How to get the homeless off the streets

[dmc]

Your assumption is that if we took away all the safety nets and government support all of a sudden sick people would get better, jobs would magically appear that would fit everyone's skill level and provide them with enough income to actually pay rent, and the mentally ill and addicts would all of a sudden get with it, and employers would happily hire them. In the case of the homeless, which is what we are discussing here, there are 10 times as many homeless in the US as there are in Denmark--and guess what... Denmark also is the most socially progressive, with many social programs that the citizens are fine paying for. They have different homeless programs for different situations and they ARE working. Our situation with the homeless is not working because there aren't enough people taking the time and investment to look at the big picture, examine the root causes, and come up with housing models that actually work. If the programs aren't working, why are you blaming the people?

I'm not saying we should do away with all the safety nets. It just should not be a lifestyle. And some of the homeless probably should be put back into mental institutions.

[redfox]

I'm not saying we should do away with all the safety nets. It just should not be a lifestyle. And some of the homeless probably should be put back into mental institutions.

Yes, having safe & secure inpatient treatment facilities for mental illness treatment would be really helpful. (My sis works in this field, and her stories are pretty hard to hear.) The civil rights are important as it's not illegal to be mentally ill.

I have come to wonder what the word lifestyle means? What's the difference between 'lifestyle', and 'day-to-day living'?

[dmc]

It's so much easier to mock and disrespect than to have a productive conversation, isn't it? How different are you from the dudes hanging out in the 'hood, that you judge?

And you feel that the best thing for them is to keep them there. Give them enough that there is no reason to try and do better. Why work for $9.00 a hour with the hope to make more in the future when you can get more doing nothing. There are some that cant do better, but I actually believe most can.

Yep, I think Alan has it correct. Bigotry of low expectations.

[dmc]

I have come to wonder what the word lifestyle means? What's the difference between 'lifestyle', and 'day-to-day living'?

No difference, except some lifestyle's may be determined by society to be illegal.

[redfox]

And you feel that the best thing for them is to keep them there. Give them enough that there is no reason to try and do better. Why work for $9.00 a hour with the hope to make more in the future when you can get more doing nothing. There are some that cant do better, but I actually believe most can.

Yep, I think Alan has it correct. Bigotry of low expectations.

What I think is "best" for someone else is immaterial. I think that everyone, including poor folks and people of color are smart enough to make their own decisions about who they are and what they want out of life. It's very patronizing for me to have any kind of expectations, low, high, in between. Which is why this "bigotry of low expectations" thing is bogus.

[dmc]

What I think is "best" for someone else is immaterial. I think that everyone, including poor folks and people of color are smart enough to make their own decisions about who they are and what they want out of life. It's very patronizing for me to have any kind of expectations, low, high, in between. Which is why this "bigotry of low expectations" thing is bogus.

I'm curious, why do you bring up "people of color"? Do you have something against those that don't have color?

[redfox]

I'm curious, why do you bring up "people of color"? Do you have something against those that don't have color?

Nope!

[pinkytoe]

It is interesting to note that LBJ's War on Poverty will be 50 years old this year. I will have to go back and read how/why it failed in order to understand why we seem to be moving in the opposite direction with each passing year.

[dmc]

Nope!

Ive just noticed you use that phrase from time to time. Do some see most things as race? I don't refer to Joe as Joe, a man of color. He's just Joe.

[redfox]

Ive just noticed you use that phrase from time to time. Do some see most things as race? I don't refer to Joe as Joe, a man of color. He's just Joe.

I absolutely see race; it's an important part of someone's identity, history, and culture, be they Scottish & Caucasian, Guatemalan American (my oldest daughter), Egyptian immigrant (my BIL), first generation Latino (my fav neighbors), etc. Race is a social construct deep with cultural, if not biological and scientific meaning. Ethnicity is culture. Anyone who claims to not see race is fooling themselves, or operating on the presumption that the only way to view people as equals is to not see a core part of their humanity.

I also see see gender, height, & age. These attributes add to my understanding of someone as I get to know them.