Homeless Hangout

After finishing lunch at Jamaica Jamaica, I decided to stop at the homeless hangout to witness this famous local affair, oh wait, festival! I was so excited to meet all my hobo friends!
Upon entering the lowes parking lot behind subway as directed, there was not one single homeless person in sight. «Any time of year, any time of day», really?! Where are they? Is it b/​c of the unbearable texas summer heat at 3pm? I thought this WAS the homeless hangout hot spot?!
I was so disappointed! Unilocalers, you guys failed me! But one good thing about the homeless hangout is that you have free wifi access courtesy of Lowes. Perhaps if you own a smart phone or laptop computer as a homeless person, you could hang out and surf the internet or maybe Unilocal at the same time on the spot.
Now I have a reason to bump the rating to two star!

37 is the average age of a homeless person (average of adults and children)
48 is the average age of a homeless adult (when only using adult statistics)
8 is the average age of a homeless child
Family Make Up:
55% of homeless families are headed by single-​parent, women
2.41 children per household with 1 – 3 children being the average
Children in Homelessness:
Over 25% of homeless children are between 0 – 3 years of age
14.5% homeless children ages 14 – 18 have been in foster care
Reasons Cited For Homelessness:
$ 500 is the average income for a homeless family
43.4% of homeless families and 37.5% of chronically homeless families named loss of income or job as their reason for becoming homeless
37% of families surveyed have been homeless for more than a year or four or more times in three years
There is an estimated 500 homeless along the Austin Hwy. corridor.
It is estimated ¹⁄₃ of Americans are one paycheck away from being homeless.

THE go-​to place to find homeless people… you know, if you anyone ever really «needs to», though I can’t imagine why. Maybe for a research project or an intervention or to see who will take a day job for food and/​or cash?
In any case, the crowd here are quite seasoned. If you have to go to a nearby business but can’t park directly in front of it, fully expect to be hassled by a dude with three years of stubble and/​or a guitar and/​or a dog.
Personally if you’re homeless I think it’s awful to keep your dog with you, on a leash, suffering too, but then again I’m not homeless so maybe I’m missing part of the story. Or maybe it’s like accessorizing with children and they think people will sympathize and be more likely to donate. Not me though.
Shout out to the guy who stopped me on my way into Subway and asked if I’d get him a sandwich– I’m okay with giving out half of my foot long, so I said «sure»… Only to get treated like a waitress as he rattled off a few sentences for his order. Yeah, that’s right, he was telling me exactly what he wanted. This wasn’t a «no veggies» or «I’m allegic to mayo» kind of order, this was a «foot-​long extra meat» AND sauce/​veggie specifications.
I tuned out about a nanosecond in and just walked past him. Call me the Sandwich Nazi, because from here on out it’s NO SUB FOR YOU!

After reading Denise L’s review on Fair Oaks Park in Sunnyvale, CA, I had to look for John H’s review on the Homeless Hangout here in S.A. and do what? Review it of course!
So anyone who either lives or works in the area of Austin Hwy/​Harry Wurzbach area knows that getting on to Austin Hwy from Harry Wurzbach is not simple. If you’re coming from the direction of Ft. Sam, you really don’t want to go all the way to that weird stop light by Domino’s and Discount Tire. No. You cut through the parking lot of Lowe’s to get to Austin Hwy. But in doing so, you are treated to the homeless folks who huddle around the back area of Popeye’s (especially before it was built) and the T-​Mobile/​Wingstop building. I *loathe* when people who are in front of me stop for long periods of time and I’m stuck looking back at the panhandlers who sometimes have this look like, «Hey, while you’re here…» And then I look like a complete jackass who jets as soon as the car in front of me moves.
P. S. This is categorized as ‘festivals’? Really, John?

This is freaking amazing. Any time of year, any time of day, regardless, there are always some vagabonds hanging out behind the Subway in the Lowe’s parking lot.
What mystifies everyone is why here? It’s not a major intersection, there’s no bus stop or Greyhound service nearby. You would think with the proximity to Alamo Heights they would get harassed all the time, yet here they are. Maybe they’re getting fed by the restaurants near by?
Adding to the mystery, many people use this parking lot as an unofficial route to get on Austin Highway from Wurzbach, and this turn is right in the path if you’re going the most direct way. So literally hundreds of cars are going to speed by without a chance to panhandle.
If I’m ever homeless, I am so going here first to learn all the hobo tricks and swap tall tales.