Fighting homelessness by giving homeless people houses

reply to post by AthlonSavage


Something I really never get about housing is the fact that our ancestors built everything we have around us. It has been payed for in blood and sweet. Yet generation to generation we are slaved to mortgages and high rent.

randyvs
This isn't even a matter of being right and wrong.

Very well said.... =)

We just have different views on how to achieve it.

My hope for any homeless person is a solid chance to turn their life(professionally, mentally, emotionally, physically) around because an endless free ride will more often then not enable destructive behavior to continue.

reply to post by Another_Nut


There are 12-14 states where you can sleep in a car or van legally. Some Wal-Marts will let you park on their lots if the manager allows it. Overnight only.

Been there. Done that. My state was illegal. I don't remember what the fine was. Hell of a lot safer than the shelters. Bathrooms arent always easy to find, food storage and prep, I lucked out and someone is helping me get a life together again.
I remember finding dark spaces on the edges of other parking lots until I would see the police start driving through. I bought a car cover for my cr-v and would park in apartment complexes then put the cover on. Walk around for a while and then slip back in to my vehicle.
Be safe. Dont stop believing.

reply to post by the owlbear


I use walmart and mcdonalds

For 3 dollars i get a little food a drink a bathroom and a place to sleep

I can live on 10 dollars a day if i have to

Showering it the hard part for most looking for work while homeless

Free showers are rare.

And walking into an interview where you can be smelt before seen is not good

..at least in my experience

reply to post by Another_Nut


Life is cruel sometimes. I hope things work out for you soon...

And until they actually do, provide land and even farms to all people of this earth, and hand empowerment back to them without any expectation of slavery, the people able to stand shoulder to shoulder in LA, so they can have farms and still have plenty of national parks and forrests, savvy??? Until they do, they are violating common law, real law, and committing the most base crimes against humanity, right up there with murder and torture. This is torture of people who already own equally, earth and its resources, in their liftetime, without slavery. No need to work for anyone but grow food and do as they please, and contribute out of their talents if they are generous.

Its not just a nice thing to do, its outright theft, slavery, treason and torture, murder etc. And its illegal, unlawful, demonology, satanism, etc. that all don't have land and homes.

It is major crimes against them and everyone.

reply to post by purplemer


Don't hope for me

Do something!

Help a person in need!

They are all over

Many with to much pride so they won't ask

But also wouldn't say no to your kindness

reply to post by Another_Nut


Baby wipes...good ones. Lotion for the winter.
I used to wash my hair in a state park with gallon jugs of water and shampoo behind my car. That will fetch you some looks in January in PA...but it is cold and not many park by certain trailheads.
It could have been worse. Deodorant is a must as well, but you know this. Perhaps some others reading this do not know how resourceful one must be just to survive. It is far from being "lazy." Top that off with the stress of finding and maintaining employment...people just cannot fathom what it is like until it happens.
And they should never say never.

onequestion
reply to post by randyvs

 

Randy we can all help each other without requiring validation for that help.

Its so childish to want something in return for help, its selfish and egotistical.

Im not commenting about your post but in response to what your responding too.

No it isn't childish, that is what the whole idea of the social contract is. If society can be expected to help you get back on your feet than one should be expected to do what they can to get back on their feet. Otherwise the fabric of society will just fall apart. There will be those who have no choice but to depend on the system for the rest of their lives for various reasons they can and should be treated differently.

But when it comes to an otherwise able-bodied person that just fell on hard luck some conditions have to be involved. A helping hand should be just that a helping hand, not a lifestyle. I have been through dire times myself and i begrudge no one that has fallen on them. Times where the only wish I had was that I could find a way to get a grant to go back to school. I have never forgotten how hard it was and how uncaring the world was about it. But I also knew that it was my responsibility to take every opportunity to improve my situation that I came across.

And it isn't cruel or mean to say it. How are you going to explain to people that are working their backside off that they should work a few more hours so an otherwise able bodied person can have a free house and expect them to keep working? How are you going to explain to me personally, after my own struggle to stay off the streets that I need to give even more for someone that is just as able as me that just wants to sit home and do nothing?

Understand this I have no issue helping anyone that has fallen on hard times. I have even given a complete stranger room in my own house before so they didn't have to stay on the street. But if society is going to give a home, healthcare, and clothing. And the only thing being asked of them is to take a paid for vocational training course so they can take care of themselves and start a family of their own. It sounds like a great deal to me.

reply to post by KeliOnyx


Society will not help you get back on your feet

Especially if you are a drug free male

If you care to peruse this thread you will find a few instances of kindness to people in my position

None by our government

But by individuals who care

There is no social contract

] Another_Nut
reply to post by KeliOnyx


Society will not help you get back on your feet

Especially if you are a drug free male

If you care to peruse this thread you will find a few instances of kindness to people in my position

None by our government

But by individuals who care

There is no social contract eta

Owl done forget to pickup a 7gallon water container from walmart

12 bucks and can be heated in the sun

reply to post by opethPA

My hope for any homeless person is a solid chance to turn their life(professionally, mentally, emotionally, physically) around because an endless free ride will more often then not enable destructive behavior to continue.

I believe you 0nly have good intentions and of course there will be
malfunctions in any attempt to help people. With human beings comes
everything from hoarding felines, to the criminal element. But there's a
local office for each of those items already in place. And from what I've
seen, government is never there to help. But people are getting really
sick of government crawling up in em, at every street corner where they
stop for a red light. And we do agree that people need and deserve a lot
better for the most part. So maybe what is going on Utah will catch on.

I seriously think it will be squashed by those who enjoy seeing people
demoralized. I will never understand them and don't want to know them.
It's enough just to know they exist and gravitate to places of power.
Not everyone in this world is a humnitarian. But there are many here on
ATS.

Well said again!

randyvs
But we do agree that people need and deserve a lot
better for the most part. So maybe what is going on Utah will catch on.

That's the key..It has to start somewhere and their just isn't an ideal solution to the homeless scenario.

What I think most likely is that the best for the most people is something in between what you have been saying "a house" and what I have been saying "a house with expectations"

I think an apartment building that has a business attached would be a good idea. Some form of manufacturing or something. You live in the apartments and you work in the business as your rent. Something that could provide a wide variety of jobs to people of different skill level and ability. These people then get a place to live and work experience and training.
One big problem we have is not enough jobs. This would help two problems, homelessness and lack of jobs.

poet1b

It has been known for some time that providing the homeless with permanent shelter is much cheaper than cleaning up after the messes they create.

There are many types of homeless people who are homeless for different reasons.

First there are people down on their luck, who get into a bad situation and wind up on the streets. These people are looking to become fully employed again. They take care of themselves, and most eventually find jobs, find help, and get off the streets.

There are the drug addicts and alcoholics, whose main aim is to keep feeding their addictions. Most will never get off of the streets, and wind up dying young.

There are the broken people. Something happened, that damaged them to a point where they will never be able to function again. It is really sad, but this happens to some people, and those people who don't have anyone to fall back on for support, wind up chronically homeless. Many of these people do ok on the streets. They learn how to survive and blend in.

A certain segment chooses to be homeless. Many of these people do well for themselves. They learn how to blend in, keep away from the authorities, find those places where they can camp, well hidden from society. They know where to find occasional work, and handouts, and work the system. Often they hunt and fish, and forage off of the land. They migrate with the seasons, and in most ways live a quality life, but it takes a lot of skill to survive like this. They aren't going to move into tent city.

Lastly, there is that segment of homeless people who are mentally ill, and simply do not have the coping mechanisms to succeed. This is probably the majority of homeless, at least from what I have seen. Their quality of life varies from decent, to horrible. These are people who should be treated as people with serious illnesses. If they can be cured, give them the necessary treatment. if not, the humanitarian thing would be to provide them with a place to live with a reasonable quality of life.

These different groups, and I am sure there are others should probably be dealt with differently.

The first group should be given training, and opportunity to get back on their feet. Remember the movie "The Pursuit of Happiness"?

The druggies and the alcoholics, we would all be better off to get them off of the streets, into rehab if they are willing to participate, and isolate them someplace away from society. Maybe we could set them up in special little communities.

Help the broken people mend themselves. Set them up in shared housing, give them counseling and an opportunity to rebuild their pride, and sense of self worth. Ease them back into a condition where they can be contributing members of society again.

The people who want to be homeless, live off the land, leave them alone, as long as they aren't committing crimes.

gotta say this is really well put...I agree with the different types of homeless completely...the reason for being homeless has to coincide with the help and resources provided.

Guys...an Gals, First we gotta see who WANTS to better themselves, giving a place to live to some homeless is one thing, but to see who will actually get up an work is another.
You remember that documentary, tent city? a few of those guys got back on their feet, but I remember this couple who were in their mid to late 30s who finally, after months get approved for an apt, but after the credits rolled by while revealing the fates of those people, you see that the vast majority of them ended up finding places an employment, but that same old couple...they were still jobless and there time at the apt was already reaching the 6 month mark an last you saw them was playing video games from a hand me down....
So really it all boils down to a succesful plan on who REALLY wants to get out an better themselves and weed out the ones who simply just milk the system an expect hand outs.
For starters, it would be totally random picking of homeless, told whats up, out up in a place an go from their. This would eliminate favoritism and the results would be much better seeing as the pool is randomly chosen.
Perhaps focusing on the homeless might be a better investment than those people who get USE to the food stamps an EBT cards, these people adjust their standards of living to food stamps and that's the vast majority of that mentality, to think that its cool to live off the government perpetually, the whole point being that food stamps will be enough to help you out as you look for employment so that once your good, you can get off government assistance...No, a virus has filled that hole.
With that being said, maybe shifting money to the homeless who actually want to work an get off the street might be better suited.
I'm telling you, regulated work camps, where we KNOW your working an can provide stats an updates on their situation and work output, thus providing a plan to get better suited for a real place to live and good job, enough to pay for basic needs.

reply to post by Arnie123


Here's what I think about your well written post and your ideas.

My good man anyone with your resolve and giving this issue as much
consideration as you do obviously. Should damn well be involved.

I see a lot of houses becoming drug houses.

That these big cities do not have now that they had are trailer parks.

After WW2 many veterans had and lived in trailers. my father and my grand parents all lived in small single wide trailers

My grand parents lived in trailer during WW2 working in the war industries and right after WW2 my father lived in a trailer while going to collage and moved the trailer to china lake when he started working for the navy.

After working civil service for a couple years he lived in the trailer while building his house.

I my self live in a 34 foot motor home.

Its a lot cheaper then renting a apartment and if i want to move i can at any time.

The problem now is few big cities have trailer parks and you can find them only miles from the cities and a long commute from many jobs.
with the low pay now few can commute long distances and can not afford to live closer.

You would be suprised how many homeless have jobs or are working collecting scrap or cans to make enough for food but not enough to rent a apartment in most cities.

reply to post by purplemer


I think I must have read a reference to this article recently somewhere like the Wall Street Journal or The Economist - because I remember reading that the most economical way to deal with the homeless was give them homes.

What really bothers me is that a lot of conservative Christians (I am a moderate with all sorts of friends) seem to think that it is the Christian Way to throw people out on the streets who can't take care of themselves - where is this negative thinking coming from? It's not religious -

But somehow, it seems like the economic argument is being used to counter some kind of bastardized religious argument - and it is good at that - but I wonder what is going on with Christians these days that many of them I talk to would honestly love to see helpless people on the streets.

reply to post by randyvs


Thank man, I grew up on some tough times, from relative to relative, shelter to shelter, food stamps...
So the moment I turned 17, I moved out, had a full time job and worked for everything.
I know a bunch of people in those situations who aim to better themselves...I also know those other people who eagerly await their monthly food stamp stipend...like my sister...,god help her.
If you really want something, get up an get it.,
sure somebody will come along to help you get up, but you gotta take that walk yourself and hopefully run to a good job that'll meet ends meet....metaphorically speaking of course.