Homeless centers spark nuisance debate

www.wkyt.com...

Since the Community Inn opened earlier this year, it's been able to serve the needs of many of Lexington's homeless, but some living nearby say it's also brought problems. "This used to be a quiet neighborhood, a real nice neighborhood, but since that came in..." Sheila Dunn said pointing to the Community Inn just down the street from her home.

Dunn is part of a growing movement of people who want to see the Community Inn shut down. "I do agree with that, and I would vote for that," Dunn said.

There are not many homeless shelters anywhere around this area. I hope that these shelters do not get shut down. People are really struggling. Closing these shelters would seem like kicking them while they are down.

It's really sad that people lose their homes to the Banks and then lose their dignity to their neighbors.

Banks: "Get Out!"

Neighbors: "Sorry about you being homeless but can you be homeless somewhere else?"

So much for taking a stand together.

Disgraceful

Thats disgusting.
People are so wrapped in this illusion. Just wait, The economy is screwed. Give it 6 months. See what their money is worth then.

Just a reality check is what's needed.

I had a conversation with a cab driver the other night. He was from Florida and told me about 2 shelters that were in the are he lived in. One was run by the city and one was a privately operated facility.

He said the city run shelter allowed the homeless to come in at any time in the evening/night. They could be drunk and high and they were not turned away. There were needles, condoms, and all kinds of other incidious "trash" strewn about the grounds.

The privately funded shelter had a curfew and would not allow people that were drunk or high to stay there. They had a strict program which had the visitors up at 5AM and they had chores to do around the grounds and in the facility. The place was clean and well run.

Here in AZ they give all the homeless free all day bus passes so they go hop on the lightrail. They are drunk and high most of the time and more often than not, they are acting completely insane. They puke and piss all over the seats and pass out on the benches so there's less seats for paying riders. I have seen homeless people completely sun burned, hadn't bathed in months, stinking to high hell, puking on the train floor and then swigging off a bottle of booze right after. One guy laying down on the bench seats had his back to the isle and his pants were falling off of him; you could literally SEE his a$$ hanging out! They rock, scream, yell and carry on conversations with the voices in their heads

I feel great pitty for the homeless here in AZ. Most of them are on the streets because they have severe mental health issues. AZ sux if you're not quite right in the head. "Here's your free bus pass, have a nice day!" and that's all you get......

Big difference when you have structure and RULES.

reply to post by DJDigitalGem


I did some volunteer work at some local shelters. One was wide open, allowing folks to come and go as they pleased. It didn't matter if they were drunk or not, they could come and go as long as they didn't drink in the shelter. The neighborhood this was in hated it as they had a lot of drunks wander by plus some fights.

The other shelter had a curfew and a no drunk policy. If you looked or acted drunk, even smelled like booze, you weren't allowed in. It was nice and clean and the staff, most of which had been homeless, were helpful. The big beef people had is that it was church based so each meal began with a prayer. In the morning, once breakfast was done, they'd empty the place out. The area this was in was ok with it after a while but in the beginning no one wanted it. After they begin to police themselves and kept the noise down it was ok. They still had a problem with some folks who had no chance of getting in (due to drinking) and causing problems outside but the police took care of that. This one has AA and stuff.

The veteran's shelter was the best one. An old hotel, they had shared rooms and those with jobs were given lunches to take with them. This one has AA, NA, etc. Everyone there has to do some job around the place, whether it's laundry or helping in the kitchen.

Sadly we're seeing a lot of homeless families now. One parking lot I pass on the way to work is now a makeshift campground, usually a dozen or so cars out there loaded to the gills with people sleeping inside.

What a shame. I understand though, like others have said, that some shelters can be dangerous, and location is something that needs to be considered when trying to find solutions to our states homeless problem. In my opin ion, the neighbors have as much rights as the shelter and the people living in the shelter. But rather than shut it down I would hope they can move it or something.

What gets me is the hypocracy surrounding the police and public reaction. In Lexington, KY there are dozens of UK fans pitching tents and camping out to purchase tickets. They are also noisy, etc. The public and police aren't complaining about them.

However, have a homeless family pitch a tent in the same area and the public and the cops want to attack them! The cops will tear down their tents and assault the homeless.

The only difference is their socioeconomic status.

If the shelter gets shut down, there will be even more people pitching tents. And there will still be an outcry from the public over that.

There for the grace of God, go you and I ! Not all homeless people are alcoholics and mentally ill, also not all of the mentally ill and alcohollics are homeless. With the mental health ammendments which have been put in place over the past 5 years, the target groups are people who are incappacitated by drugs and/or drink, all you have to be is confused or unconscious and you can find yourself institutionalised for at least three months, with NO rights, No support, No access to your own money, No right to complain. They can, and will charge you for this enforced stay, if you have any money, hell, they won't even let a family member make any decisions for you, unless they can show a LPA ( Legal power of Attourney ) form to them, and it will take a family member twelve months to qualify for one anyway.

No wonder there is a 33% increase in mental health referrals in the UK over the last year. A large number of homeless people are being cleared off of the street this way and the government is funding their stays if they have no money. It looks like they have found a new source of funds from these unfortunate people and now in the UK we are hearing of homeless people vanishing and the government is claiming that they are being kidnapped, to be used as forced labour, by criminal gangs. I think they are the ones behind the " clean-up " myself !

I don't know for sure that it's the newslink, but it was either that newslink or ats that put a trojan called opencloud security on my machine a bit ago. I keep doing google searches and downloading these programs to try and fix it, but then after it does the scan, you have to pay to have the stuff removed and nothing it has selected for removal is what I was doing the scan for in the first place. Thus there appears to be no way to get this off my machine other than paying $$$ at the computer repair place and have a technicial do it. So, just a heads up that someone at either of these two sites has ill intentions. I only had ats and the news site up when I was attacked. And avg in no way tried to prevent it, either.

So, be careful. I guess I have to give up and shut this down and find a technician tomorrow. I don't know how I am going to pay for it. I already have more basic bills than income as it is. SSI doesn't pay enough to live on. I don't know why people have to mess with others like this.

One chapter in my life was seven years as a "homeless" person. Here is a short snippet of how "they" feel.
One day after we are all gone from this place I will be asked were are you from and I will say, Planet Earth was my home.
I was better off than most, I had a truck, a storage shed and a pager. I dove in dumpsters and sold my findings at recycle or scrap yards, flea markets and associated clients work shops and businesses. I was quite good at it. Whatever I filled my truck with the night before I would sort and break down for scrap metal value and sometimes make good money at it. One time I found 6000 dollars of Platinum in a dumpster. The whole time I lived out of my truck or behind vacant buildings. Sometimes I would sleep under freeway overpasses with other people who were "Homeless" like me.

These people for the most part were quite capable of taking care of themselves and except for a few, weren't looking for any handouts or homeless shelters. Homeless shelters were scorned in fact, because you had to line up early to get in, there was a fee and you slept in cots surrounded by dozens if not hundreds of other thieving, groping, hacking and snoring indigents who would rifle your pockets or pack while you slept or showered. And they would always bum a smoke, a light, a candle, a quarter, until you thought you were going to scream.

I never hung there. I never stood on corners or 7-11's bummin for change either. Most of the people I knew didn't need anyone to pull them up or give them a dollar. A lot were vets, some were part time employed or living on disability and couldn't afford rent. For the most part they don't believe in fantastic sums paid now a days for renting apartments. They wanted to sleep out doors under the stars and travel by train or foot. They were happy with less. That was the hardest part for me to accept. Most homeless are not as ambitious or driven to succeed as are others plugged into the daily grind. It just isn't for them. If their belly is full and they have a place to lay their head then thats just fine. They are not down or destitute, they are FREE!

Most of the people I came to know were full of life and not a care in the world. I would sometimes join a little campfire that people were sitting around cooking some chicken or hot dogs and listen to them laugh and sing like birds. Hey man, want a hot dog? Nothing was hoarded and everyone looked out for one another.

Right beyond the tracks and the bridge were the multi - laned traffic hoards of people all bustling and running "to and fro", struggling to make ends meet. And right here in a little enclave in the dark, was a few quiet self fulfilled souls wanting for nothing and oblivious to that big busy world around them.

As I think of it now, I miss that part of it. That chapter in my life is full of lessons and memories that I remember with warmth, tinged with a touch of humor and fear. I highly recommend the experience if you can put up with living outdoors. It will build your character and understanding. Kind of gives you a whole new way of looking at things. From the Outside/In, as it were.

This thread is destined to go the same way as many more about things like homelessness and mental health have gone before it. It seems that anything concerning these very subjects make people uneasy so they turn a blind eye, well these very same subjects are about to become more real to many more people in the near future, as more people lose their homes and when they protest about it, they will get kdnapped by the mental health services as mentally confused, after they have been bashed on the head a few times by the Police.

If Americans sign up in droves for HOAs that mandate that they all cut their grass every week, and have rules against things like trash cans and wind chimes, and totally forbid any animals or gardens, then really, is it surprising?

I know a lot of people that get annoyed by a ton of things I would call little and inconsequential. Personally some things bug me a bit but I usually find as much humor in them as annoyance, or I just feel some compassion for them. I tend to be a very happy person.; The people that I know that get annoyed with their neighbors about - to me, little things- a bit of paper in the yard, grass that needs to be cut, their seasonal decorations, some toys left out- really those people are ALL on a ton of antidepressants and say they still don't work.

I don't really like to be around people that get annoyed and find other people nuisances really- they must have the misery disease that they want to spread- maybe we could make them nuisances instead somehow. Maybe public health nuisances.

There are a few in Guelph ON where I am from, the homeless people just refuse to go to the shelters, and they just beg for change, I think one is a crackhead and the other I don't know, they usually are around in the mornings and afternoons, but when the shelter was downtown the homeless would actually steal food from restaurants nearby

I would like to recommend that people read a thread started by loam, called " KIDNAPPED: How hospitals and the state can collude to destroy your life..., " , it has some importance to this thread because of the connection to loss of liberty through adverse living conditions and mental health issues. The mental health act has been changing behind peoples backs and they seem unaware of it, even people who work with it say that the last change was in 2005, the last change was on september 8th 2011. All of the latest changes are pivotal to the Lawful Deprivation Of Liberty act.

reply to post by intrptr


Did you ever have problems with the police while you were homeless?? Did you ever see any other homeless person having problems with the police?

Originally posted by Jessicamsa
reply to post by intrptr

 

Did you ever have problems with the police while you were homeless?? Did you ever see any other homeless person having problems with the police?

Yes, but not like you would think. For the most part the "homeless" encampments were known by the police who basically laid off unless they received complaints from the locals who were ALWAYS complaining about the damn homeless because they would see shopping carts or litter or someone broke into their car, etc. Then the police would come and tell us to be careful or we would be driven out of there. Thing is that if someone in our little enclave was creating a s problem, and it did happen, we would throw them out ourselves
If someone littered, we cleaned it up. And the shopping carts were left there by people on foot from the grocery store who dumped them and carried their groceries home. We valued the bit of freedom and space we had and defended that because it was all we had. Kinda don't crap where you live or eat, right? Cops knew that too and would go thru the moves of warning us, even though they knew the car breakins were by a gang of stereo thieves they were looking for.

Sometimes the cops were breaking in rookies and would practice on us (for real) like a training academy or something. We would endure that as well as a sort of price of admission. The cops also knew that if they didn't harass us that we would be more cooperative if and when a serious crime occurred in the area like a murder or missing child, etc. They would cultivate that kind of symbiotic relationship as mutually beneficial. They knew who each and everyone of us were and even checked up on us from time to time if someone was sick or needed anything. They were the only ones who did.

I spent 7 years outdoors and no one ever came where I was staying and offered me anything. Homeless programs, phooey. They are in word only. What was available was minimal and usually charitable and you had to go get it yourself. For the most part we knew we were on our own. The other kind of homeless person is a leach on govt resources sucking all that up and never getting "on their feet". It's easy to tell the difference. One hangs out around homeless shelters generaly being a nuisance, the other is seen riding a bike hung with sacks of cans heading to a recycle center. Or scraping metals and going to flea markets. They work hard all day reclaiming waste from garbage and generating money which they put back into society. And their carbon foot print is almost non - existent. They do not need nor do they ask for your help. They are (in)dependent, not (de)pendent on others.

I even had a guardian angel of sorts who watched out for me when other cops ran my name on the radio to check me out when I was dumpster diving behind buildings at night with flashlight and tools. He would come on and tell the officer I was a local and OK. Blew me away. I would cry. Took me a while to establish that kind of rapore and I had to be always clean and alert to their presence. Others who did dope or stole stuff from behind buildings whatever, did not last long. It was careful, or your out. Some times they wake you up and ask you to move on as in, not on my beat, etc. Some times there was middle of the night harassment or searches... what are you doing here?, etc. For the most part they were human too and actually admired guys like me who were independent of the system or "Free", like one cop used to tell me. One man said he would give a years pay to have what I had for two weeks . What's that, I asked. Freedom, he said. I told him it wasn't all that glamorous.

I had more to worry about from other homeless or so called "civilized " people than I ever had to fear from the police. Thats my experience though. Other people had addiction or mental health issues and traveled a different road. Things became more and more difficult as time went by too. After 9/11 they changed entirely. Thats when I came back indoors, and the policies of cities and their respective police departments have become altogether different. Laws have changed as well as attitudes, I don't think I could coexist that way again, and operate freely like I used to. Everywhere people and companies are a lot more suspicious of strangers (terrorists), even though that is a false paranoia. Its the homeless who are terrified of society, not the other way around.

I knew and heard of lots of other peole who had more trouble with the police than I did, but they were as it turned out mostly a race issue (both ways). That used to make me cringe. Or a drug or other criminal problem like I said. Those were interesting times. Sorry about the long wind. Thanks for letting me vent.

If you build it, they will come.

We're living in a time where there is great need.

Some time ago, there was a study that said 85% of the homeless were male and had drug and/or alcohol problems.

I don't think that the same demographic is still in effect. Now we have people who used to have decent jobs without a home.

I like to consider myself as a kind and compassionate person but I can understand why people would not want to have a homeless shelter build near them. You would be helping those people that are in a difficult time right now but you would also get the long term homeless that many would consider not desirable.

So, why not build homeless shelters away from regular housing.