A common narrative pushed about these kids is that they are homeless by choice. They could easily not be homeless, so the narrative goes, if they would just get a job. If they would stop being lazy. If only they didn’t want this free-living life. These kids are a middle finger to the American myth of resilience and perseverance, in which anyone can succeed if they pull themselves up by their bootstraps. These kids just refuse to try, their critics say. They refuse to live by the societal contract to which we all adhere.
