ABC News: Santa Barbara's Mobile Homeless
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Vocabulary:
government
to be trying to
to get a better handle on
homelessness
notoriously
to track
federal report
to estimate
challenges
communities
every state
innovative way
Santa Barbara
hills
multi-million dollar houses
to deal with
motor homes
beach
tourists
homeless people
hourly job
to scrape money together
RV = recreational vehicle
attitude toward
I hate to say it but...
urban blight
mobile homeless
growing
population
showers
public tennis court
to have the water shut off
image-conscious
to push s.o. out of sight
tough 		parking law
city streets
under constant threat of
tickets
towing
to keep moving
at all hours of the day and night
to be stressed to the max
that was, until...
to be convinced that
to empty
safe havens
to be supervised by
local charity
seriously
weird alternative
to roll around = to arrive
to spring to life
it brought back into my life...
routine
at a certain time
to wake up rested
to bicycle to work
to supervise
deli = delicatessen
department
supermarket
co-workers
they're like = they say
to be ashamed of s.t.
to be reluctant to have s.t. as...
permanent arrangement
to get out of where we're at
home is where he parks it

Listening comprehension questions:
1. Are the people described in this report strictly speaking "homeless"? If not, then what is their problem?
2. What major change of attitude did the city of Santa Barbara experience regarding this group of people?
3. How do you feel about the users of the tennis court turning off the water supply to the showers? Was this reasonable, or not, and why? What do you think you would have done, had you been a well-off user of the tennis court?
4. In what concrete ways has the measure just adopted by the city of Santa Barbara helped the "mobile homeless"?
5. The report says that the city of Santa Barbara doesn't see this as a long-term solution, but only as a useful stopgap measure. What kind of long-term solution would you suggest for this situation?
6. Do an Internet search to try to find out about how many homeless there are in Taipei, and what the government is doing to help the homeless. Report on what you find. What do you think a government should do about homelessness? Should the private sector get involved? How?
7. What other human problems are there that the general population and the government of Taiwan, or any country, may prefer to ignore or sweep under the rug?

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