Quote:
Originally Posted by JustRalph
Wasted money. 90% of the homeless choose to be homeless.
The other 10% are temp homeless due to unfortunate luck or circumstances and will accept appropriate help up and out.
Some governments actually encourage em. When I lived in SoCal in 2003 I noticed small fires burning and lanterns inside the huge foliage planted inside the entrance ramps to the 405 from Santa Monica. My wife ran a restaurant not far from there. The freeway workers came in one day for a retirement party. My wife asked them about the lanterns at night. She was informed that 25-30 people lived in a homeless camp behind the foliage. The city installed the foliage to cover up the camp and they agreed to let the squatters camp as long as they stayed out of sight.  |
Many years ago, I went to a men's Christian retreat with a fellow who was running the local Gospel Mission. His position was, surprisingly to me, the same as yours.
His quote to me was that 95% of everyone on the street is either had serious mental illness or significant drug/alcohol addiction. He also said that most were unskilled and unprepared to support themselves, above minimum wage. In addition, he said that many, when
given a job, rarely last long because they wind up missing work because of arrest or hospitalization (from overdose or fighting). This included women.
At the time, I thought, "Boy, is this guy in the wrong line of work," but that didn't make him wrong. (He was in the wrong line of work, BTW. Just recently was released from prison. Again.)
Next we decided to turn our attention (and resources) to "taking a family off the street" once a year. We found some people involved with the homeless community to screen potential people for us.
The cost was about $12,000 per family and we had limited resources, so we needed to choose carefully.
The idea never got off the ground because in almost 6 months the screeners could not find a single family that were without addiction and abuse issues.
I am not holding myself up as an expert by any means, but it appears that many people on the street were aimed in that direction way back in high school and possibly sooner.
I'd look to the education system to turn the trend.
Just my opinion and limited experience.
Dave
