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?

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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- 9d 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 9d 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/buffalobluetongue 9d 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 9d 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 9d 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.