andrea
as the wife of a police officer and the daughter of a social worker who both deal with the issues and repurcussions of homelessness in their jobs on a regular basis, if I were the OP I too would have called the police non-emergency line like WSMom if there were people living in a van behind my home. the police are here to help and assist. it’s not a negative reaction to want to involve them in this scenario! they have resources at their disposal that can put the homeless in contact with local shelters, social workers, missions, hospitals, etc, that they might not otherwise be aware of or know how to utilize.
And as bazoo so poignantly posted, many homeless are mentally ill and may be in need of some form of medical asisstance that they aren’t able to articulte, but very well may be in of.
And I am also glad to see some old time posters on here again! I’m with you BarbG!