r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Garey_Coleman • 10d 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?

8.2k Upvotes

91% Upvoted

4.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

36

u/jimthesquirrelking 10d ago

Publicly accessible maintained bathrooms help prevent this

20

u/bannedbooks123 10d ago

As long as people aren't shooting up heroine in them and leaving their dirty needles around that you couldn't pay someone enough to clean up. Speaking of, heroine needles are another health hazard

22

u/jimthesquirrelking 9d ago

There are sharps boxes that are mass produced and easy to leave in these restrooms. You can throw as many "but what about this dirty thing or that gross thing!" As you like but at a certain point its cheaper to accommodate these needs than criminalize them and incarcerate  them. Unless of course you make money off slave, I mean prisoner labor... (Edit) also you're very uninformed if you think no one can be hired to clean up needles, people often clean worse, you just need proper ppe 

4

u/1127_and_Im_tired 9d ago

They tried that in Seattle and other places in the PNW. It turned into a shitshow. Needles everywhere, drugged up people all over the place, crime went up, et. They had to pass new laws to recriminalize drug use.

9

u/jimthesquirrelking 9d ago

They also tried it in Portugal and it went amazingly. The problem is the American system cares nothing for poor individual people inside it. European culture isn't perfect but its much better than American