Plenty of folks in power are drug addicts or mentally ill. The bigger difference between the well-to-do and the homeless person is that the person with money can get drug addiction treatment from a nice place instead of going to forced AA or NA classes the shelter offers. (forced if they want shelter at times). They can also afford proper medications and caretakers.

I'd also like to note that there are lots of folks that are homeless simply because they cannot afford housing. I've not had that fate, but I did live some time without proper heat nor hot water because I couldn't afford the natural gas deposit. Lots of other folks are living with friends or relatives.

Could you please not post combo uncivil-unsubstantive comments? We've asked you already to follow the guidelines so perhaps you could review them.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html