have reached out to our churches, built the Opportunity Center, and Avenidas programs. What more can we do?

@Paly mom,
I thought bed bugs could transmit disease.... Ugh.

We got body lice from riding Caltrain on a rainy day, and that wasn't the worst of it. Homeless people were riding for shelter and some peeing right where they sat with the rain as "cover". We still ride Caltrain but bag our clothing and shower immediately after.

I don't know what the right answer is, but our society's unwillingness to deal with mental illness since the Reagan years (when our mentally ill homeless problem began) mskes it difficult for people to separate those who are down on their luck and could benefit from comprehensive help, from the chronically homeless and mentally ill (whoo need different help). Public experiences with the latter make people afraid to be generous with the former. And frankly, the latter often use and try to portray themselves as the former, again making it harder on those who just need a temporary respite and help in life. Overall, I think this has contributed to (though not the entire reason) costing our society its place as most upwardly mobile. People develop a siege mentality about the homeless or poor.

Maybe the public health issues are the way to begin approaching the issue from the standpoint of safety for kids and use of public resources (it doesnt help anyone to ruin the libraries we spend so much money on). But the bigger issues can't be ignored. We are dealing with the downstream effects. (And yes, people can get bedbugs at fancy hotels, too. That does not mean these points are irrelevant.)

My teenage daughter caught body lice riding on a VTA bus to Foothill College every day--in order to attend Paly's Middle College Program. I had to take time off from work w/o pay after that, in order to pick her up at Paly and drive her to Foothill until she was competent enough behind the wheel to drive herself.

Oh, the joys of public transportation! Be careful what you wish for......

I have occasionally used libraries and even more often used public transportation in various places in Europe.

The only place I see homeless people using these facilities as long term shelter is in the US. In Europe, transportation on trains and buses, is very clean and safe. There are upholstered seats, blinds or curtains to shade the sun and I never feel concerned about bugs or lice. That isn't the case in the US. This is a serious difference and we should be asking ourselves why?