Anyone who sleeps on a friend's sofa seven months probably has some sort of mental illness and would benefit from a mildly supervised housing situation and therapy.
It's too bad such things are largely unavailable, even when someone hits rock bottom and has no place left to go.
Every homeless person has a story of wearing out their last welcome.
By no means am I saying this is a reason to tolerate such a situation when someone is contributing nothing to the household.
God knows it wasn't my fear of being called "lazy" or of being homeless that drove me forward when I was knocked down. And I'm not yet so decrepit that I couldn't live again indefinitely as a wordless wild thing foraging through dumpsters. It's just that it would be really boring and a great disappointment to people who love me.
These judgmental "tough love" and "welcome to the real world" attitudes are one reason social safety nets in the U.S.A. are so full of holes.
Everyone deserves a place to go after they've crashed and burned, even those labeled "lazy," but the altruists among us shouldn't have to carry the entire burden, especially when it's various other aspects of our fucked up anti-altruistic society that are causing so many people to crash and burn in the first place.
As Buckaroo Banzai said, Hey, hey, hey. Don't be mean. We don't have to be mean because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.
Personally, I've been a lot of places, from sleeping rough and finding food in dumpsters to grand bedrooms in great mansions with excellent views of the ocean. I've ridden in the back seat of police cars and in limos.
Life's a trip. Be kind to your fellow passengers. If you have to part ways, wish them well and point them in the right direction as best you know it.
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