In my former life, I worked in a city that was experiencing exponential growth in homeless people. The little city had beautiful amenities and people paid big dollars for the homes they purchased there. The city also had dozens of community parks and the bums (yes I said it) invaded them. They came from other cities and towns to take up residence and why?
Well we found out the local churches were feeding them every day. These good people wanted to help them and were doing it with good intentions. They believed they were doing god's work and maybe they were. But these bums got the word out that you can live in nice safe parks and get a nice home-cooked meal every day. The effect is the same as feeding feral cats. Eventually, they'll come from everywhere and they did. The city tried to help these homeless get off the streets but they turned it down (most of them). That city is still trying to deal with the problem.
That's why I rather like the idea of worker's homes (they have to work and abide by some rules to stay) rather than simply homeless shelters/soup kitchens. I realize some of the indigent are not even capable of working, but they do tend to congregate around areas that allow them their lifestyle. How to care for such people and not have them become a hazard for the community is a very good question I cannot answer.
Used to work as a tutor for an area rehab place and also used to work for my church's worker's home. The worker's home did a better job of getting those that were willing and able get back on their feet -- maybe because it sort of pushed them to do so. But, the operative words are "willing and able".
Asylums are a logical response; however, the asylums were often very poorly run and abuses did take place (funding is a big issue; this happens in a lot of the halfway houses and nursing homes as well...can't afford or won't afford good help -- it's the patients who suffer). Nothing is ever perfect, but we can do better. The mentally ill are very often not a lot of fun to take care of, but due to their condition, they deserve our care. Certainly we should do better than to leave them on the streets.
One big fix would be to segregate the mentally handicapped from the psyche patients -- I used to work for the school system in the LD/BD program (at a separate facility), and it was a mess. The LD kids were targets for the BD kids; it was awful -- most of the day was spent keeping an eye out for abuse of the LD kids. About 7 years ago the district received funding and created a school specifically for the LD, and it was a vast improvement for everybody. We cannot house people with LDs among people with psychological problems, which used to happen at asylums. And, there needs to be more stringent personnel policies.
Food isn’t what they need. Even charitable acts can miss the mark. It’s like giving a new house to someone with cancer. It’s nice, but what they really need is chemo.
People who are inclined to charity - decent people - are sometimes inclined to charity for the wrong reasons.
It was interesting what happened later. That city and the police department put a lot of resources into solving this problem. The first step was trying to convince the churches to stop feeding them. That was met with some resistance because the churches couldn't stand by thinking to themselves "but these poor people are still hungry and I can't bare to watch that."
But then the homeless started congregating in the parks and neighborhoods where many of these church attendees lived, and that's when they started to change their tune. Basic human nature took over and many of them decided they were having no part of that.
Funny how that works. When it lands on your own door step, that's when it becomes a "serious" problem. Many churches began to cooperate but by then the damage was done and the word was wide spread that this little city was a great place to live as a homeless person.
Yes, the NIMBY is huge! Know a woman with two sons. She lived in Chicago and was always preaching about diversity, refugees, embracing illegal immigrants, etc.
Yet what happened when it was time to send her boys to school? She moves to the whitest of white suburbs and enrolls her boys in a school that is virtually all white. Yet she was the one encouraging bringing in refugees and illegal immigrants. See, she wants your kids to go to school with them, but not her own boys. Oh no, they can’t be in a school with diversity.
In my former life, I worked in a city that was experiencing exponential growth in homeless people. The little city had beautiful amenities and people paid big dollars for the homes they purchased there. The city also had dozens of community parks and the bums (yes I said it) invaded them. They came from other cities and towns to take up residence and why?
Well we found out the local churches were feeding them every day. These good people wanted to help them and were doing it with good intentions. They believed they were doing god's work and maybe they were. But these bums got the word out that you can live in nice safe parks and get a nice home-cooked meal every day. The effect is the same as feeding feral cats. Eventually, they'll come from everywhere and they did. The city tried to help these homeless get off the streets but they turned it down (most of them). That city is still trying to deal with the problem.
That's why I rather like the idea of worker's homes (they have to work and abide by some rules to stay) rather than simply homeless shelters/soup kitchens. I realize some of the indigent are not even capable of working, but they do tend to congregate around areas that allow them their lifestyle. How to care for such people and not have them become a hazard for the community is a very good question I cannot answer.
Used to work as a tutor for an area rehab place and also used to work for my church's worker's home. The worker's home did a better job of getting those that were willing and able get back on their feet -- maybe because it sort of pushed them to do so. But, the operative words are "willing and able".
Maybe bring back asylums, as many homeless are mentally ill
Asylums are a logical response; however, the asylums were often very poorly run and abuses did take place (funding is a big issue; this happens in a lot of the halfway houses and nursing homes as well...can't afford or won't afford good help -- it's the patients who suffer). Nothing is ever perfect, but we can do better. The mentally ill are very often not a lot of fun to take care of, but due to their condition, they deserve our care. Certainly we should do better than to leave them on the streets.
One big fix would be to segregate the mentally handicapped from the psyche patients -- I used to work for the school system in the LD/BD program (at a separate facility), and it was a mess. The LD kids were targets for the BD kids; it was awful -- most of the day was spent keeping an eye out for abuse of the LD kids. About 7 years ago the district received funding and created a school specifically for the LD, and it was a vast improvement for everybody. We cannot house people with LDs among people with psychological problems, which used to happen at asylums. And, there needs to be more stringent personnel policies.
Many homeless are mentally ill.
Food isn’t what they need. Even charitable acts can miss the mark. It’s like giving a new house to someone with cancer. It’s nice, but what they really need is chemo.
People who are inclined to charity - decent people - are sometimes inclined to charity for the wrong reasons.
It was interesting what happened later. That city and the police department put a lot of resources into solving this problem. The first step was trying to convince the churches to stop feeding them. That was met with some resistance because the churches couldn't stand by thinking to themselves "but these poor people are still hungry and I can't bare to watch that."
But then the homeless started congregating in the parks and neighborhoods where many of these church attendees lived, and that's when they started to change their tune. Basic human nature took over and many of them decided they were having no part of that.
Funny how that works. When it lands on your own door step, that's when it becomes a "serious" problem. Many churches began to cooperate but by then the damage was done and the word was wide spread that this little city was a great place to live as a homeless person.
Yes, the NIMBY is huge! Know a woman with two sons. She lived in Chicago and was always preaching about diversity, refugees, embracing illegal immigrants, etc.
Yet what happened when it was time to send her boys to school? She moves to the whitest of white suburbs and enrolls her boys in a school that is virtually all white. Yet she was the one encouraging bringing in refugees and illegal immigrants. See, she wants your kids to go to school with them, but not her own boys. Oh no, they can’t be in a school with diversity.
Like the signs at national parks "DO NOT FEED [animal]" bcuz it's bad. The animals will depend on it.
Seems like this started a long time ago, I know Lutherans are responsible for migrating peoples about.
Hobos is another good one. Bums is prolly more accurate tho.
Sounds like San Francisco, we even give them free needles to shoot up their heroin and a $300 check