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/Jennysnumber_8675309]

It is an interesting take to say that mentally ill people don't belong in a facility receiving treatment and that they are better off on the street fending for themselves. Understandably there have been times in our history where the institutional model was a failed one, but the current "just leave them alone and let the congregate anywhere" model seems quite cruel. Especially in colder climates. This topic needs some real examination...not just feel good "leave them alone" platitudes.

[u/jmnugent → u/Jennysnumber_8675309]

As an older person, the biggest problem I see in society is we just keep sort of “round robin’ing” around different solutions, none of which are very humane or effectively implemented. By the time a generation passes, we start over again on the same list of failed ideas. Nobody seems to want to prioritize this problem and apply effective solutions.

EDIT.. you see this same kind of problem in businesses that have high employee turnover. They just kind of keep stumbling over the same ideas circularly without really making much headway.

When I do problem-solving,. I try to remember there's ultimately 3 ways I can do it:

• solve the problem just for myself.

• solve the problem for me and those around me.

• solve the problem for me, those around me,. and those who come along in time after me.

Effective and long term solutions,. should be intuitive (or properly documented) in such a way that someone 5, 10, 20 or 30 years from now can look at it and easily see,. "Ah,. I see why they did that in the way they did it"

[u/Ok-Chest-7932 → u/jmnugent]

That's all we can really do because the harsh fact of the matter is that some people just kind of fail. There will always be a small number of people who aren't able in any form to participate in society and any program for sustaining them is going to have elements of cruelty that are going to make people want to try something else. The only completely humane solution is to poor endless money into the pit of letting people indulge their drug addictions, because when you provide reasonable investment these are the only people who remain homeless long term, and that's not really good for anyone.

[u/jmnugent → u/Ok-Chest-7932]

Sure,. but part of what I'm saying is if we build up the safety-net to be stronger in other areas of society, whatever small number of people choose to opt out won't be as big of a problem.

And I don't just mean a better safety-net like "better shelters" and "better free food options".. I mean better streets, improved street lights, better security systems, more cameras, stronger walls and windows etc. Basically make it so the small number of people who might at some point feel compelled to steal or damage things -- cannot. Things have to be "not so easy to break" so to speak.

If someone wants to live as a vagabond out on the edges of society (or out on the edges of a city). That's fine. I think they should have the freedom to do that. But we should also shore up the things we do have in society so that theres:

• only 1 path to re-entering

• and all other paths are so hardened and secured that they can't be easily impacted.

[u/Ok-Chest-7932 → u/jmnugent]

Yeah, sure, but my city already did that, we actually have an excess of social housing reserved for the homeless at the moment. Might not have enough in 10 years if the economy goes further down the drain, but for now that's true. We still have a homeless problem because it was only a small percentage of homeless in the first place who were a problem.

And reinforcing entire cities is probably a lot more expensive than just putting the criminals in jail.