[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

I'm dealing with an interesting problem right now with a homeless man living on railroad property directly adjacent to my property. The railroad won't handle it and the guy has been apparently living there for over a decade. He has a shed and multiple dogs. Social worker types show up there almost daily delivering him food or otherwise helping him.

One wonders at what point the system is actually about solving these problems and not enabling it. As far as I'm concerned this guy should not be living on the street, the workers know who he is, where he is, but have not been able to place him in housing for over a decade? Surely the waiting list is not that long, surely he could get a section 8 voucher, surely CHA could find him a unit in that time. So what's going on here? How is it not animal abuse to have dogs on chains living outdoors on a railway embankment? How is not human abuse to be providing this guy services for that long knowing it is not a safe or sanitary living condition. The entire encampment is knee deep with trash and you have a guy living outside in the cold in a pile of trash with a bunch of dogs.

But course it's tricky because it's homelessness, he probably doesn't want to be in a shelter. He probably doesn't want to have to do CHA section 8 inspections once a month, etc etc. In order to truly "end" homelessness you'd have to pass a law making it illegal and forcibly arrest some people and take them to shelters or homes where they can't leave. Society is obviously not about to do that, so how do you fix a problem like what I described?

Most shelters /section 8 places I imagine don't allow dogs, which puts this gentleman at an impasse if getting rid of his dogs is non-negotiable.