Here in Baltimore, you see more than few homeless people. A couple of weeks ago, there was one guy sitting on one of the benches outside my work building, wearing a heavy quilted parka. He sat there for about two hours in 100° heat with that heavy coat on. He’s not the first I’ve seen either.
What gives? Are they so stoned out of their minds that they don’t realize how hot they are? Are they cold for some reason or another?
What’s he going to do with the parka if he takes it off? Where’s he going to put it where it won’t get stolen? And wearing a coat can be easier than carrying it. Maybe it’s his only coat, what happens if he loses it and winter comes? Besides, maybe he has all his stuff in the pockets. Or maybe he’s sick.
Sometimes this is a result of mental illness or being stoned out of your mind, but often this is just the most logical option for them. They can’t really throw out the coat because they will need it again in a couple of months but they don’t have a hall closet to hang it in either, so if they don’t have a cart or other way to tote around their things many of them will just wear it and consider it the price they have to pay to not freeze to death next winter.
Couple of possibilities:
Schizophrenia. One of the behaviors we see a lot with schizophrenia is wearing more clothes, heavier clothes, and layers of clothes when most of us would be uncomfortable like that.
Lack of storage. Like the others said, where’s he supposed to put it? You find a nice winter coat, you don’t want to risk losing it or having it stolen.
Infection. Many homeless people, not having access to great preventative care or good personal hygiene, have low grade infections more or less continuously. These can cause fever and chills, even in the summer.
Cold. I know when I’m camping for an extended period of time, I tend to get chillier more easily. I think there’s something about being exposed to wind and the wide temperature changes of outdoors in a temperate climate that just makes me a little less able to regulate my body temperature. While I don’t need to wear a parka at noon, I need something covering my arms when the sun goes down, even if the temperature only drops 10 degrees - even if I’d be in a t-shirt indoors at the same temperature. And if a parka was what I had, I’d keep it - again, lack of storage and high risk of theft if I took it off.
There is a black guy I see around here from time to time bundled up in a huge coat and hat, walking energetically up and down the road. I don’t know how he manages to retain consciousness! The temperatures here can go up to triple digits and the humidity makes it suck ass.
Is wearing a heavy coat in midsummer a better option than carrying it around with you? You don’t have to ditch it, but I would imagine taking it off and carrying it would be a much more comfortable option.
If there was stuff in the pockets and he was carrying it, the stuff could fall out. Just speculating.
It isn’t really. Have you done it? Carrying a coat just means you still have to carry the weight, and now your hands are full, too, and you have all of the weight of the coat on one arm or the other. Having done both, for me anyway it is easier just to wear it most of the time - coats are made to be easily worn, not easily carried.
At one college I worked at there was a homeless woman in a long quilted coat who came by in the afternoons in the summer. It turned out she was stealing toilet paper and the big coat was hiding it.
If you’re homeless, you need a place to put your stuff. Or other people’s stuff.
There was a guy in Oakdale, CA some years ago who I saw every day on my morning commute to college. It was a fairly small town, and everyone knew of him, he was “the” town homeless guy. He always wore a heavy coat, and during one particularly bad heat wave he was found dead in his encampment, still wearing that coat. 
Damn, that’s sad.
This whole post was informative,but I want to reiterate this part. I’m not an expert on schizophrenia, but from what I know this is very much a thing, and I’m sure it contributes to this phenomenon.
Indeed. It’s one of the unofficial “signs” they tell us to note in the ER if someone comes in who we don’t know the medical history of. It’s not a part of the definitive diagnosis, but it’s common enough that most ER and/or Psych nurses will take note.
I have no idea *why *it is, though. Is there something about schizophrenia that affects the body’s thermoregulation? Is it a side effect of schizophrenic medications? I don’t know. I do know that if you offer to take their coat and hang it up somewhere, they’ll refuse, usually quite vociferously, and they’ll tell you they’re cold, even if you’re sweating in your scrubs.
Also consistent with certain drug withdrawal symptoms.
Another angle on the “where are they going to put it…” Sometimes, it’s not exactly about saving it for the future. Often, then homeless have virtually NO possessions. Voluntarily giving up the one thing they have can be hard to do. So some of them keep the heavy coat because…well…they can.
Others go to the other end of the spectrum…they don’t own anything…so nothing has value.
I’ve seen both happen, and neither is very good for helping them get off the street.
-D/a
The Dope is probably the only place where people have no qualms about homeless people having cellphones, but there’s a big to do about them wearing clothes that don’t match the season/elements. Last time, I checked poor (homeless) meant limited options…
Can’t answer the OP but living in Santa Cruz I see this literally every day. I would melt.
You’re still pissed off about the cell phone thing? Didn’t it get explained to you in the other thread that in your past world of 1999, cellphones were expensive luxury status symbols, but here in the Future World of 2011, prepaid used cellphones can be extremely cheap?
I’d imagine it’s not just about not wanting to have the coat stolen before the winter, either. Sleeping outside, even in the summer, is pretty chilly. The coat provides some warmth and some insulation against the dirty, cold, hard ground.
I hate when black guys do that.
mmm