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What's to be done about homelessness?
Trinculoisdead:
I'm sitting in my work truck waiting for my boss to show up--we're painting a house in Santa Cruz, CA--and apparently there's a camp nearby because there's a steady stream of homeless men making their way past where I'm parked. One guy already did the "do you have a dollar you can spare?" Routine through my partially-open window. I heard him talking to himself a bit about how expensive it is to live here, and how he's not made of money. "Maybe you people are", he said. I'm not, of course. I can only afford to live in this county because my parents have property here.
Anyway, there are more homeless in my state than ever before, apparently, and some people I know point to their presence as an indication of a widening economic gap between the very rich and the very poor. I point to it as a sign of an increasing number of drug addicts and a willingness on the part of local governance to tolerate and care for this sub-group of the population. Anyway, what do you think? I for one wish that I could walk downtown without encountering crazies yelling into the air or pissing from wheelchairs into the bushes. But I don't know what's supposed to be done about it.
(One of my half-brothers is homeless here btw. In his case noone wants to help him because he's a drug-addled a-hole with an obnoxious temper who's burned almost all his bridges. But not all homeless are in that state, I know.)
Shasarak:
I would suggest to look at everything that California has done and do the exact opposite.
David Johansen:
Walking home from my store, in a small Southern Alberta city, there are homeless people in every nook and cranny. It's been a warm winter (Jan 14 and we're above freezing with no end in sight) and they aren't going to the shelter. The other night a woman who used to live in the suite behind my store with her boyfriend (who hit her) and his mother (who died last fall) came in crying (I haven't let her into the store since the time she stole my son's wallet) because the police just told her that her boyfriend (she even pressed charges at one point but they got back together) had been found dead of an overdose. The guy had heavy equipment, carpentry, and firefighting training but he also had a criminal record and a drug problem.
I dunno, it didn't used to be like this. Hopefully one day someone smarter than me will figure it out. My solutions are generally considered reprehensible but when I'm dictator we're digging a ditch across Canada with picks and shovels and anyone can get a three square meals and a room in a mobile with three other people if they work on the ditch project. When it's done, we'll turn 'em around and fill it back in again. If there's a pipe line or some power lines at the bottom, well, why not?
moonsweeper:
--- Quote from: David Johansen on January 14, 2021, 07:23:51 PM ---Walking home from my store, in a small Southern Alberta city, there are homeless people in every nook and cranny. It's been a warm winter (Jan 14 and we're above freezing with no end in sight) and they aren't going to the shelter. The other night a woman who used to live in the suite behind my store with her boyfriend (who hit her) and his mother (who died last fall) came in crying (I haven't let her into the store since the time she stole my son's wallet) because the police just told her that her boyfriend (she even pressed charges at one point but they got back together) had been found dead of an overdose. The guy had heavy equipment, carpentry, and firefighting training but he also had a criminal record and a drug problem.
I dunno, it didn't used to be like this. Hopefully one day someone smarter than me will figure it out. My solutions are generally considered reprehensible but when I'm dictator we're digging a ditch across Canada with picks and shovels and anyone can get a three square meals and a room in a mobile with three other people if they work on the ditch project. When it's done, we'll turn 'em around and fill it back in again. If there's a pipe line or some power lines at the bottom, well, why not?
--- End quote ---
That is the proper way to do it. It also has the benefit of the project being able to help the ones who are addicts. Unfortunately, those kinds of programs were done away with here in the US years ago. (At least on any scale.) As much as I despise FDR, some of the work-for-welfare programs he used were a good solution for problems like this.
Ratman_tf:
I've spent some time thinking about the issue. I live in a sattelite town around the Seattle area. It was bad a few years ago when I would venture in Seattle for a gaming convention. Nowadays I wouldn't even go. (Not that Covid helps, as there are no events planned, but even if...)
From what I have seen and heard, layman's perspective incoming, the state and city government are far too lenient in the name of "compassion", to the point that here in WA we provide drugs to addicts and do not enforce drug laws.
http://seattle.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8798717&GUID=B09D5B35-DE4F-49B2-A90C-3FBA415819EF
The problem with homelessness isn't the affordability of housing, despite the propoganda to the otherwise, the problem is the homeless are incapable of holding down a job and home due to their issues with drugs and or mental health.
My solution would be to enforce the vagrancy laws, and give the perpetrators the option of getting state provided rehab and or mental health services. Here in WA we already dump about 100 million into the problem, and it's only getting worse. (Unless you work for the government, of course) Divert that money to the rehab programs and enforcement of vagrancy laws.
If someone is homeless and isnt' commiting serious offenses, we can be a little lenient, Being a single mom living in your car isn't the problem. Being an addict or schizophrenic assulting people is.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/seattle-considers-excusing-misdemeanors-including-assault-for-homeless-drug-addicts
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