r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Garey_Coleman • 9d 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/mortalmonger 9d ago

This is hard to answer as homeless is not a good description. There are lots of types of homelessness and until we can talk about homelessness that way it’s not something we can solve. Here is a good example:

-a homeless veteran fighting mental health issues -a mother and toddler son fleeing domestic violence -an LGBTQIA teen kicked out by his family for being xxxxx -a drug addict -a man who lost his apartment and living in his car while working -a bipoler woman refusing to take her meds and hallucinating and paranoid -a sex offender that has done his time and can’t find housing due to being a sex offender

Literally there is no “one place” all these people should go…

Homeless is the state you are in because of some other problem or choice….until we speak of homelessness by discussing the causes of homelessness and how we can prevent or mitigate those causes we are not solving anything. It would be like a doctor giving the same cure to everyone in a hospital and then being perplexed why the insulin didnt heal all the asthma and cancer patients…..

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u/Bubblegummie- 8d ago

Exactly. Why are so many people talking about homelessness like it's a choice or a mental illness? They are people too. They are in a tough spot in their lives, and they need help.

In finland we have mostly solved homelessness. We have temporary shelters for homeless people, and social workers help them to find a cheap apartment as fast as possible, so homelessness doesn't become a lifestyle. All jobless people get some money from the government to cover the rent and living costs until they find work. Social services help to keep the apartment and assist finding help to solve the underlying problems, if the person is not capable of working. In 35 years, the amount of homeless people in finland has dropped by 75%.

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u/CA_catwhispurr 8d ago

Finland is way more emphatic and smarter about solving these issues than we are in the US. I wish we were more like Finland.

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u/FAITH2016 8d ago

Finland is also way smaller than the USA. We are talking about a totally different scale here, not that’s not a good idea.

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u/Professional-Tax-615 Down with Gambling ads 8d ago

Exactly. Does Finland have a population of 350 million? I don't think so.. the culture is also different and nobody ever considers that either. Having a strong education system and placing value on intelligence definitely matters.

In the US we place value on superficial nonsense that doesn't help society at all such as the number of followers a person has, or how attractive a person is, or how much money someone really has.

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u/CommissionerOfLunacy 8d ago

The culture is the thing.

The USA is unthinkably rich. No civilisation in history has ever had the command of resources that the US has today. It's not even been close. Because of that, the money is no issue.

No matter what bullshit gets fed into the media, the US could solve homelessness overnight and barely notice the cost. It just doesn't want to.

Because of culture.

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u/Yesthisismyname3 8d ago

This. The vast wealth and power, though, are concentrated in the hands of a small percentage of the population, and it has no incentive to spread it. And the culture says that if you make it, you deserve to keep it.

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u/Professional-Tax-615 Down with Gambling ads 7d ago

Yep, it was very eye opening in 2024, when I realized how many poor people worshiped Elon musk, and automatically thought he was SUPER intelligent just because he was that rich. Very disheartening.

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u/Unresonant 6d ago

 and it has no incentive to spread it

The rich doesn't, but everybody else does.

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u/DippinDot2021 7d ago

Does Finland have a population of 350 million? I don't think so.

People use that excuse in this country to justify not doing tons of different things like providing universal healthcare. Because this country is so much bigger than so many other countries. Meanwhile we can totally afford it, apparently, to give billionaires insane tax breaks. In truth, we could probably afford to do a lot of things that we claim we can't and are lying to ourselves, and to each other about, with this constant America is different because of x y and z.

In the US we place value on superficial nonsense that doesn't help society at all such as the number of followers a person has, or how attractive a person is, or how much money someone really has.

Please, that is literally every country. Again, We as Americans think we are the center of the universe. Downvote me if you don't like the statement but it doesn't make it less true. Watch videos from other countries and read about articles about other cultures and see that people are just as obsessed with money and just as obsessed with people being attractive and having power and always have been. That is literally world history. We as Americans are known especially well for this kind of thing, unfortunately, but we are just better known for it. It has been done by every culture and society now as well as in the past and always has been and always will be.

That being said, there is always room to improve and do better. Which I highly recommend. So I argue that we say f*ck the whole concept that the USA or any country can't take better care of its citizens because of x y and z, and let's start doing that now!!!

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u/Yunzer2000 6d ago

The only effect that a larger population should have on implementing social programs like smaller countries have is that the program should be easier to implement and more efficient because of economies of scale!

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u/ExcitingAd5703 6d ago

Finland has ~6 million residents. NYC has around 8m and LA has around 5million. You don’t think we could import some working programs to similar sized US cities? That seems defeatist. We could also collectively place more value on education. We need to do something about it but we can. We just don’t. We make excuse why what works there couldn’t possibly work in America

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u/i_woke_up_as_you 5d ago

there is a definite greed factor in the way our education system operates. I’ve seen much more affordable education elsewhere

But then I’m somebody who looks at the offerings of not for profit universities , to show people how to graduate without being in debt

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u/MamaEOC 7d ago

I just did a quick skim on mental health care in finland and: 2 major psychiatric hospitals...still proving long term residental care (3 and 5 years are not uncommon length of stay for non-forensic patients). The movement towards deinstitutionization began in the 1990s!  So they do also have: supported living, 24-hour service housing for mental illness, communal living, and outreach services for mental health.  So i suspect although they have (hopefully wellfunded) modern ideas of supported living, I wonder if these are also supported by involantary services and long-term hospitalizations.  

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u/def-jam 7d ago

If you can scale McDonald’s, you can scale care for the homeless

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u/Possible-Oil2017 5d ago

That's a silly plan. McDonald's products are homogeneous and easily produced. The meth addict on my street has four conflicting mental illnesses.

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u/def-jam 5d ago

Right. Get them a house. Give them a place to live. Then social workers and medical Personnel have a place to meet them and treat them. It will also reduce the amount of medical Problems simply due to being homeless which will Make long term treatment more likely to succeed.

Does it work everytime or for everybody? No. But it works more often than not, so let’s do that and give people a chance to become Contributing members of society.

Now what about people who are homeless because they lost a job? Or because they got sick? Or they left an abusive situation? Not all the homeless are addicts.

It’s almost impossible to get a job if you don’t have an address. Let alone a place to shower and keep your shit safe.

Can you get a bank account without an address? No. So there is nowhere to deposit your paycheck if someone gives you a job.

Do you see the problems and how they stack? Giving someone a home helps remove so many other barriers to becoming productive

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u/Zestyclose-Carry-171 8d ago

Well, that could be implemented at a state level, much smaller and manageable than federal level

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u/hobhamwich 7d ago

Different scale, but we are richer. There's no excuse.

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u/freddbare 8d ago

More homogeneous culture as well.

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u/def-jam 7d ago

And what in the good sweet grace of fuck, does that have to do with anything?

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u/xenith811 7d ago

A lot, if you know how to think critically.

More likely to eat similar food, similar activities, sports, issues.

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u/Ok-Hurry-4761 6d ago

Have you ever done a road trip around the U.S.?

The states are different in superficial ways but you are obviously in the same country. That's no excuse.

Food - burgers and stuff like that, popular across states.

Language - 85% English most everywhere.

Sports - football popular everywhere.

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u/def-jam 7d ago

And what does that have to do with helping the homeless find homes?

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u/xenith811 7d ago

Finding jobs, communities, even the workers they’re assigned.

I just said it man, use critical thinking

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u/MamaEOC 7d ago

Dude, even if someone gives you a home and assigns you a job stocking shelves in a socialist paradise, you will end up screaming at the voices in your head if you are experincing psychosis and addicted to an opiate.  And you wont be able to keep your job in any meaningful way and your neighbours will drive you out or you may burn your home down or let the place fall apart (think of drug addiction in rural areas: you can have farmland and a small home but if your brain is a mess, you arent going to keep it going alone for long and can be starving).

Are you all in another universe? 

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u/def-jam 7d ago

So let me get this right, you can’t help homeless people if they like cricket instead of the NFL, tamales over bland roast beef, have gendered nouns in their language or a different non-Christian belief system?

THOSE are the things that prevent you from helping someone have a place to live? For giving someone a hand when they are down on their luck? When they are too ill to maintain a job to pay rent?

And you want me to engage in critical thinking? GTFOH

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u/MamaEOC 7d ago edited 7d ago

Homelessness is caused by: mental illness, addictions, poverty and lack of family supports/extra private sources of support.  In what world does cultural or even individual similarity ger rid of these underlying triggers/causes of homelessness?  

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u/freddbare 7d ago

You are lacking critical thinking skills to ask this question

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u/Patient_Trades 7d ago

This is why it’s so hard to have these conversations. People want to virtue signal at the expense of common sense. Having homogeneous society is one of the biggest contributing factors, surprised more people haven’t mentioned this.

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u/LetPuzzleheaded7935 7d ago

Salt Lake City did this. We can’t just be like 🤷🏼‍♀️ too big, can’t do this. Yes we can.

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u/8piece 7d ago

But state populations are comparable so I’ve never understood this argument. Our programs are implemented more locally so…

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u/Yunzer2000 6d ago

Social Security and Medicare are implemented at the federal level nationwide very successfully and far more efficiently with far less administrative costs as a percentage of benefits than state-based private insurance.

I recently applied for SS retirement and got approved in four days.

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u/shoneone 8d ago

I think this argues the opposite: Finland is tiny and was able to be successful, the USA is huge with many different sources of funds and a very dynamic can-do culture, the USA should find it easier than tiny Finland to house everyone who wants to be housed.

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u/johnwcowan 8d ago

We have a lot bigger economy, too. What we haven't got is the belief that people in trouble are "us", who deserve help, rather than "them", who deserve only scorn. (I will note that Finnish Romani are still "them", even if less so than 50 years ago.)

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u/affordableproctology 6d ago

Such a cop out argument. If a tractor can plough one field, 10 tractors can plough 10 fields.

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u/Unresonant 6d ago

Lol, this makes no sense at all. And even if it did, there are around 30 states that have smaller population than Finland. But again, size doesn't make any difference at all. Just divide a state in areas and voilà, what has changed?

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u/transitfreedom 5d ago

So copy China and dismantle NIMBYS via Japanese style regional governments abolishing municipalities altogether. Then build engineering infrastructure so nearly everyone has jobs . Build housing or get a president to use Emergency powers to bypass NIMBYs and build housing

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u/SmileFIN 8d ago

https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/homelessness-finland-rough-sleeping/

That's a lie. If you can't fulfill the demands set out to you, your minimum income for month will be cut by 40%.

The rapid increase in street homelessness is particularly worrying. This refers to the number of people living outside, in stairwells and emergency shelters, which rose by 50% in a year to 694.

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u/idle_isomorph 8d ago

That rapid increase brought up the numbers to roughly the same number of homeless in my small city (500k population). Seems like a win, if that is the whole country! Pretty sure Finland has more than half a million people in it.

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u/SmileFIN 8d ago

That is also just statistics, they don't necessarily count people with a place to sleep. And it was just one year and immediate effects of legislative changes. It's getting worse every day.

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u/adam545 8d ago

also a very different population and infrastructure.

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u/FrostyProblem11 6d ago

i'd love to copy finland. federal tax rate 30% up to net income 30,000. federal tax rate 34% net income above 30,000. in this country 48% of Americans don't pay federal income tax. it's bullshit. why would people who get their shit paid for by the people who work hard ever want to work hard? dude thinks "one more chance always" motivates people. these are called enablers.

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u/mmdeerblood 5d ago

More like Finland in solving homelessness but please not more like Finland generally 😆 empathetic.... maybe not generally as a people/culture.. Finland recently made headlines when Finns in a stadium made monkey noises at a black player on opposing team. There are issues of deep racism there and other more cultural issues. From my first hand experience , generally, people were much more arrogant and rude with more self centered behavior in Helsinki. The worst I've ever seen/encountered in my life after having lived in many international cities in my life. Making generalizations here, but as a foreigner, 80-90% of my interactions were with some very nasty people. 10-20% we're lovely but largely with non Finns there..

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u/CA_catwhispurr 5d ago

Interesting insight. That’s pretty sad about 80-90% are racists.

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u/billb33806 8d ago

Finnish people also seem to feel at least some shame over not working for a living.

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u/buffalobluetongue 8d ago

Many places for homeless in the states. However a no using or drinking clause keeps many out. In their cases it’s a choice.

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u/YrPalBeefsquatch 8d ago

I mean, it's a choice we've made as a society that addicts should be homeless until they kick it, which doesn't seem to be working to solve substance use problems.

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u/ToughReality9508 8d ago

It's not really about them, it's about the others in the shelter. Folks in recovery can't be around people in active addiction. Letting folks who are using and right next to folks who are trying not to use as a recipe for relapse. This is a common problem in shelters. So is theft by people using.

Edited to correct spelling

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u/YrPalBeefsquatch 7d ago

The point about folks in recovery is well taken, thank you. Where it gets tough for me is that we just consign addicts to homelessness, they're also human.

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u/Professional-Tax-615 Down with Gambling ads 8d ago

I don't think that you will ever solve the addict problem in the US because nobody will admit to themselves, and it's pretty obvious too, that the US government is a part of the problem. The US government makes money from the drugs that they let come into the country from Mexico and other places. They take a cut out of the profits! you think they confiscate all those drugs and actually destroy them? No. Don't be naive. They keep some drugs and let them flood back out into society so they can get their cut.

Those border agents, and the DEA in the FBI...they are all in on it, yet nobody is willing to admTHEMSELVES,!

Those TV shows you see about crooked cops and government officials aren't just TV shows. That's what they want you to think. The type of people who believe this might be the same type of people who believe that Jeffrey Epstein actually hung himself in his cell lol.

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u/badluser 8d ago

Addiction requires treatment if it is at the point of causing poverty and housing instability. Generally, if a person has reached this point, it likely can be fatal sooner than later.

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u/jennysequa 8d ago

There have been successful experiments with "wet houses" for addicts. The choice being made is by policy makers and NIMBY voters.

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u/Ok-Bit4971 8d ago

Didn't Finlabd kick out central bankers?

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u/laser_brain69 7d ago

The winters in Finland are also so cold that without a place to stay warm most people would perish.

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u/Ok-Hurry-4761 6d ago

Finland a population size about that of Minnesota.

So we could try fixing homelessness in MN and go from there.

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u/Super_Mario_Luigi 8d ago

In the US we have infinite programs and spending for homeless. They can also usually stay at a shelter indefinitely. It's just that it's become a new speaking point that it's compassionate to leave them in the street.

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u/Stunning_Scheme_6418 7d ago

Obviously you have never been in a shelter.

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u/tatapatrol909 8d ago

Not true. There is not infinite spending on homelessness (the only infinite funding in the US goes to the military) and most shelters don’t allow indefinite stays. Some light googling will help you out here.

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u/depressinglyawes0me 8d ago

Pretty sure being a sex offender is a choice

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u/jojo_Butterscotch 6d ago

So is being a murderer, bank robber, multiple DUI driver.....and a whole host of criminals. But sex offenders - no matter what the underlying charges are forbidden in some cases from getting a job that can afford an apartment, much less a house. Forbidden from living in a shelter or in some cases even prohibited from moving into a town. So they, along with many others, live under bridges, etc.

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u/Yunzer2000 6d ago

No really - some sex offenders are caught for some pretty minor stuff entrapped by undercover-cop-prostiitutes and the like.

And the more severe sexual disorders are like other psychopathology or personality disorder which is difficult to treat.

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u/Necessary-Score-4270 8d ago

Mainly unchecked fear mongering reporting. But right and "left" leaning news orgs shit on the homeless and treat them as subhuman. If they even talk about them at all.

And the homeless are used as a kind of "scared straight" thing.

Example. "Dont to drugs kids or you'll end up like them." - "do what your parents tell you" etc.

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u/Medical-Gene-9439 8d ago

This post almost made me cry. The truth is, American culture holds that individuals dont deserve anything that they can't provide for themselves. Maybe for a few weeks after a house fire or natural disaster, but no longer than that. Thats why we are the only developed nation in the world without universal health care. Pretty dark, but pretty true.

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u/No_Hold_8565 7d ago

Yes this plan is the same throughout the Nordic Circle. I’ve worked in social services in Deutschland and Switzerland so I can confirm it is the same.

I have also worked in canada and they should be ashamed. They really have very little in terms of social services and absolutely no humanity. It is truly barbaric compared to developed and civilized nations. Their social services are worse than even the most basic assistance in South America. They should be used as an example of what NOT to do unless you hate your own population. 

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u/RoboTaco_ 8d ago

It is not fair to compare Finland to the US. The US is massive with a massive population. Each state has its own government as well.

The US does have homeless shelters. And there are social workers. There are also charities and depending on the city, county, and state there are government programs and resources in varying degrees.

Each state has its own economic budgets and priorities. And there are states that rely on federal handouts because they are in the red vs other states that pay more in taxes than they get back from the government.

For instance NYC has right to shelter where all homeless has access to shelters. But there are still people that choose to be on the street. It is a choice for whatever reason. The reason is inconsequential because they have the option and have the autonomy to decide if they want help.

Making blanket generalizations about the US is unfair.

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u/Recent-Stretch4123 8d ago

Fuck that. The US has more resources per capita than any country in the world. Not fixing homelessness in this country is a deliberate and malicious choice. Fuck states rights, we could have a fully funded federal solution to homlessness tomorrow if our representatives wanted to, but they just don't see them as human beings, end of story.

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u/Baselines_shift 7d ago

What does Finland do about the mentally ill homeless, and the drug addicted homeless? Are they given more structure along with the housing? I'd imagine they need more than the suddenly jobless and can't pay rent homeless or the lost their home in floods homeless.

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u/Bubblegummie- 7d ago

There are still some long-term homeless people like these you described, who don't either seek or accept the help. Mostly drug-users.

Right now there seems to be a nationwide program going on aiming to remove long-term homelessness. They seem to be focusing on having enough cheap apartments that are supported by the government. Some of the apartments have "supported living" services included, that help people with their personal needs and struggles. The program seems to be targeting especially young homeless people to prevent long-term homelessness.

There has also been discussion of creating some public spaces, where you can use drugs legally in a controlled, safe environment. That way social workers could also reach you easier. But that would need big changes made to the law, so I think the discussion has mostly stopped by now.

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u/ScuffedBalata 7d ago

Finland is literally the highest “trust” society in the world. There are a few places in the US that tried handing out housing and it was largely destroyed by residents in weeks. 

We can’t even have open public bathrooms at parks because they get filled with drug needles and feces smeared all over the wall within 24 hours of opening. All of the local parks have semi-permanently closed any kind of indoor facilities because of that. 

I’m not sure how to handle that or what the cause is. 

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u/Jujitsumangradmuslim 7d ago

Is it gun crime higher in Finland than Switzerland even though both have widespread gun ownership?

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u/Redirkulous-41 7d ago

(The standard rebuttal to common sense policies:) But-but-bu why would they even work at all if they could just get an apartment for free??

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u/MamaEOC 7d ago

What happens to people with severe, persistent mental illnesses or heavy-duty addictions? The kind of people who cannot manage independent living even of their rent is paid by someone responsible for their finances and techincally sufficient money from social services.  Are there residental places they are made to live?  Is there just a lot of family support (i doubt that is the case in nordic countries with statistically small families of cultures glorifying/admiring of individual independence?)  Is there involuntary treatment?

There must be more to this.  It is definetely not that simple.  Historically in north america, we had jails, workhouses,  assylums, residential homes for seniors, long-term care facilities for people with brain injuries and severe physical disabilities, etc.  The move away from confinement and forcing people to be institutionalized makes it very complicated for a group of very vulnerable, very ill, and not very functional people who are struggling with little or no family support.

A person suggering from severe delusions, paranoia, and troubking hallucinations can of course be placed in an affordable apartment with aid of social workers especially if affordable government run housing is available.  The problem occurs when such a person's mental state means they will not be able to stay in their home, may actually damage or destroy it, and may flea in fear of the terror in their minds from that very home.  A roof over their head doesnt actually solve a lot of the kind of homlessness that people in north american cities are concerned with.  Someone homeless because of their addiction needs support with their substance use (if they want it)...how do you do that?  Thise are the very people who neighbours want out when they move in, because the problems don't go away when you are inside a home. They are there too...and they lead to ending up back outside.  Is addiction not an issue on nordic countries? If not, why not?

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u/InevitableRhubarb232 7d ago

What do you do if you’re paying for their apartment but they won’t get a job because they do drugs? Do they lose the apartment?

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u/ConfusionsFirstSong 7d ago

I wish so much that this was true of the US, but there’s an entire culture built around the idea that “government handouts” are enabling laziness and moral degeneracy.

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u/Janes_intoplants 6d ago

I wish this was the way in the us.

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u/Dismal_Estate9829 5d ago

Culture and population is drastically different.

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u/Mariposa102 5d ago

Uh. Being a sex offender is a choice. And a poor one at that. 

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u/DahQueen19 4d ago

That’s the way it was supposed to work here. I’m not sure where we went wrong. I have an idea but it’s much too complicated to try to explain here. It would take a dissertation.

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u/Sarahhelpme 8d ago

As an American, I'm curious how this works in practice and I'd love to learn more. If they get a stipend for rent & basics when they are jobless, does anyone try to stay there forever and intentionally not get a job?

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u/stellardroid80 8d ago

Yes there’s always a trade off . In my European country of origin we have quite generous unemployment benefits too. It means people don’t become very poor or homeless if they lose their job (or are unable to work) but it does also create a problem of chronic unemployment because there’s not enough incentive to look for work. But that is a small minority. So the government has to find a balance between looking after people but still incentivising job seeking. Whatever system you design, a minority of people will abuse it. The question then is whether you punish everyone to prevent a small amount of abuse, or you look after the majority and try to prevent abuse as much as possible. Different countries make very different choices in that.

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u/SmileFIN 8d ago

https://www.bigissue.com/news/housing/homelessness-finland-rough-sleeping/

That's a lie. If you can't fulfill the demands set out to you, your minimum income for month will be cut by 40%.

The rapid increase in street homelessness is particularly worrying. This refers to the number of people living outside, in stairwells and emergency shelters, which rose by 50% in a year to 694.

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u/drocha94 8d ago

Could I get some clarification for which part of their comment you are calling a lie? I want to look into this

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u/freddbare 8d ago

Homeless by choice is really common in the states that provide free drugs/food. No incentive to join society, don't want the 'rules":of the housing more common than a "bad luck/temporary "

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u/itsyoursanyway 5d ago

Are these people in the apartments mandated to receive mental health counseling?

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u/mewlsdate 8d ago

Finland homeless population is 4500. California homeless population is 187,000 people. There is no shortage of funding and benefits given to homeless people in California. There's a massive problem on America making it possible to choose to not work and be a productive member of society and still survive and sometimes survive pretty well. Be it as it may California has thrown 24 billion on housing for homeless in the last 5 years and homeless has went up 30% since then. It's a choice in a vast majority of cases. And America enables it.

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u/Prestigious-Swan6161 8d ago

Yes exactly. The only thing that makes someone homeless is an inability or unwillingness to rent or own a home. 99% of cases of homelessness it's inability. I don't remember the statistic but something like over 50% of people who are homeless were disabled before they became homeless. If you have a housing system where people don't have to work for money to have shelter it's simply not an issue. Ideally you work with the root causes and the housing issue, but starting with just getting people into housing would do a lot.

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u/Super_Mario_Luigi 8d ago

99% inability? I'd love to see that data

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u/def-jam 7d ago

You are correct. Housing first solutions are the best option. Once you have a house, access to hygiene and an address, remedying your housing situation IF YOU ARE CAPABLE is much easier.

If you’re in need of further supports such as mental healthcare, social services, physical health care, addiction Tx, etc you are now at a space where these professionals can be accessed.

But then some jackass will yell “but they’re getting something for nothing”. Correct just like a child that needs medicine. We’re helping them be better

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u/Inquisextor 8d ago

Not sure what stat you’re directly referring to but I know over half (53%) of the homeless population are people with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Meaning most of them suffered a serious injury, didn’t get all the help they needed from the medical system and are expected to care for themselves after discharge even if they may not be able to anymore

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u/buckeyerabitt 8d ago

Most homeless have mental illness.

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u/dixiebelle64 8d ago

No. Not close. Those are the visible ones.

My grocery store parking lot currently has six car campers. They sleep in their cars at night and go elsewhere during the day. I think I know 3 of the people, but the others aren't as clear. So long as they dont leave trash and leave when we are busy, no one will ever care.

Apartment rentals in my town basically start at 1000 for the crappiest unit imaginable. With a month deposit, first month in advance and triple income and references to qualify. It is really hard to get into an apartment if you hit a bump in your life. Housing is stupid here.

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u/Stunning_Scheme_6418 7d ago

Not to mention that if you have been evicted or have bad credit you are screwed. Also not to mention how hard it is to get and keep a job without an address easy access to hygiene and transportation.

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u/onionme2022 8d ago

Yeah mate I live pretty close to Kensington and it’s 99% inability.

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u/NicholasLit 5d ago

Could housing cure homelessness?

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u/bigtittus 5d ago

you don’t have a fucking clue

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u/ProbablythelastMimsy 8d ago

It's a far lower % than 99%

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u/BornElk2792 8d ago

Bullshit. Drug addiction is 99% of the problem here.

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u/Stunning_Scheme_6418 7d ago

I got clean eight years ago it took me a further three years to get housed. There were no treatment centers available I had to kick on my own. Then I had to move away from my crowd. Then I stayed with family for a bit after a month I was in a shelter after a few months a roach and bed bug infested apartment. Then back to my home state and with different family for a month. Then into a studio with no bugs. Now i.am in a mobile home and stable ish. Trust me just get help and get clean is not as easy as it sounds. Furthermore I am highly intelligent mostly without mental issues and it took me years to get off the streets. How is someone not as smart or with mental illness or God forbid a couple kids supposed to navigate this shit without access to actual help?

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u/Low-Individual2815 7d ago

Just gotta keep on trucking brother, good luck and god bless

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u/BornElk2792 7d ago

If you have been clean for 8 years and still can’t manage to house yourself, would you really consider yourself intelligent? Lmao geezus christ

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u/Stunning_Scheme_6418 7d ago

I am housed now and have been for a few years. It was really really hard to do tho. And make fun all you want. I guarantee you couldn't achieve what I did starting where I did.

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u/BornElk2792 7d ago

I’m a 9th grade dropout who served a 7 year prison sentence in California DOC. All because I had a drug addiction. I sobered up and decided to live life right. I now own a home in SoCal. I’m not making fun of you, you sound like you’re doing good and you should be proud of that. But let’s not pretend most of our problems wouldn’t even have existed if it weren’t for addiction, in one form or another. Stay strong.

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u/superlibster 8d ago

There are good options and homes for everyone you mentioned except drug addicts or alcoholics. If you’re homeless it’s almost always because of some substance abuse addiction. And for those I could care less about. If you can stay off drugs, you can find a home. The reason homeless don’t use homes is you can’t be high there. Fuck em.

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u/Present_Ad6723 8d ago

Like…ok, great answer on the state of what it means to be homeless, kind of sounds like an AI response and in no way offers a real opinion as to an answer that is actually needed right now, not in a fictional world where we’re taking the time to sort people out and give people the care they need

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u/Silver_Cartoonist_79 7d ago

Bipolar is not how you describe it. Paranoia and hallucinations is schizophrenia just saying.

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u/Party_Journalist_213 7d ago

Except you forgot the massive category of people who have inconceivable drug addictions.

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u/Mobile-Package-8869 4d ago

They mentioned drug addicts

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u/Low-Individual2815 7d ago

This is part of the problem with homeless shelters is like when you’re just a dude that made some mistakes and is trying his best to work hard and get his shit together, it’s not super beneficial to be stuck around a thousand crazies and drug addicts.

Don’t get me wrong nobody owes me anything and I’m grateful for any shelter I ever had to stay at but yea there are a lot of people in there that should be in a hospital or a drug rehab

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u/Due-Selection-5453 4d ago

Bro this article is gangster. We need to post this on multiple platforms but cross out the name for privacy.

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u/etcpt 8d ago

Also, the "homeless" as a whole are a much bigger population than the street campers you see most obviously. For every person camping on a sidewalk or sleeping on a park bench, there's at least one more person who is sleeping on a friend's couch, or in the woods on the edge of town where you'll never notice them, or in the back of their van at a rest stop looking like just another traveler who didn't get a hotel. So when we focus on the "visible homeless", even when we do outreach to them and try to address their needs directly, we risk looking right past those folks who are also housing insecure but maybe in a slightly better place.

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u/Stunning_Scheme_6418 7d ago

It's like its own caste system. You have vans and RVs and couch surfing then car campers then tent people then people sleeping out rough under the bridge or in bushes. You are right it's a much bigger population than people realize. When I was a car camper you wouldn't have pegged me as homeless because I used the resources for clothes and showers and never stayed the same place twice in a row.

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u/sazerak 8d ago

Wow this is a really good answer, do you work on public policy? If not please start

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u/Small-Expert-4020 8d ago

Thank you for this thoughtful answer!

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u/anonareyouokay 8d ago

There's also homeless but crashing with family.

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u/Euphoric_Nail78 7d ago

Or with friends. My student town had a terrible housing shortage, so we had friends couchsurfing all the time.

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u/msallin 8d ago

Have-Nots, Can-Nots, and Will-Nots

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u/herbicide_drinker 8d ago

you didn’t even remotely answer OPs question, okay we are talking about these issues now where do they go?

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u/craze4ble 8d ago

Really good analysis of the situation, but doesn't answer OP's question at all.

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u/Murky-Ant6673 8d ago

I wish I could upvote this more than once, very well said!

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u/Trawling_ 7d ago

Just wondering, but does the same logic apply to housing affordability? Maybe not directly, but in some ways?

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u/printershredder 6d ago

How about rather than arguing about the causes of homelessness address the original question? Where to go? Demolish an abandoned building and the occupants go somewhere. In my city the homeless tents under freeway overpasses were bulldozed. So the former occupants got into their custom tour bus and decided to drive to Orlando for a week at Disneyland? NO THEY DID NOT!

They are poor/homeless and don't have a tour bus or a Toyota Camry. They have shopping carts, duffel bags, trash bags, and rolling luggage. And they walked from the freeway overpass where they were living to the street half a block from my home. A neighbor with kids call police when a naked guy (obviously a wack job) walked down the street.

So back to the original question: where should they go? My answer is to build dormitory hosing as cheaply as possible near high jobs of opportunity. Consider chicken-plucking plants and dairy farm where people are needed replacing deported workers. Setup a YMCA equivalent with free wifi, bathrooms, laundry, showers, basic health food, and a minimal clinic they can access from their dorm. Setup a cheap canteen and they only have to pay for healthy dorm food meals. Not every homeless person would go, but some people wanting a life restart would love to be able to save 90% of earnings.

Yes, all the problematic people make life in one of these dorms tough. Build housing in small geographically disbursed clusters. If they scream all night, let them be the founding member of the scream all night dorm. Let the domestic abuse escapees create their own dorms and run their own daycare with live video feed going to every parent. Etc.

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u/Daisy1738 6d ago

This doesn't really answer the question

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u/Due-Disaster9127 5d ago edited 5d ago

Yes, yes, homelessness is complicated. Taking one of your examples, how would you prevent or mitigate a bipolar woman who is homeless because she doesn’t take her medicine? If your answer is, “it’s complicated,” you are part of the problem.

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u/i_woke_up_as_you 5d ago

what!?!! chemotherapy doesn’t solve diabetes? 🤣

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u/United-Palpitation28 5d ago

While this is a very compassionate and understanding view on the nature of homelessness it does nothing to answer the OP’s actual question. Identifying the root causes of homelessness does little to remedy the problem of homeless camps. The question is where do these people go when the government comes in and forces them off the streets? I don’t have the answer but you certainly won’t find it in the pedantic method of classifying different types of homelessness

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u/traveler-traveler 5d ago

This is well said

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u/Able-Swing-6415 8d ago

It's actually pretty easy. If you're homeless because you can't afford a home? We should give you a home. If you're homeless because you can't function in society? We should give you a home with mental care. If you're homeless because you like the lifestyle fuck you. (Probably 1 in 1000 people)

There is just zero reason to have homeless people in the city. Even with all the mental facilities and housing costs it would be a tiny fraction of gdp to solve this problem ethically forever.

The real problem aren't the homeless but the greedy corporations that won't let you build enough housing because it would lower the ROI of their real estate so they lobby against it.

The problem is easy, the solution is not. Because powerful people don't want it to be solved.

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u/Stunning_Scheme_6418 7d ago

And added to that is the stigma. Everyone looks down on them as being lazy criminal drug fiends who don't deserve safety or warmth. I pay for my house why should you get it free crap too. Well Joe if you also want to go live in a tiny subsidized house with paper thin walls go ahead. Like as if low income housing is a mansion on the hill or something. It's better than under the bridge but nothing for a stable person to envy.

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u/Stunning_Scheme_6418 7d ago

And the wait for that housing always has a wait-list. So you sleep where you can for several months before you get it.

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u/jonny_sidebar 7d ago

Yeah, the stigma is a bitch. 

A club I worked at a long time ago hired a homeless guy without realizing he was homeless. He worked there for about a month, got a little on his feet, and had rented an apartment. . . About a week before the club fired him because a new bouncer remembered him from the street. 

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u/someothernamenow 8d ago edited 8d ago

That's fine and all, but why then are we making ordinances forcing people out of the communities that they are establishing? Surely, we can come up with a better solution than treating them as if it were "last call" at a bar.

Because to me, it just looks like a power struggle between the ruling class and it's subjects, and the ruling class are demonstrating the callousness that it takes to be like them. Sort of makes you understand why homeless men go on killing rampages for what the newspapers describe as "no apparent motive."

Downvoting... Reddit's inability to grapple with its truth. It never gets old guys. We just wept over two kids murdered for praying in church, what other abomination can we fuel next?