r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Garey_Coleman • 8d ago

Where are the homeless supposed to go?

Cities have been cracking down on homeless people so they can’t have encampments or stay on sidewalks. At the same time usually the shelters are full. So those who are unable to get into a shelter, where are they supposed to go?

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u/whatugonnadowhenthey 8d ago edited 8d ago

Since no one is answering the question in good faith, I’ll give it a shot. Honestly, most cities don’t give a shit if a homeless guy is sleeping on a stoop or in a alley or something, it’s been part of living in a city for thousands of years. They care when dozens of them set up tent cities in public areas and start trashing them. That’s when it becomes a real problem because once a tent city is established, less regular folk go to the area, which leads to more homeless, which leads to less regular folk, which leads to businesses leaving, etc. etc.

So the answer to your question is out of open air drug dens and into more individual spaces that are less of an eye sore and quite frankly a danger to the community. Literally “disperse”.

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u/BeardedDisc 8d ago

Part of the answer here is that those “encampments” make it more “comfortable” (I get that’s it’s still a shit hole). Many people feel this removes much of the incentive to pull oneself out of this situation one way or another.

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u/Shilo788 8d ago

We had a tent area near town in a spot you couldn't see them well, they didn't really trash it and it was there for years, yet this year they cleared it out. Now you see tents here and there up and down the river , but now so spread out they can't keep and eye on them and make sure they are trashing the area. I say give them a flat spot with dumpster and porta potty and leave them be until they cause trouble then arrest the troublemakers.

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u/puppy-paw-print 8d ago

An actual gasp practical solution. I can’t imagine an elected official successfully advocating for This without losing their job.

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u/HappyCamper2121 8d ago

I know right! Even the Romans had bath houses.

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u/schrodingers_bra 8d ago

Well you wouldn't want to be the person who owns a house next to the place they build the tent city is why.