Quote:
Originally Posted by Obadno
The real problem with homelessness is that they have all manner of mental issues.
There are very few people that are homeless just due to economic poverty and if they are its usually a very temporary situation. truly being homeless requires you to have nowhere to go , no relationships or family to help, no seeking accommodations or employment.
That doesn't happen because you are poor it happens because you are incapable of functioning in our society, weather that's because of an illness or you simply lack the faculties or you are heavily addicted to drugs that all depends.
When there were such a thing as mental institutions/hospitals most of which disappeared by the early 1980's most of the homeless today would be interred there as wards of the state. But there were many horror stories of abuse and mistreatment so that way of dealing with these mentally handicapped individuals was ended.
But nothing was put in place to deal with these people and now they just live on the streets. I don't think what we are doing now is in any way a better solution or somehow more humane than when they would send them off to a mental institution but what are people supposed to do?
Just letting homeless people wallow around in parks and on benches isn't going to help either.
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Certainly - and there are proposals and ideas for helping these people - I am just stating that efforts targeting aspect of homelessness are certainly more akin to taking a Tylenol for your fever when your real problem is infection; the Tylenol does nothing but ameliorate the symptoms
When you are dealing with people, humans - these sorts of measures really make it seem like we are just looking for superficial ways to keep the problem out of sight.
I am aware that rates of mental illness are much higher among this population but they are NOT a majority of the population- "According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, that represents about 20 percent of the national homeless population." AND "; according to the Phoenix Rescue Mission "in 2015, officials counted 25,832 homeless people in Maricopa County throughout the year. On one particular night, there were 4,342 homeless individuals in shelters and 1,289 on the streets."
Clearly we're more talking about "street homelessness" as opposed to all of those without stable, permanent housing BUT it is still relevant that we are dealing with these "issues" in the wealthiest nation on earth - we have all the resources at hand to provide a roof for these people to get them off the street - we just lack the majority will-power but that may be changing - some cities are finally taking the "Housing First" approach with great success for example, from Utah where they've had a 90% reduction in chronic homelessness;
"Evans has cleared out a lot of the trees there. He says he likes to think of this place as his own park. He is 54 years old, but looks a lot older.
He has a tent with a fence around it made of wood, piles of tarp and grocery carts full of stuff he collects. He wears a good new winter coat, which was donated. He says he's been living outside for five years.He has a bad back injury and has struggled with drugs and alcohol. When he talks, he's a little hard to understand. He said he's had a stroke and is missing some teeth.
But any day now, he's about to get his own apartment, mostly paid for by the federal government. He says he doesn't want to spend another winter in the woods.
Under a previous anti-homelessness model, Kim Evans would've had to prove he was sober and drug-free before he could get housing and take that warm bath. Or he might have just stayed homeless.
Under Utah's Housing First approach, he'll get housed with few questions asked."
https://www.npr.org/2015/12/10/45910...cent-heres-how