Where are the homeless supposed to go?

[u/Garey_Coleman]

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?

[u/GreasyPorkGoodness]

Homelessness can’t be painted as a single issue. It is multi faceted and will require a multi faceted approach.

1. Most people experiencing housing instability seek resources and shelters. These folks need more and deserve more but are largely invisible to everyday people.

2. Panhandlers in business districts are often not actually homeless, rather they are addicts living in very low income apartments often together sometimes illegally.

3. Encampments are largely comprised of addicts and severely mentally ill individuals.

Panhandlers and encampments are what people generally object to. There is very good reason to object to them - they are more dangerous and they massively downgrade the quality of life for people living around them. No one wants to hear that, but it is true.

This group of people is extremely difficult to deal with because they frequently will refuse services.

Treatment for someone mentally ill and for somebody addicted to drugs or alcohol are two very separate things.

Addicts should probably be treated with a much firmer hand. “Waste your life if you want but you can’t do it here and you can’t fund it by panhandling and theft in this community”

Mentality ill, in the absence of family should probably be institutionalized.

Personally, I find forcing an addicts and the mentally ill to live outside and in trap houses far less humane and much more disgusting than compelling them into treatment or a mental health facility.

[u/RightEquineVoltNail → u/GreasyPorkGoodness]

I agree. When mental care facilities and forced institutionalization were abolished, it swung way too far the other direction. It should have been more nuanced with an option for forced institutionalization of the truly incapable or dangerous persons.

Most of society seems to lack the mental fortitude necessary to make the hard choices.

Had that happen properly, among other criminal justice issues being handled better, I'd hopefully have fewer dead friends and acquaintances who were murdered by the criminally mentally ill.