Life living on the street is no cakewalk. Karen Hall knows first hand. She was homeless in Lansing for six years.

"It was dangerous. You get beat up and robbed. It was hard," said Hall.

She ate whatever she could find for food, and for shelter she turned to the highway.

"Five or six us us would be up under the bridge," said Hall. "It's not good, but we did it."

Hall was able to survive. Others haven't been as lucky.

"Most of the murder victims in the city in the last several years have been homeless people," said Patrick Patterson of Volunteers of America.

Veteran David Lloyd Melvin was killed in a field just behind the VOA building just over a week ago. Karen Delgado-Yates was killed last year, and Cheryl Campbell was killed back in 2006 while staying at the Deluxe Inn. All three were homeless.

"You have to survive on your wits and muscle," said Patterson. "You can't start the car and drive away, you can't call for help, and you can't lock the predator out because there's no door."

Patterson says 40% of persons coming to the shelter have some sort of mental illness. Another problem is infectious diseases. To prevent diseases from spreading, the organization turns some homeless persons away.

"I can't risk the health of 65 people or more for one person," said Patterson. "There's these sub populations that are very difficult to take care of when you've got to take care of everyone's safety at once."

It's safety Hall is most thankful for now. She's hoping she'll never have to turn back to the streets.

"I would never want to turn that clock back to go be homeless again," said Hall.