What happens when they’re too mentally ill or overwhelmed with addiction to be helped? These folks used to be institutionalized against their will but we as a society decided decades ago that this was a violation of their rights. So we kicked them out of hospitals (where they had access to shelter, hygiene, food, medication, education, and recreation) and onto the streets (where they have none of those things).
Housing first advocates like to believe that giving all these deeply troubled folks a rent-free apartment will magically solve all their problems. It doesn’t. All of the filth and despair of their situation simply gets moved off the streets and into the apartment. And then all of the problem of dealing with the unhygienic situation gets foisted upon the landlord and all of other tenants who live in the building. Don’t take my word for it, see for yourself.
The people who don’t have these issues are the invisible homeless. They’re sleeping in cars or couch surfing. They have resources and their period of homelessness tends to be temporary. At any one time there may be a lot of them but very few are long term homeless. We could eliminate homelessness for these folks by providing them with an apartment and it wouldn’t be a problem.
It just wouldn’t do anything to solve the highly visible problem of hard core street homeless people. And so for many people it would seem like nothing at all had been accomplished.
Sorry that we don’t like seeing people die because they’re mentally ill and can’t operate in society like the rest of us. We need an actual social safety net funded by all the wealth that society has created rather than letting robber barons take it all.
Lol, you have nothing to say when you’re confronted with the fact that you’re OK with people dying because we choose to call them a problem. Examine yourself, fellow human.
Hi, I work in food banking and homeless services. I know what I’m talking about and it sure seems like you have closed yourself off to the notion that other people might be able to further educate you on what you’re talking about.
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I was with you until that second paragraph. Are you saying people shouldn’t protect the homeless??
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By providing them with homes?
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What happens when they’re too mentally ill or overwhelmed with addiction to be helped? These folks used to be institutionalized against their will but we as a society decided decades ago that this was a violation of their rights. So we kicked them out of hospitals (where they had access to shelter, hygiene, food, medication, education, and recreation) and onto the streets (where they have none of those things).
Housing first advocates like to believe that giving all these deeply troubled folks a rent-free apartment will magically solve all their problems. It doesn’t. All of the filth and despair of their situation simply gets moved off the streets and into the apartment. And then all of the problem of dealing with the unhygienic situation gets foisted upon the landlord and all of other tenants who live in the building. Don’t take my word for it, see for yourself.
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The people who don’t have these issues are the invisible homeless. They’re sleeping in cars or couch surfing. They have resources and their period of homelessness tends to be temporary. At any one time there may be a lot of them but very few are long term homeless. We could eliminate homelessness for these folks by providing them with an apartment and it wouldn’t be a problem.
It just wouldn’t do anything to solve the highly visible problem of hard core street homeless people. And so for many people it would seem like nothing at all had been accomplished.
Sorry that we don’t like seeing people die because they’re mentally ill and can’t operate in society like the rest of us. We need an actual social safety net funded by all the wealth that society has created rather than letting robber barons take it all.
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Lol, you have nothing to say when you’re confronted with the fact that you’re OK with people dying because we choose to call them a problem. Examine yourself, fellow human.
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You’d never know any of us have worked with homeless neighbors before, known homeless family or friends, or dealt with it ourselves.
We just don’t know how things actually work, gosh darn it.
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Hi, I work in food banking and homeless services. I know what I’m talking about and it sure seems like you have closed yourself off to the notion that other people might be able to further educate you on what you’re talking about.
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