[MonctonRad]

I think the one unifying reason for the homelessness crisis is that some people have great difficulties in coping with the complexities of modern life.

In the old days, if you had a low grade mental illness, or if you were poorly educated, or if you generally had difficulty dealing with stressful situations, you could still get by with a menial job (manual labourer etc), and could get housing in a boarding house. The work kept you busy, and your room in the boarding house kept you off the street. You may still have had a relatively meaningless existence, but you were invisible and were out of trouble.

Nowadays, untrained manual labour jobs don't exist any more. Low level employment still exists in fast food etc, but rooming houses don't exist anymore, and the low wages are not enough to pay for even a bachelor apartment. Life is also a lot more complex these days than it used to be. Everything is online, and everyone needs a cellphone, and at least enough computer literacy to learn how to use apps and to pay your bills and apply for jobs online. This can be difficult if you have poor literacy, poor command of the English language, or if you have a stress/anxiety disorder. Nowadays, it is difficult to find people to give you first hand assistance. You are expected to do everything yourself.

This expectation of self sufficiency in turn makes thing even worse. If you have poor coping skills in the first place, and you have nowhere to turn for help, this will only increase your stress and anxiety levels. To deal with this heightened anxiety, you turn to drugs and alcohol, which makes things worse, and increases the likelihood of homelessness, petty crime and panhandling. It is a vicious cycle.

We need to provide these people with borderline coping skills and stress/anxiety disorders the resources necessary to remain productive in society. A boarding house can be something like an assisted living facility. We need these more than we need low income apartments (if you ask me). We also need to maintain at least some basic manual labour jobs for the marginalized so that they are able to survive. Finally, we need to provide the addicted with both short term and long term support for their addictions. We need to send them to drug treatment centres (even against their will), and once they have dried out, return them to halfway facilities in their home towns while at the same time supporting their reentry into the workplace, and support groups so they can form friendships with other people with similar troubles that they can relate to.

And, as for the drug pushers, no kid gloves treatment for them! I would support a "two strikes and your out" principle. If you are caught pushing even just a second time, then you are removed from society for at least 20 years. Maybe not a jail, but special work camps in the woods sounds about right. These people are the true bain on our existence.