Deleted
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Sept 28, 2024 23:20:33 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2018 6:18:20 GMT
Ideas?
Please no flaming anybody.
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Post by mcscrapper on Jan 11, 2018 6:31:01 GMT
If money were no object here.....
More / better mental health assistance Drug rehab programs transitional housing - the person lives there for 1 month but is required to look for a job at designated employers. Once hired, has wages taken to pay for housing on a sliding scale basis and then required to save X amount each month. Person has one year in this housing then can advance as earnings are increased, etc. incentives to employers to hire classes - not just education but "life skills" classes
Basically, a REAL Welfare program for participants. A program that is temporary but also helps the participant grow and better himself.
I work with a lot of our homeless population and are seeing record numbers of them in our community seeking healthcare and, often, just a warm place for the night with free meals and a shower. It is hard to turn them away but also hard to "take them in" because that just perpetuates the overpopulation of them in our hospitals. Sadly, I don't think there will ever be a cure for homelessness but I sure would like to see some improvements in the lives of the people that really do want to get help.
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Post by papersilly on Jan 11, 2018 6:38:41 GMT
I don't have answers, just questions.What do you do about the ones that don't want to go to a facility or shelter? Those who say they can't deal with all the "rules"? Those who don't want to be told what to do? Those who just want their "freedom"? I know mental illness affects a good number of the homeless and treatment and care would make a difference but how do you help those who don't want help?
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Post by mcscrapper on Jan 11, 2018 7:13:32 GMT
I don't have answers, just questions.What do you do about the ones that don't want to go to a facility or shelter? Those who say they can't deal with all the "rules"? Those who don't want to be told what to do? Those who just want their "freedom"? I know mental illness affects a good number of the homeless and treatment and care would make a difference but how do you help those who don't want help? You can't. You can keep encouraging and offering assistance but you cannot make someone take advantage of the opportunities. Our local Salvation Army is getting a lot of flack here for not keeping their doors open in our teen degree weather. A few of our regulars were interviewed and complained that they were "thrown out in the streets." We (my coworkers and I) knew these guys to be drug abusers and how manipulative they all are and it was really maddening to hear how they were playing the victim. It was awful for the SA because they didn't have any volunteers to help keep their shelter / warming station open during the day but they have never been open during the day AND they had a lot of their volunteers call out d/t illness. Of course, the media played this up and people were writing in about how awful the SA and other shelters were because they kicked everyone out. Not one person in those comments said they were going to volunteer but offered their opinions about how these shelters should be managed. SaveSave
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Post by nlwilkins on Jan 11, 2018 7:33:51 GMT
I do believe it starts with counseling and mental health assistance. You cannot MAKE someone take assistance, but you can make it illegal to be vagrant. If a person can not or will not take responsibility for themselves and insist on living "free" they need to learn that "free" is a luxury. Through counseling and mental remediation the ones who just want to milk the system can be weeded out. It would have to be a rigorous and unbiased system that makes being homeless not an option. You either accept help and work towards being self supporting or you accept consequences. For those who need help, there is no ONE answer. You have to look at the individual and figure out how they came to be homeless and take it from there. You do this through health screening, mental health evaluation, and counseling.
Democracy only works when everyone participates. We need to gently and sometimes not so gently lead the homeless to participate in our society and not be a burden.
Don't get me wrong. I believe there are homeless people out there who really want help and NEED help and they probably are the majority of the homeless we have. But we have to do something about those who just want to opt out and live on the streets and then expect society to take care of them with no strings when the going gets tough.
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Deleted
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Sept 28, 2024 23:20:33 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2018 10:47:10 GMT
I'm not sure it can be ended. But, it would help to have much better mental health and rehab services available for those that need help getting off drugs and help getting on appropriate prescriptions for mental illnesses.
And then housing. During the time I was homeless I found I couldn't get benefits unless I had a mailing address. I couldn't get a mailing address unless I had a rental contract/mortgage. I couldn't get a rental contract without public assistance which I couldn't get due to lack of mailing address... how do people get out of that cycle?
I had a job working nights. THe pay wasn't enough to cover rent anywhere so I needed to use the shelters. But, the shelters opened around 7 pm, I had to check in no later than 9 pm and be out by 7 am. mmmmm I was working 6 pm to 2 am. I wasn't allowed in at 2am because they didn't want the drunks/druggies coming in all hours of the night but that also means people working night shifts on janitorial teams, retail stocking, etc couldn't come sleep either... and where were we supposed to sleep after 7 am? What was I supposed to do with my meager belongings while I was at work? (I understand the problem with the shelters being volunteer run so not meaning to be accusatory just point out why it doesn't work) I encourage everyone to take a month, come home at 8 pm, turn lights out at 10 pm, be up and out by 7 am and don't return until 8 pm just to get a taste of the issues faced by those who need to rely on most available shelters.
I think there needs to be housing of some kind that isn't based on open hours but is the same come/go as homed people have access to. It also needs to be for a longer duration than say 1 year. I was at my job 3 years and still not making enough to pay an unsubsidized rent. In fact, it has taken me 9 years to reach a point of being fully financially independent. and I recognize I am SUPER blessed/lucky to have landed a job that paid college tuition for me, otherwise I'd still be making too little to be self sufficient.
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Post by papercrafteradvocate on Jan 11, 2018 11:00:22 GMT
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Post by kernriver on Jan 11, 2018 11:20:39 GMT
I have absolutely no idea. Between financial mistakes and mental illness, its one of the most complex problems there is, imo.
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Post by Merge on Jan 11, 2018 11:44:58 GMT
I do believe it starts with counseling and mental health assistance. You cannot MAKE someone take assistance, but you can make it illegal to be vagrant.
This has been tried recently in my city. A law was passed making camping on public property illegal - so basically, outlawing the homeless camps. The law was immediately challenged in court and is currently not allowed to be enforced. Making homelessness illegal is not really workable - as volt pointed out, not everyone is able to use the shelters. Where are those people supposed to go? It's a complex problem for sure.
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Post by scrapqueen01 on Jan 11, 2018 12:39:42 GMT
Most buildings also have an occupancy limit as per city fire codes. Also, have to think about not being overly crowded or there will be fights/other health and safety issues.
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Deleted
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Sept 28, 2024 23:20:33 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2018 12:39:53 GMT
I'm not sure it can be ended. But, it would help to have much better mental health and rehab services available for those that need help getting off drugs and help getting on appropriate prescriptions for mental illnesses. And then housing. During the time I was homeless I found I couldn't get benefits unless I had a mailing address. I couldn't get a mailing address unless I had a rental contract/mortgage. I couldn't get a rental contract without public assistance which I couldn't get due to lack of mailing address... how do people get out of that cycle? I had a job working nights. THe pay wasn't enough to cover rent anywhere so I needed to use the shelters. But, the shelters opened around 7 pm, I had to check in no later than 9 pm and be out by 7 am. mmmmm I was working 6 pm to 2 am. I wasn't allowed in at 2am because they didn't want the drunks/druggies coming in all hours of the night but that also means people working night shifts on janitorial teams, retail stocking, etc couldn't come sleep either... and where were we supposed to sleep after 7 am? What was I supposed to do with my meager belongings while I was at work? (I understand the problem with the shelters being volunteer run so not meaning to be accusatory just point out why it doesn't work) I encourage everyone to take a month, come home at 8 pm, turn lights out at 10 pm, be up and out by 7 am and don't return until 8 pm just to get a taste of the issues faced by those who need to rely on most available shelters. I think there needs to be housing of some kind that isn't based on open hours but is the same come/go as homed people have access to. It also needs to be for a longer duration than say 1 year. I was at my job 3 years and still not making enough to pay an unsubsidized rent. In fact, it has taken me 9 years to reach a point of being fully financially independent. and I recognize I am SUPER blessed/lucky to have landed a job that paid college tuition for me, otherwise I'd still be making too little to be self sufficient. Beautiful story, voltagain. Thanks for sharing...it is encouraging.
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Post by stacyscrapper on Jan 11, 2018 12:45:28 GMT
Permanent supportive housing. It's not just my opinion, either. Permanent supportive housing--the combination of affordable, rent subsidized housing combined with on-site supportive services--has been established nationally as the best practice solution for ending homelessness.
There are components to the Housing First permanent supportive housing model that seperate it from transitional housing. There are no time limits for how long a tenant can stay. No precursors to being placed. Rather than saying a person has to be sober/mentally healthy/financially stable before being placed in housing, permanent supportive housing recognizes that housing is a foundation and first step to achieving other positive outcomes. With case management and supportive services onsite at the housing development, you can surround the formerly homeless person with all the treatment/help they need to stay permanently housed.
I am a supportive housing developer. Our company has created developments specifically for formerly homeless veterans, youth aging out of foster care, domestic violence survivors, homeless families, individuals with developmental and physical disabilities, the chrnonically homeless, and individuals with mental illness. Across all the special needs categories, permanent supportive housing has the ability to address the root causes of homelessness and provide a lasting solution.
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Post by epeanymous on Jan 11, 2018 12:54:58 GMT
Permanent supportive housing. It's not just my opinion, either. Permanent supportive housing--the combination of affordable, rent subsidized housing combined with on-site supportive services--has been established nationally as the best practice solution for ending homelessness. There are components to the Housing First permanent supportive housing model that seperate it from transitional housing. There are no time limits for how long a tenant can stay. No precursors to being placed. Rather than saying a person has to be sober/mentally healthy/financially stable before being placed in housing, permanent supportive housing recognizes that housing is a foundation and first step to achieving other positive outcomes. With case management and supportive services onsite at the housing development, you can surround the formerly homeless person with all the treatment/help they need to stay permanently housed. I am a supportive housing developer. Our company has created developments specifically for formerly homeless veterans, youth aging out of foster care, domestic violence survivors, homeless families, individuals with developmental and physical disabilities, the chrnonically homeless, and individuals with mental illness. Across all the special needs categories, permanent supportive housing has the ability to address the root causes of homelessness and provide a lasting solution. +1 to all of this, as someone who ran a legal clinic in a shelter.
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pudgygroundhog
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,648
Location: The Grand Canyon
Jun 25, 2014 20:18:39 GMT
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Post by pudgygroundhog on Jan 11, 2018 14:44:02 GMT
Permanent supportive housing. It's not just my opinion, either. Permanent supportive housing--the combination of affordable, rent subsidized housing combined with on-site supportive services--has been established nationally as the best practice solution for ending homelessness. There are components to the Housing First permanent supportive housing model that seperate it from transitional housing. There are no time limits for how long a tenant can stay. No precursors to being placed. Rather than saying a person has to be sober/mentally healthy/financially stable before being placed in housing, permanent supportive housing recognizes that housing is a foundation and first step to achieving other positive outcomes. With case management and supportive services onsite at the housing development, you can surround the formerly homeless person with all the treatment/help they need to stay permanently housed. I am a supportive housing developer. Our company has created developments specifically for formerly homeless veterans, youth aging out of foster care, domestic violence survivors, homeless families, individuals with developmental and physical disabilities, the chrnonically homeless, and individuals with mental illness. Across all the special needs categories, permanent supportive housing has the ability to address the root causes of homelessness and provide a lasting solution. This! When we think of homeless, we think of people living on the streets that can have mental health and addiction issues. But there are also a number of people who are homeless that aren't in this category - they are working and might not have addiction/mental health issues, but simply can't afford to live somewhere (they might appear to be homeless because they aren't on the street, but they live in campers, campgrounds, or are constantly moving around to live with relatives/friends for short periods of time). Housing is the biggest roadblock for people in poverty and there is compelling evidence that providing housing solutions will help many of the other pieces fall into place if somebody has a stable, safe place to live. A popular myth is that if you are poor, you are given everything for free. It's simply not true - it can be incredibly difficult to get a housing voucher or a spot in subsidized housing. And even with a voucher, you might still have problems finding a safe place to live. If you don't have stable housing it makes keeping a job more difficult, it's more difficult for kids to succeed in school, and you can never get ahead because the poor are often exploited in these situations. I highly recommend the book Evicted by Matthew Desmond that won the Pulitzer last year for non-fiction. It's an excellent read.
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pudgygroundhog
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,648
Location: The Grand Canyon
Jun 25, 2014 20:18:39 GMT
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Post by pudgygroundhog on Jan 11, 2018 14:47:27 GMT
I'm not sure it can be ended. But, it would help to have much better mental health and rehab services available for those that need help getting off drugs and help getting on appropriate prescriptions for mental illnesses. And then housing. During the time I was homeless I found I couldn't get benefits unless I had a mailing address. I couldn't get a mailing address unless I had a rental contract/mortgage. I couldn't get a rental contract without public assistance which I couldn't get due to lack of mailing address... how do people get out of that cycle? I had a job working nights. THe pay wasn't enough to cover rent anywhere so I needed to use the shelters. But, the shelters opened around 7 pm, I had to check in no later than 9 pm and be out by 7 am. mmmmm I was working 6 pm to 2 am. I wasn't allowed in at 2am because they didn't want the drunks/druggies coming in all hours of the night but that also means people working night shifts on janitorial teams, retail stocking, etc couldn't come sleep either... and where were we supposed to sleep after 7 am? What was I supposed to do with my meager belongings while I was at work? (I understand the problem with the shelters being volunteer run so not meaning to be accusatory just point out why it doesn't work) I encourage everyone to take a month, come home at 8 pm, turn lights out at 10 pm, be up and out by 7 am and don't return until 8 pm just to get a taste of the issues faced by those who need to rely on most available shelters. I think there needs to be housing of some kind that isn't based on open hours but is the same come/go as homed people have access to. It also needs to be for a longer duration than say 1 year. I was at my job 3 years and still not making enough to pay an unsubsidized rent. In fact, it has taken me 9 years to reach a point of being fully financially independent. and I recognize I am SUPER blessed/lucky to have landed a job that paid college tuition for me, otherwise I'd still be making too little to be self sufficient. This is a perfect example of how difficult it can be for somebody to overcome homelessness - it's not as simple as telling somebody to get a job (which I've seen said on this board). I'm glad you were able to make a better life for yourself.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jan 11, 2018 15:30:54 GMT
I think about this a lot and wish there were better answers, but it really is a very complicated, multifaceted issue. I think before the homelessness aspect of it can be addressed you have to also address the underlying reasons why people are homeless in the first place and deal with those problems.
What some of the programs try to do is to first get individual people into stable housing, but to do that those people can’t just continue to do what they have been doing to get by—their known way of life. They are pulled out of their “community” of friends and people they know, and that’s hard. They have to stay sober, and that’s hard when all of the people you knew and associated with before have substance abuse problems. It’s easy to see how some of them get sucked back into that life when having your own place means living in isolation. They may be required to work or go to school, which may be hard to maintain without reliable transportation, inaccessible or unafforable health care, etc.
Instead of lifting individual people out of homelessness I think we need to start thinking about the ways that communities of homeless people could be helped while keeping them together. It may not even be possible but I think if groups of like minded people who *want* help and who get along well with each other could be kept together as a community, it could work to create a “rising tide lifts all boats” situation. Especially if the people’s medical, psychological and substance issues are simultaneously addressed.
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Post by annabella on Jan 11, 2018 16:06:58 GMT
When I was a kid homeless men were the down on their luck Vietnam vet. Now the homeless in my city are mostly men who got out of prison and can't get a job so they just stand around all day drinking and doing drugs. They don't even beg for money so I guess they all get a check or something? The few people that do beg for money have their regular corner you can see that at daily and I figure have a govt provided apt they go home to at night. The other category of homeless are young women who had kids without jobs but my city does a good job of providing transitional housing for them in motels. I've seen very few homeless people with mental problems.
I think homelessness results out of a cycle of poverty and lack of education so these people made poor choices with their life. My city has torn down most of the public housing apartment blocks in favor of section 8 vouchers. However there is is still a need for a lot more transitional housing but no neighborhood wants it in their hood so there's always a roadblock to turning a building into one.
My city recently made a law so that employers are not allowed to have a check box on job applications asking if you have been arrested or in prison because they see it as discrimination. The ex-con office was renamed "office of returning citizens". Dogs and iphones are provided to the homeless.
I read a newspaper article recently that talked about a large warehouse that was being torn down. Inside it was those small storage units. Apparently a lot of homeless people used those units to store all their possessions from their last apt.
Drug overdoes are a big problem in my city. People OD in parks. I often see ambulances attending to a homeless person which I assume is drug related. They get to use our hospitals free of charge. I walk by people high on drugs just standing on the sidewalk. So I don't know how any drug rehab program can be successful when we're dealing with a population who spend their day standing outside with each other all day long. They're bored and unhappy so this gives them some relief I guess. My city has a big problem of large groups of them congregating around in parks all day. So benches have been removed from parks. Having a tent in a park is illegal because the park service enforces unauthorized camping.
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Post by 950nancy on Jan 11, 2018 16:12:08 GMT
I do believe it starts with counseling and mental health assistance. You cannot MAKE someone take assistance, but you can make it illegal to be vagrant.
This has been tried recently in my city. A law was passed making camping on public property illegal - so basically, outlawing the homeless camps. The law was immediately challenged in court and is currently not allowed to be enforced. Making homelessness illegal is not really workable - as volt pointed out, not everyone is able to use the shelters. Where are those people supposed to go? It's a complex problem for sure. Once my state passed the legal weed law, we saw a large uptick in homelessness and begging on the corners. While you can't make it illegal, you can make certain laws that keep people from wanting to be in your state. Of course that doesn't solve anything, it just gets people to go to another state.
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Post by myshelly on Jan 11, 2018 16:43:23 GMT
I don't have answers, just questions.What do you do about the ones that don't want to go to a facility or shelter? Those who say they can't deal with all the "rules"? Those who don't want to be told what to do? Those who just want their "freedom"? I know mental illness affects a good number of the homeless and treatment and care would make a difference but how do you help those who don't want help? I think part of the problem is that some of the "rules" are ridiculous. No one else would put up with them, but homeless people are ungrateful or crazy if they won't. I used to work at what was widely considered the best shelter in my area. The rules included families being separated (men living in one area and women and kids in another). Dads couldn't help with getting kids ready for the day or ready for bed. Because of this moms with kids were always the last ones to the dining room in the morning and food was very limited by then. Young boys were separated from their moms and sent to the men's dorm. If I faced a choice of having a 9/10 yr old boy sent to live by himself in a men's dorm without me, I'd stay out of a shelter, too. Anyone with a food allergy was told they could not be accommodated. I think it's really easy to judge people who don't want to follow rules as not wanting help. But I think the truth is a lot of peas would balk at the rules of most shelters.
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Post by not2peased on Jan 11, 2018 17:42:39 GMT
Permanent supportive housing. It's not just my opinion, either. Permanent supportive housing--the combination of affordable, rent subsidized housing combined with on-site supportive services--has been established nationally as the best practice solution for ending homelessness. There are components to the Housing First permanent supportive housing model that seperate it from transitional housing. There are no time limits for how long a tenant can stay. No precursors to being placed. Rather than saying a person has to be sober/mentally healthy/financially stable before being placed in housing, permanent supportive housing recognizes that housing is a foundation and first step to achieving other positive outcomes. With case management and supportive services onsite at the housing development, you can surround the formerly homeless person with all the treatment/help they need to stay permanently housed. I am a supportive housing developer. Our company has created developments specifically for formerly homeless veterans, youth aging out of foster care, domestic violence survivors, homeless families, individuals with developmental and physical disabilities, the chrnonically homeless, and individuals with mental illness. Across all the special needs categories, permanent supportive housing has the ability to address the root causes of homelessness and provide a lasting solution. wow! this is pretty amazing-do you have any more details on your program? I understand if fear about pea stalkers/weirdos prevents you from sharing more info but I'd love to see more details about how this works
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Post by papersilly on Jan 11, 2018 18:23:33 GMT
I don't have answers, just questions.What do you do about the ones that don't want to go to a facility or shelter? Those who say they can't deal with all the "rules"? Those who don't want to be told what to do? Those who just want their "freedom"? I know mental illness affects a good number of the homeless and treatment and care would make a difference but how do you help those who don't want help? I think part of the problem is that some of the "rules" are ridiculous. No one else would put up with them, but homeless people are ungrateful or crazy if they won't. I used to work at what was widely considered the best shelter in my area. The rules included families being separated (men living in one area and women and kids in another). Dads couldn't help with getting kids ready for the day or ready for bed. Because of this moms with kids were always the last ones to the dining room in the morning and food was very limited by then. Young boys were separated from their moms and sent to the men's dorm. If I faced a choice of having a 9/10 yr old boy sent to live by himself in a men's dorm without me, I'd stay out of a shelter, too. Anyone with a food allergy was told they could not be accommodated. I think it's really easy to judge people who don't want to follow rules as not wanting help. But I think the truth is a lot of peas would balk at the rules of most shelters. i probably should have clarified my question. i was not talking about families. i was thinking about individual homeless. individuals who have been on the streets for years and have lived on their own terms for so long that they can't or don't want to be helped.
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wellway
Prolific Pea
Posts: 9,012
Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
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Post by wellway on Jan 11, 2018 18:44:47 GMT
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Post by myshelly on Jan 11, 2018 18:46:58 GMT
I think part of the problem is that some of the "rules" are ridiculous. No one else would put up with them, but homeless people are ungrateful or crazy if they won't. I used to work at what was widely considered the best shelter in my area. The rules included families being separated (men living in one area and women and kids in another). Dads couldn't help with getting kids ready for the day or ready for bed. Because of this moms with kids were always the last ones to the dining room in the morning and food was very limited by then. Young boys were separated from their moms and sent to the men's dorm. If I faced a choice of having a 9/10 yr old boy sent to live by himself in a men's dorm without me, I'd stay out of a shelter, too. Anyone with a food allergy was told they could not be accommodated. I think it's really easy to judge people who don't want to follow rules as not wanting help. But I think the truth is a lot of peas would balk at the rules of most shelters. i probably should have clarified my question. i was not talking about families. i was thinking about individual homeless. individuals who have been on the streets for years and have lived on their own terms for so long that they can't or don't want to be helped. Part of the point of my response is that this is a really harmful stereotype. It's very easy for middle class people to erase the problem of homelessness by saying "those people don't want help." When really chronically homeless single males are in fact a small percentage of the homelessness epidemic. Perpetuating that stereotype does nothing to address the problem. The middle class mindset is very much 1) beggars can't be choosers (i.e. If homeless people don't accept whatever rules and conditions are attached to help, then they deserve to be homeless) and 2) homeless people choose to be homeless. Until we, as a society, start discussing homelessness in ways that don't play to that mindset, we won't solve the problem.
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Deleted
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Sept 28, 2024 23:20:33 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2018 18:57:40 GMT
I think part of the problem is that some of the "rules" are ridiculous. No one else would put up with them, but homeless people are ungrateful or crazy if they won't. I used to work at what was widely considered the best shelter in my area. The rules included families being separated (men living in one area and women and kids in another). Dads couldn't help with getting kids ready for the day or ready for bed. Because of this moms with kids were always the last ones to the dining room in the morning and food was very limited by then. Young boys were separated from their moms and sent to the men's dorm. If I faced a choice of having a 9/10 yr old boy sent to live by himself in a men's dorm without me, I'd stay out of a shelter, too. Anyone with a food allergy was told they could not be accommodated. I think it's really easy to judge people who don't want to follow rules as not wanting help. But I think the truth is a lot of peas would balk at the rules of most shelters. i probably should have clarified my question. i was not talking about families. i was thinking about individual homeless. individuals who have been on the streets for years and have lived on their own terms for so long that they can't or don't want to be helped. Even individuals have a need for living that doesn't include ridiculous rules that treat them like unruly teens. Every shelter has them, can justify them but no sane person (pea) would be willing to live with the rules. How many peas have a glass of wine/shot of liquor/cocktail or 3 in the evening? Smoke some weed? If you are "homed" it is considered acceptable adult behavior but not allowed in a shelter. How many peas, yourself included, turn their lights out promptly at 10 pm to go to sleep or just lay in the dark? How many (yourself included) are up, dressed and out of the house no later than 7 am 7 days a week even when sick? Would YOU want to be helped if someone else writes the rules about your personal life such as what time you go to bed and what time you get up that has no bearing on what you need in terms of sleep such as issues with insomnia or illness or just want to watch tv for a while that didn't end promptly at the designated lights out time.
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Post by papersilly on Jan 11, 2018 19:11:34 GMT
i probably should have clarified my question. i was not talking about families. i was thinking about individual homeless. individuals who have been on the streets for years and have lived on their own terms for so long that they can't or don't want to be helped. Part of the point of my response is that this is a really harmful stereotype. It's very easy for middle class people to erase the problem of homelessness by saying "those people don't want help." When really chronically homeless single males are in fact a small percentage of the homelessness epidemic. Perpetuating that stereotype does nothing to address the problem. The middle class mindset is very much 1) beggars can't be choosers (i.e. If homeless people don't accept whatever rules and conditions are attached to help, then they deserve to be homeless) and 2) homeless people choose to be homeless. Until we, as a society, start discussing homelessness in ways that don't play to that mindset, we won't solve the problem. i guess my question is more rhetorical. i know homeless single males (and females) represent a small percentage, but, they are still part of homeless. even if we can help 99.9% of the homeless, what can we really do with those that we can't?
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Post by myshelly on Jan 11, 2018 19:13:54 GMT
Part of the point of my response is that this is a really harmful stereotype. It's very easy for middle class people to erase the problem of homelessness by saying "those people don't want help." When really chronically homeless single males are in fact a small percentage of the homelessness epidemic. Perpetuating that stereotype does nothing to address the problem. The middle class mindset is very much 1) beggars can't be choosers (i.e. If homeless people don't accept whatever rules and conditions are attached to help, then they deserve to be homeless) and 2) homeless people choose to be homeless. Until we, as a society, start discussing homelessness in ways that don't play to that mindset, we won't solve the problem. i guess my question is more rhetorical. i know homeless single males (and females) represent a small percentage, but, they are still part of homeless. even if we can help 99.9% of the homeless, what can we really do with those that we can't? So we should just ignore the whole problem because of a statistically small part of the population? Once again, this is why we can't have a real conversation about homelessness until we move past this stereotype.
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Post by papersilly on Jan 11, 2018 19:39:06 GMT
i guess my question is more rhetorical. i know homeless single males (and females) represent a small percentage, but, they are still part of homeless. even if we can help 99.9% of the homeless, what can we really do with those that we can't? So we should just ignore the whole problem because of a statistically small part of the population? Once again, this is why we can't have a real conversation about homelessness until we love past this stereotype. we absolutely should not ignore the problem!!! not at all. the last recession, the housing crash, the loss of jobs to outsourcing or movement of factories overseas, vets coming back from war, catastrophic illnesses not covered by health care or no health----all these have contributed to the epidemic levels of homelessness. homelessness is no longer just a guy laying in the street. it is families living in cars. people living in broken down RVs lining the streets. people living in tent cities on all over the place. i know there are solutions to ending homelessness for 99.9% of those people. my question was/is, how do you take a person off the street who doesn't want to leave the street (for whatever reason)? and i'm not just stereotyping for the sake of my question. what if there really is a person like that? FOR EXAMPLE: there is a chronically homeless man in my neighborhood. his name is Bob. it really is his name. Bob has a drinking problem and a dog. people feed his dog and sometimes foster it when Bob is passed out on the sidewalk or wherever. people have talked to Bob, brought him food, given him money, sleeping bag, or tried to find him a place to stay. Bob will take a temporary aid but he won't leave the street. he says he needs help with his drinking but when neighbors offer him help take him to a rehab or to a shelter, he won't budge. he refuses to do anything further than take money or food. i know all this because there is an epic and ongoing "how can we help Bob" post on our NextDoor. when i originally asked my question, i was thinking of Bob. i know, on the whole, we as a society can probably help most homeless people find a way out but what about the Bobs of the world? i'm not assuming or stereotyping a bunch of people. i just "know" of one who will only accept so much help and still remain on the street.
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Post by needmysanity on Jan 11, 2018 19:42:38 GMT
Permanent supportive housing. It's not just my opinion, either. Permanent supportive housing--the combination of affordable, rent subsidized housing combined with on-site supportive services--has been established nationally as the best practice solution for ending homelessness. There are components to the Housing First permanent supportive housing model that seperate it from transitional housing. There are no time limits for how long a tenant can stay. No precursors to being placed. Rather than saying a person has to be sober/mentally healthy/financially stable before being placed in housing, permanent supportive housing recognizes that housing is a foundation and first step to achieving other positive outcomes. With case management and supportive services onsite at the housing development, you can surround the formerly homeless person with all the treatment/help they need to stay permanently housed. I am a supportive housing developer. Our company has created developments specifically for formerly homeless veterans, youth aging out of foster care, domestic violence survivors, homeless families, individuals with developmental and physical disabilities, the chrnonically homeless, and individuals with mental illness. Across all the special needs categories, permanent supportive housing has the ability to address the root causes of homelessness and provide a lasting solution. We run the same programs at my agency and our biggest hurdle is finding suitable housing in our county. Many places that are available to our clients either don't pass the inspection or are higher than the FMR (Fair Market Rent). One of our cities went back and was able to increase the FMR above HUD's guidelines and that has helped us a lot. The properties we own (which are all transitional housing) are full all the time. We are trying to purchase more but that becomes a funding issue.
Plus a lot of cities (at least here) don't want to address the issue. One nearby city was putting homeless people on buses and sending them to other cities. Until the local government is willing to do more, we rely on HUD funding which makes this all very difficult.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Sept 28, 2024 23:20:33 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2018 20:02:08 GMT
If money were no object here..... More / better mental health assistance Drug rehab programs transitional housing - the person lives there for 1 month but is required to look for a job at designated employers. Once hired, has wages taken to pay for housing on a sliding scale basis and then required to save X amount each month. Person has one year in this housing then can advance as earnings are increased, etc. incentives to employers to hire classes - not just education but "life skills" classes Basically, a REAL Welfare program for participants. A program that is temporary but also helps the participant grow and better himself. I work with a lot of our homeless population and are seeing record numbers of them in our community seeking healthcare and, often, just a warm place for the night with free meals and a shower. It is hard to turn them away but also hard to "take them in" because that just perpetuates the overpopulation of them in our hospitals. Sadly, I don't think there will ever be a cure for homelessness but I sure would like to see some improvements in the lives of the people that really do want to get help. Money could be less of an object if we wouldn't accept people making multi-tens of millions per year in take home pay while others sleep in the cold and rain. I would raise taxes by having more brackets w/incredibly high rates at the top so that no one would take home more than $10 million/year to fund jobs for social workers, public safety workers, etc. Win-Win. Put money to use diminishing homelessness AND put money to work employing people to help us get there. Or we could keep doing what we're doing and letting any to all of that money go out of the economy at will and into foreign assets an foreign homes, services, businesses, yachts, condos, parties, casinos, etc.
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Post by Lexica on Jan 11, 2018 20:41:50 GMT
I read an article about capsule hotels in Japan where the "rooms" are really just pods specifically for sleeping. They vary, but most are a little bigger than a twin-sized bed. Some have their own lockable door, others have just a curtain for privacy. They range from somewhat luxurious with a large outside viewing window to small, stacked cubbies with ladders or steps for access. The stacked variety reminded me of a wall of cages in a pet shop. Amenities typically include a community gathering area, televisions, and multi-stall bathrooms. My understanding is that these facilities came about due to the long hours most men put in on their jobs in Japan. It wasn't practical to return home every night, so they rent a sleeping compartment in town and go home on weekends. They may include a restaurant and rental lockers for belongings. These would be very beneficial for communities to serve people whose current circumstances prohibit conventional living arrangements, like voltagain shared with us. It wouldn't answer every homelessness issue, obviously, but it would fill a void for people who just need a safe place to sleep and a shower. I can see including sleeping pods, accessible 24/7, in shelters as a component of a larger, full-service program that provides meals, counseling, education, and medical aid. Here are some photos of sleeping pods. I apologize for the size of them. I don't know how to make them smaller when copying a link. (If someone can tell me how to resize, I will do so) Stacked Pods (not for those who are claustrophobic) Roomier Pods Pods with exterior windows and one with a desk below, sleeping above SaveSave
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