Homeless, How do towns deal with it?

[Pokerface]

Work camps maybe. Tents and cots , fenced in . Let them farm for food . Those who fail , die, or decide from there - send to Mexico or Canada maybe.....Joe

 

[Jacob Lake]

There is no homeless problem in the USA. There is a drug addiction/mental health problem. All the feel good little hand outs are disregarded and unappreciated. I’m speaking from 30+ years of fire service experience (Central California). I wish it weren’t true but that is my experience.

All those who will protest anything environmental, didn’t make a peep as the most recent flooding here washed literally metric tons of human waste and garbage into mostly pristine ocean waters.

I feel sorry for the very minor percentage of people who are truly down on their luck and truly do need and appreciate some assistance.

When I’m approached, my rule is, I won’t give you money, but if you’re hungry I will get you something to eat. Very very few have taken me up on my offer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mt terry d]

A few forty degrees below zero days discourages them in our area.

 

[iamthenick]

They dont wanna be self-sufficient, they wanna live on the scraps of others... throw their trash everywhere... and shit and piss all over the place.

If people would stop feeding them and giving them money they would figure out a way to work. But these people would much rather beg all day and get piss drunk and high and lay on the pavement and there's a large group of people who seem perfectly fine with financing this life style.

 

[Nine Banger]

Have you offered to take him in? If so what was the result?

He comes thru for a few weeks every now and then.

He always has something over the next ridge to move onto tho.

It's a saga.

 

[Harvey_NW]

Yakima just lets them live down by the river and start wildfires every summer...

And poop in the on ramp median (drove by a guy full on dropping a deuce mid day), and build wood stoves under the bridges without a permit..

 

[solarshooter]

We used to go up to Seattle 2 or 3 times a year and stay overnight, have a nice dinner, maybe see a show or art museum, etc. I will not set foot in that $hithole anymore, haven't for 10 years or so.

Lol, you're probably too broke to afford it here, even for a weekend!

A lot of you are showing your true colors on this thread. Not surprised, but you'd think a community that claims to prize logic and data would have a better understanding of this issue. This is like a 9th or 10th grade level discussion. If you think homelessness or addiction are choices people make for fun and rewards, and that people committing crimes in these circumstances are criminals clear and simple, then you are an idiot.

Many of you are calling for the extermination (either directly or indirectly) of hundreds of thousands of people. If you can't look at these people and see real humans who deserve something more than death from the wealthiest and most advanced nation on Earth, you do not have a soul.

If you think the cost of housing, feeding, and rehabilitating the ~1M homeless people in the US even comes close to the amount of money we spend lining the pockets of defense companies, oil companies, crooked politicians, or just straight up bundling up and sending off to other countries, you are an idiot. You'd rather see Northrup Grumman and Lockheed Martin stock prices surge than take care of literal basic human needs of the most destitute in our society?? You're worse than an idiot, you're bootlicking cattle.

 

[Clark33]

And poop in the on ramp median (drove by a guy full on dropping a deuce mid day), and build wood stoves under the bridges without a permit..
View attachment 1000045

I saw a guy the other day off Yak Ave (by the catholic church) frank and beans out mid day taking a leak.... stay classy Yakima!

 

[Hnthrdr]

He comes thru for a few weeks every now and then.

He always has something over the next ridge to move onto tho.

It's a saga.

Seems like that’s the case with a lot of the vagabond types I’m sure, it’s nice of you to stand by him, but you can take a horse to water, can’t make them drink though

 

[CorbLand]

I feel like one thing gets lost in conversations like this. There is a massive difference between two types of being homeless. There’s the ones that are doing drugs, shitting on the streets, etc and the ones that prefer a transient life style.

There was a homeless dude where I grew up. He just wandered the country. He had friends in that town so during the summer he always made his way there for a bit. He would do odd jobs to make money and in a couple weeks pack up and hitch his way someplace else. He didn’t hurt anything or anybody. I remember tons of people looking down on him, even calling him a drag on society. Never understood how simply choosing a different way of life makes people the “other than.”

Massive difference between the two types.

 

[ozyclint]

My neighbor feeds alley cats....he doesn't have any mice

Bet he has a shit ton of alley cats

 

[Jimmy]

They're saying the fraud in California is going to make the MN fraud look like amateur hour.


How much money has been poured into programs to help?

Hundreds of millions

 

[dr.mooseknuckles]

There was a movie back in the 90's based off of Richard Connell's short story (The Most Dangerous Game) with Ice-T in it called Surviving the Game.

 

[taskswap]

The fraud going on in The homeless community is probably 100x what’s being uncovered in Minnesota. It’s terrible and some people have severe mental and drug problems that need fixed, but there is an abundant amount of people that are profiting off of it and will never want “homelessness” going away.

This is a common GOP talking point and like any good lie it's based a little bit on truth. The lie they insert is where the words "some" and "abundant" go in the sentence. The vast majority of homeless folks have genuine issues that are really hard to solve and absolutely not "I see McDonald's is hiring, why don't you get a job?" territory. It's a very small minority that "fakes it" and even those folks have reasons.

To argue against it, you'd have to make a convincing case that somebody, somewhere, would genuinely prefer to stand on a street corner begging in the middle of winter while it's snowing, with nowhere to go that night, instead of standing in a warm building flipping burgers, one of the easiest jobs in the world and now qualifying for some housing benefits. It's just the most insane position in the world. If they could, they would. Something is preventing it, and it isn't a personal preference driving the decision.

Being homeless is not the easy way out of anything. It's one of the hardest ways to survive. Most folks who have never been homeless don't realize just how hard of an existence it is. There aren't enough shelters, and the ones that do are often not safe places. But what's worse is you can't even just say "well, it's not supposed to be easy, at least there IS a shelter" but even that isn't true for folks who have been homeless more than a few months, because nearly all shelters have stay limits. You're only allowed to stay for a few days, or in a few (rare) cases, 30-45 at most. Once you've moved around a few, you run out of places to go and you're back on the street with no options left. Since shelters don't provide mental or physical healthcare, if you have an underlying problem, all you do is delay the disaster a month or two.

Look, I'm not calling you (wnelson14) out specifically, so please don't take this personally. This was just the comment my reply fit best against. But all we're doing here today is repeating the same hand-wringing combined with inefficiency combined with heartlessness that has surrounded this issue since it's ever been discussed. It's not going to get fixed and not going to make anybody here happy so why rehash it in a hunting forum?

Honestly, the saddest part about it is that if you poke through this thread, the absolute worst comments are usually from the people whose signatures quote Bible verses. If Jesus was real, those are the folks he'd be most ashamed of.

 

[JJ1179]

So you take people off the street , where they don’t cost me nothing and put them in jail , how is that solving a problem?
Instead of paying for the programs that help them now we are paying to incarcerate them ?
You just shifted the problem, that’s not a cure .

You really think they don’t cost you anything? That’s foolish. Just as a few examples….Every time there’s a police call for service - that costs you and every other tax payer something. Every time there’s a medical call - that costs you and every other tax payer something. Every time one of them destroys or damages public property - that costs you and every other tax payer something. Virtually nothing is free. Every program or “aid” costs someone something.

Now, if they are just living their life off grid and not causing issues or damaging property, yeah, maybe they don’t cost you anything, however that’s highly unlikely.

 

[Yoder]

Usually towns or states get a ton of money to help the homeless then just steal it. If you actually help the homeless, you stop getting money to "help" them.

 

[lil' bear]

Have you tried releasing coyotes?

 

[Hnthrdr]

S

I feel like one thing gets lost in conversations like this. There is a massive difference between two types of being homeless. There’s the ones that are doing drugs, shitting on the streets, etc and the ones that prefer a transient life style.

There was a homeless dude where I grew up. He just wandered the country. He had friends in that town so during the summer he always made his way there for a bit. He would do odd jobs to make money and in a couple weeks pack up and hitch his way someplace else. He didn’t hurt anything or anybody. I remember tons of people looking down on him, even calling him a drag on society. Never understood how simply choosing a different way of life makes people the “other than.”

Massive difference between the two types.

so if we want to be accurate there are 3 categories:
Hobo’s- comes from the depression era, Ho boy, basically kids to young adults who traveled the country looking for work, highest form of urchin
Tramps- step above a bum will work if forced to but would rather pan handle
Bums- won’t work, just beg, typically addicted to some sort of substance, 0 value added to society

 

[WCB]

This is in a Arkansas town population 24,000. The guy and his dog have set up camp for 4 days now a block from my office. This is at a major intersection in the middle of town. How do other town deal with these issues?
View attachment 999349

ever been to the Walmart in Bozeman MT...yeah other places deal with them and have for awhile

 

[AKBC]

Me 25 years ago (when I moved to ANC and was around visible homeless for the first time): I wont give you money, get a job. Why dont we arrest these people?

Me 20 years ago: Jesus said give to the poor. Here's a few bucks, none of my business what you do with it.

Me 15 years ago: I'll help them by donating new backpacks, warm clothes, socks etc. Also give them a few bucks because maybe it will help them get whatever they need (drugs/alcohol) quicker so they can get off the cold Anchorage streets.

Me 10 years ago: Torn. Aren't we enabling people to live a horrible dangerous life by giving them food, cash, shelter? Perhaps they would "bottom out" and accept help sooner if we didnt meet these basic needs.

Me 5 years ago: It isnt compassionate to let these souls live outside. Many are getting hit by cars, dying from OD and lack of care, filthy conditions. Maybe the most compassionate thing to do is "tough love", whatever that is.

Me today: This is a brutally difficult problem that many very smart, caring people are trying to solve but it keeps getting worse. I believe systems are there for people who are ready to change but many do not want to be "rescued" due to mental health/addiction issues. It feels like the only solution will have to be something forced, a return to mental health institutions would help some but you cant force people to be clean/sober. How do we as a society love and care for these folks without enabling the long-term lifestyle and without letting them trash our public spaces and stealing from the working class?