UPDATE, Tuesday, 6:15 p.m.: Another body has been recovered in a homeless camp near Anchorage Jail. Read about it here.

Last week, before I wrote Sunday's column on homelessness, I ran into a friend of mine from high school while at the bike shop. He's a paramedic who used to work downtown, but got tired of it, he told me, because so many calls were related to chronically inebriated homeless people. It just became exhausting to rush to a call to find the same people passed out or hurt because of their drinking, he said

He estimated he was dealing with the same few hundred alcoholic street people over and over again. That struck me. Chronic homelessness is a complex problem, but finding a solution for dealing with just a few hundred people didn't seem impossible.

I asked him what he thought would help, he suggested making alcohol harder to buy, and making serious detox programs more available to people and possibly even mandatory for some.

He was interested in an idea a couple of people wrote in to tell me about, a concept called "housing first" that moves chronically homeless into apartments without requiring them to quit drinking. In some communities, it's lowered the drain on public resources like paramedics, and actually worked to get people out of camps.

Yesterday my e-mail inbox filled with close to 100 messages, in addition to the 100 comments on my blog post. People shared stories about working with the homeless, worrying about family members on the streets, worrying about their own safety on bike trails, bringing spaghetti into the camps and becoming homeless themselves.

What occurred to me in reading all the responses is that the problem of chronic homelessness - not people who fall on hard times and wind up in shelters, but people who live on the streets for years- has much less to do with economics than it has to do with whole list of other things writers mentioned: addiction, mental illness, hopelessness, trauma, head injuries, cultural dislocation, isolation.

There were dozens of interesting notes, among them:

From a former rural public safety officer who ran into to his homeless brother while in Anchorage: "I gave him money knowing what he'd probably do with it."

I was in uniform and was walking with my eldest brother and his girlfriend. I wasn't thinking of anything when he told me, "Johnny, look it's your brother". I started looking around and he pointed for me to look down. I did and saw that it was my baby brother whom I'd grown up with. I couldn't believe what I was seeing was really my brother. I saw him sitting on the side of a curb heavily intoxicated. When I called to him he was confused and thought I was an Anchorage officer telling him to move on. I said, "It's me, your brother." It took him a few seconds to get his senses and recognized it was me. He stood up, smiled and shook my hand with his very cold ungloved hand. I became concerned for him because he was out in the cold. I was so happy to see him and did not care about the people that were walking by when I gave him a big hug. I could see in his eyes and with the warm smile of his genuine happiness to be acknowledged especially that it came from me. I had tried talking to him of getting help to clean up for a secure life for himself, but he'd refused. I gave him money knowing what he'd probably do with it. It was in desperation on my part to help him, because I did not know how else to do so then. It was very hard to walk away without breaking out crying.

From an Anchorage emergency room doctor: "Some people simply prefer the life of a wanderer"

As an important part of the "safety net," I have struggled with this issue for almost 7 years since moving here and choosing to work with those who frequent ERs.

How do you "fix" people making bad choices? How do you offer those that want to make good choices realistic alternatives? A lot of good work/ideas on homelessness are based in the faulty assumption that no one wants to be homeless. Some people simply prefer the life of a wanderer...and those simply are not the people we are ever going to help, as much of a public nuisance as we see them to be.

From a person who lives near the Chester Creek greenbelt homeless camps: "These camps are clearly illegal."

I find it amazing that even in your recent contact and subsequent column that there is no mention, by you or APD, of the fact that these camps are clearly illegal along with much of the associated activities such as littering, alcohol consumption and defecation. Though the dangers to others are minimized in your article (what else would an illegal camper say ? "we are dangerous???"), I am sure you know assaults have been committed along Chester Creek and in other areas. Fires are often associated with theses camps creating a threat to muni property and adjacent residences. Once such fire occurred last summer in Far North Bicentennial Park which burned ten acres, threatened numerous homes and required an extraordinary suppression response.

...I have found stolen property, weapons, stolen mail, pornography, children's toys (the last two items at the same site) and heaps of bear-attracting garbage. As illustrated in your column and video, APD's approach is more "meet and greet" than enforcement. Though unintentional, it only facilitates, enables and encourages the expansion of these illegal activities and does nothing to help those attracted or otherwise disposed to it.

A person with a homeless brother: "...things happen that make it nearly impossible for him to start over."

After 15 years living on the streets, things happen that make it nearly impossible for him to start over, even if he stopped drinking. He has no credit, he has such bad teeth he won't smile anymore for the shame of it, he has been without a job for so long that his back child support is nearly equal to the price of a new home. He has no friends outside of the homeless people he knows. He has worked small jobs here and there, only to get discouraged when the state takes a large chunk of his pay for child support. His kids deserve the money, but he also needs the money to afford to pull himself up out of homelessness. Our family would put him into treatment or through professional evaluations, but we have no authority to get him off the street. And he doesn't have the strength to do it on his own. So we watch, season after season, as his state of mind and health fade. He will probably die on the streets.

From a judicial intern in Anchorage: "Homeless people scare me"

When I'm on my bike, or walking to get groceries, I always smile and say hi, and try to show some acknowledgment. I do the same in court, hoping I never come across anyone I recognize from outside.

I'm friendly in part to be nice and let them know I don't think they're scum, but I mostly do it because it makes me feel safer. Homeless people scare me. A lot of them have mental illness or drug addiction, and they have nothing to lose. They usually end up in court for theft, drugs or fights among themselves (most everything is because of drugs). I've never seen an instance of random violence by a homeless person against someone like me, but I don't think it would take much.

From someone who was formerly homeless: "It's hard to climb out of that situation"

I spent a brief time living in a park so I know a bad decision when I make one. It's hard to climb out of that situation. It takes a lot of hard work and in my experience that's the main ingrediant, the willingness to work. Being homeless makes it very hard to Get work. No phone no address no shower no bed no car and on and on. If however you have the will you will find a way. Some homeless people are just plain crazy and will never be able to hold a job. Some are just plain lazy.

From a former Alaska police chief: "The vast majority do not have the life-skills and abilities to follow through..."

...it is somewhat sad to see the perennial ignorance that inevitably follows in the blogs that now accompany all such pieces.... It seems that so many people tend to frame problems within the perspective of their own reality, stating such pearls-of-wisdom as "these people just need to accept responsibility for their own actions & make a change." I don't think most folks making these comments have a clue as to the extraordinarily high prevalence of co-occurring mental health disorders among this population, & the fact that - whether or not one of these people experiences a "moment of lucidity" in which they can clearly see themselves & decide to make a change- the vast majority simply do not have the life-skills and abilities to follow through with such a long-term plan, unless both their addictive and mental-health disorders are addressed in a very intensive fashion.

From a rural villager with family homeless in Anchorage: "There is nothing I can do but pray for them"

I live here on the Yukon River but I do have family that live in Anchorage. Some family that live there are some of those homeless people you see living in the woods. I even wonder if it is those same people you wrote about are my family members.

I have been over there a couple of month ago and ran into my cousin on the street and tried to help him out with money and food but, must have been pride honor or something that didn't let him take my money. Anyways there are a lot of people that go over for visits or to shop and just end up there by there own choice they want to live the way the are living. I do think bout my cousins living on the street, and there is nothing I can do about it but Pray for them.

A woman encountering homeless people at church: "I wondered if I should invite them to stay...."

On Easter Sunday, I and my two children attended our church's Easter brunch. As I looked around the room for empty seats, I saw a table in the back with several openings. So we sat there. It was then I realized that the other four people sitting there were most likely homeless; three men and one woman. All appeared to be Alaska Native folks. Our church has people of many races and ethnicities in attendance, so I couldn't be sure these people weren't from the earlier 8 AM service, but I was pretty sure that they just popped in for the free breakfast. So we sat and chatted. They were finishing their food, and the three of us were just starting. Two told me the names of their home villages and asked if I knew of them. I have traveled to several villages in Alaska, but not these two. When they were finished with their meal, they got up, put on their backpacks, and politely said goodbye. I wondered if I should invite them to stay for the 11 AM service, but I let that opportunity pass. I am sorry for that.

From an Anchorage resident who frequents downtown: "Try getting publicly drunk and pitching a tent in the middle of a park."

I can be compassionate, but once you've experienced a never-ending stream of criminal behavior perpetrated by the large majority of those in these tent camps, you realize how unfair it is that law abiding citizens have to put up with this. AND more importantly how unfair it is to the real ‘homeless' that want, need and will take help to be lumped in with criminals.

Why is there a double-standard?

A Native person thinking about race and alcoholism: "So then it goes from generation to generation."

I'm an Alaska Native myself and every time I come into Anchorage I would see the homeless, this really makes me very sad to see my people living like this. I often would give money to them when their standing on the streets. One time in the winter this one tiny lady was standing there shivering, had a very light jacket on, I didn't have a lot of cash on me but I scrounged up what change I had, plus she asked for cigarettes, so I gave her what I had, I was hoping I had a warmer jacket I would of gave her that too, it is heart breaking to me. I don't mind at all to help when I can.

There are a lot of people from my home town there, I find it very sad

From a man who found a friend living on the street: "We wall make choices..."

one day a few summers ago I was driving down tudor along piper st, and noticed a homeless looking dude holding up a sign, and as i got closer i looked closer and recognized the guy as someone I knew from my hometown in oregon where i grew up we were best friends back in highschool, last i had heard he was in the navy as i had joined up with the army, funny how life has strange twists, it was probably 20 plus years since i had seen him, so i turned the corner and came up the back side of piper street, where he was standing and called out his name, he took a few seconds before he recognized me, but he did, he told me some of what he had been doing, i noticed he was not the same person he used to be, and had lived a harsh life, he had been living like this since he got out of the navy, he still camps out behind the cop shop on tudor rd along campbell creek. anyway, we bs' awhile and had a few laughs i gave him some cash which i am sure he used for vodka and smokes, as he was getting his food free from the place across the street. i see him again from time to time and always stop when i do and give him some cash, and say hi, i told my brother about it and he lives down in oregon, and my old friends family called me up and asked me to get ahold of him and tell him to come home. they all thought he was dead. as he had not been in contact with any family in over 20 years. he has some mental issues ongoing as well as he is not right in the head, but he is able to function, I think he is feared by many other homeless in the area because of his being mean when he wants to be in his survival mode. other times he is harmless and quite a story teller. if you happen up that way for a part of your story ask for crazy randy and the homeless will send you to his camp. up stream of the forks.watch out for the bears tho, last time i visited his camp a bear had just eaten his food stash and buried the rest on the backside of his tent .not a safe place to live, but hey. we all make choices in life.