Homelessness thread -

[Crichax]

What's the best way to stop homelessness? I have no idea how to contribute to ending it in ways that people haven't already been trying.

And in theory, what would happen if Google and other big companies started to give millions of dollars to this concentrated effort instead of making the rich richer? Would the situation change in any notable way?

 

[break these cuffs]

They should give every homeless person shitty tattoos, a stinkditch, a bike, and an internet connection.

 

[The Shadow]

I wish i had an easy answer but if there was one it would be in use. A lot of homeless are mentally ill and in need of care they certainly can't afford. Others have serious addiction issues. Often these problems are mashed together.

 

[oldTireWater]

No amount of money or good will can eliminate homelessness. There are folks who are down on their luck, and might be able to get their shit straight if they had a place to keep their shit without worry, and a shower, but they're a minority. Most of the people on the streets are a) kinda normal, but really don't like people or being part of society, b) too crazy to get right, or c) would rather party (alcohol or drugs) than have a place to stay.

I have lost all sympathy for bums. I just don't give a shit about them anymore. I hope they and their shitty camps wash away in the storm drains. Don't encourage them.

 

[Niggernerd]

Auschwitz

 

[Scotsman]

Homelessness is never going to completely end. Some people are just too mental and too far gone to be in any other situation, and even when they are given as much help as possible, they end up right back on the streets. Some even prefer living that way.

You can decrease the number vastly (which I hope happens), but there's always going to be that bare minimum who just can't be helped, or who outright refuse it.

 

[mr.moon1488]

I've always thought we should have labor camps. They'd basically be like the older army barracks, and you'd get three hots, and a cot with some pay, but would have to do stuff like cleaning up the streets during the day. That would kill two birds with one stone. People that couldn't do physical labor would take care of desk work, and the like.

 

[Exorbital Columnations]

Cut anybody who won't submit to a drug test off of any form of social assistance and make it a crime to loiter or set up an encampment if you're not receiving assistance.

 

[Kamov Ka-52]

In the United States? Fundamentally overhaul how DHHS handles grants for state agencies and completely reorganize funding priorities at the state and federal level. Federal money is usually only usable for the purposes of effectively warehousing the homeless (think section 8 housing.) Instead, the feds and states should spend more money on transitional housing that can serve as a hub to connect the homeless more easily with social workers, mental health professionals, or other NGOs who can help them get job training, rehab, or other social services to help break the homelessness cycle. Also, put a greater emphasis on transitional housing programs for people who are temporarily homeless to prevent them from becoming permanently homeless.

Edited for clarity

 

[The Shadow]

I've always thought we should have labor camps. They'd basically be like the older army barracks, and you'd get three hots, and a cot with some pay, but would have to do stuff like cleaning up the streets during the day. That would kill two birds with one stone. People that couldn't do physical labor would take care of desk work, and the like.

Something like the Works Progress Administration in the New Deal? My grandfather actually benefited greatly from the training/experience he received in one of their camps. Basically took him from doing odd jobs to telephone line work until WWII.

 

[Dolphin Lundgren]

We'll always have homeless people. You can help the down and out ones who are looking for work and help. You can't help the large amount of ones who just want drugs and don't want help aka the ones who throw food back at you if you offer it or the ones that are known to try to take back food in places to get the money. How can you help them when they won't take it?

There was a time when I was open to help out the homeless but nowadays I can't feel bad for those ones.

 

[mr.moon1488]

Something like the Works Progress Administration in the New Deal? My grandfather actually benefited greatly from the training/experience he received in one of their camps.

Very similar. There would be ways to work up, or down with what I'm thinking about though. For instance, you start out picking up trash. Do good work? Move on to more skilled labor, and easier/cleaner jobs with better pay. Act like a fuck head?

 

[Takodachi]

Slavery.

 

[bev]

My grandfather actually benefited greatly from the training he received in one of their camps.

Same here, but not in the U.S. My uncle gained a lot of knowledge from a program like that and now earns enough to support his wife, his kids, and his extended family.

But unfortunately, homelessness will never totally go away. Some people prefer it as they learned that they earn more panhandling than actually working. An old coworker of mine would always give a homeless person cigarettes instead of money, claiming that when she was homeless, she'd usually average out to $200 a day in the metro area.

Other people need help that just isn't offered anymore--like mental asylums. A lot of people would prefer to fund other things with their tax money than that.

 

[Dolphin Lundgren]

But unfortunately, homelessness will never totally go away. Some people prefer it as they learned that they earn more panhandling than actually working. An old coworker of mine would always give a homeless person cigarettes instead of money, claiming that when she was homeless, she'd usually average out to $200 a day in the metro area.

There was a politician in California who used to scam people by using his elderly mother by dropping her off all day in a shopping center to beg for money. Sadly this is way too common.

 

[oldTireWater]

I've always thought we should have labor camps. They'd basically be like the older army barracks, and you'd get three hots, and a cot with some pay, but would have to do stuff like cleaning up the streets during the day. That would kill two birds with one stone. People that couldn't do physical labor would take care of desk work, and the like.

That might help a few out, but the majority hard-corps aren't going to show if they can't drink. The place would have to be run like a serious prison.

Spoiler: Piss Money Away

https://www.koat.com/article/should-the-city-be-forced-to-find-homeless-hotels/28609182

Could finding hotels for homeless help the city keep people off the streets

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —
Every night hundreds of people sleep on Albuquerque streets.
The city and county have spent millions trying to put a roof over their heads.

Is the solution to solving Albuquerque’s homeless problem a New York city court ruling that says the government has to provide shelters even if it means renting hotel rooms?
Kenneth Marquez thinks so. He has lived on the streets for two years.
“We have nowhere to go. Where are we supposed to go,” Marquez asked as he sat shirtless on a park picnic table. “We can’t just disappear and go into the woodwork. We got to be somewhere. Let’s find somewhere and let us go there.”
The “Right to Shelter” ruling means the city can’t turn away people at shelters because they are too full. And if the shelters are full, the city pays for a hotel room. Several states including California are considering making it law.
“Hot water, clean sheets and a bathroom… it's the small things,” Marquez said.
But despite Marquez’s claim there is nowhere to go in Albuquerque, homeless advocates and city leaders say there is and a “Right to Shelter” law would not work in Duke City.
This year the city budget shows Albuquerque will spend about $8 million trying to house the homeless.
“We do have a problem here in Albuquerque with individuals on the streets but there are many reasons why they are there,” said Sean McIssac, director of the Good Shepherd Center, a homeless shelter near downtown. “It's not just because of housing or shelter.”
City leaders say every night about half of the 300 beds at the West Side shelter go empty. It’s the only shelter owned by the city. There are dozens of shelters privately funded or contracted with the city of Albuquerque.
“So, there is enough beds in the system I believe to house the individuals should the choose to go,” McIsaac said. “But, it is not our choice. It is not our decision to make them go it is the person themselves."
Why don't more people go to the shelters?
Alcohol. The shelters don't allow it.
“It's hard for them to say 'OK I am not going to do it today because I am going to go to the shelter',” Marquez said. “They can't just turn it off."
A 2017 study from the New Mexico Coalition to End Homeless shows that about 900 homeless people sought shelter in Albuquerque that year.
Nearly 400 did not.
City Councilor Pat Davis says even if a right to shelter law was passed in New Mexico, nothing would change.
"No city I know of has figured out how to solve the problem of somebody who just wants to be on the streets,” Davis said.
But Davis says if Albuquerque wants to tackle its crime crisis, figuring out how to help the homeless and those with mental illness needs to happen now.
“The more people we get out of allies looking in your car in your window looking for something quick to steal for a quick hit or meal means fewer crime,” Davis said.

 

[Feline Supremacist]

We didn't have this problem when there was plenty of cheap (if unappealing) housing. Take the Hells Kitchen area of Manhattan. Sure it could be dangerous but there was lots of cheap housing, it was right next to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, minutes away from Penn Station and if you weren't an absolute imbecile/pedo/alcoholic/drug addict you could partake in the community which consisted mostly of families/working people. I was in the area last week and now it's nothing but condos, hotels and a convention center with the odd lone apartment building holdout in the middle of a block that's a vast construction site. Where are working class people suppose to live? New Jersey? The same thing happened/is happening in Chinatown, LES, the Bowery, Harlem, Washington Heights and the outer boroughs as well. If you're an addict/crazy you are totally fucked. There were flophouses you could rent by the week all over the city that were torn down/rehabbed into housing for rich hipster trust fund brats who scream about Trump at rallies wearing $500 sneakers while taking selfies with the latest iPhone to post on their Twitter about being true socialists. No one, especially champion of the poor & disenfranchised Mayor DeBlasio is doing anything for these people.

If and when Civil War 2.0 happens I think a lot of these "socialists" are going to be shocked at how many of the people they've displaced are going to come for them but the knives will be out for Mrs. DeBlasio who pocketed over 8 million dollars meant for the treatment & support of the mentally ill in NYC.

 

[bev]

That might help a few out, but the majority hard-corps aren't going to show if they can't drink. The place would have to be run like a serious prison.

Yeah, and then other issues would arise like: whose responsibility is it to fund the facility and who has to clean it? If the residents have to fund and care for it, how can they save up money for themselves? How can we be sure that the majority of maintenance won't fall on the few? How much money can one resident earn/save before being unqualified to reside there anymore? Can others be employed there or is it strictly for currently homeless people?

 

[SmallTalk201]

There are three reasons. The main problem is mental illness. Treatment in America is worthless.

the second is high cost of living. As feline Suprem ist pointed out ain't any place cheap to live.

the third is time discrimination. a person with some wealth can take out a 30 years mortgage loan where someone working min wage going be stuck paying 50 dollars a night for a hotel or 25 dollars a night at some camp ground living in their car.

The less well off person only can think of today and society punishes them ruthlessly for t hat

 

[roxitp0w3rwuzdabest420]

Reopen state ran insane asylums. Make them actually help people instead of just being dumping grounds for crazies. Give addicts a job, instead of forcing them to get clean turn them into what's called "functioning addict" aka they're addicted to drugs but are able to hold down a job.

Finally this would free up enough resources for the people who really just fell on hard times to get back on their feet.


Option 2: Buy a bunch of land in Montana and just let them run wild and free like god intended