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The programs that SF puts in place as part of the "non-profit industrial complex" that's risen up worsens the problem in two ways: 1) Too many of the programs

by JPKab 10y ago

The programs that SF puts in place as part of the "non-profit industrial complex" that's risen up worsens the problem in two ways: 1) Too many of the programs enable, rather than help the root cause, of homeless folks. 2) These enabling programs are very efficiently communicated among the homeless population, drawing them from all over the state and the country. I'm not some asshole who hates homeless people. I was raised by a single father because my mother was a mentally-ill and drug addicted person who was homeless or in and out of shelters for the majority of the last 25 years before she died in 2014. I watched as numerous programs did nothing but enable her addiction and undermine me and my siblings efforts to eliminate her addiction and get her to work.

yeahwhatever10 10y ago
Interested to hear what from your perspective is the root cause and how these programs enable it.
- JPKab 10y ago
  Not having a job or some collective sense of mission is bad for people, period. We are, at our evolutionary root, not designed to be idle or not tied up in some sense of collective effort to survive. ANY PROGRAM that doesn't provide this very much needed element of the human condition is going to fail. My ideal drug rehabilitation program for homeless addicts is this: give them drugs, and make them work at some kind of job to continue to receive them, as well as a basic income. This is based on a more recent theory of addiction (that I wholeheartedly embrace) following the "rat park" model of psychological isolation and emotional injury being a bigger contributor to compulsive drug use than the chemical dependencies. Edit: Forgot to say that the above would likely result in the majority of folks in the program to quit drugs in a few years on their own as they became happier and more socially connected individuals. All the programs my mom ever had available basically treated her like a helpless victim: stay away from drugs, take your lithium, and "of course we don't expect you to work. Just sit around and do nothing all day and here's your disability check". And let me add this: most addicts are actually pretty functional and capable of work if provided some amount of drugs. The cases where an addict won't be able to work are going to involve folks who are in withdrawal and need their fix. They aren't going to be doing clerical work or anything, but day labor and other basic work like that is 100% doable. This is the kind of work that cities like SF have available in large quantities for their public infrastructure.
- WalterSear 10y ago
  23% (~1 in 4) of SF's homeless became homeless elsewhere, were brought here by homeless non-profits, and subsequently ejected to the streets. http://sfgov.org/lhcb/sites/default/files/2015%20San%20Francisco%20Homeless%20Count%20%20Report.pdf http://sfgov.org/lhcb/sites/default/files/2015%20San%20Franc...

by JPKab 10y ago

yeahwhatever10 10y ago

Interested to hear what from your perspective is the root cause and how these programs enable it.

JPKab 10y ago
Not having a job or some collective sense of mission is bad for people, period. We are, at our evolutionary root, not designed to be idle or not tied up in some sense of collective effort to survive. ANY PROGRAM that doesn't provide this very much needed element of the human condition is going to fail. My ideal drug rehabilitation program for homeless addicts is this: give them drugs, and make them work at some kind of job to continue to receive them, as well as a basic income. This is based on a more recent theory of addiction (that I wholeheartedly embrace) following the "rat park" model of psychological isolation and emotional injury being a bigger contributor to compulsive drug use than the chemical dependencies. Edit: Forgot to say that the above would likely result in the majority of folks in the program to quit drugs in a few years on their own as they became happier and more socially connected individuals. All the programs my mom ever had available basically treated her like a helpless victim: stay away from drugs, take your lithium, and "of course we don't expect you to work. Just sit around and do nothing all day and here's your disability check". And let me add this: most addicts are actually pretty functional and capable of work if provided some amount of drugs. The cases where an addict won't be able to work are going to involve folks who are in withdrawal and need their fix. They aren't going to be doing clerical work or anything, but day labor and other basic work like that is 100% doable. This is the kind of work that cities like SF have available in large quantities for their public infrastructure.
WalterSear 10y ago
23% (~1 in 4) of SF's homeless became homeless elsewhere, were brought here by homeless non-profits, and subsequently ejected to the streets. http://sfgov.org/lhcb/sites/default/files/2015%20San%20Francisco%20Homeless%20Count%20%20Report.pdf http://sfgov.org/lhcb/sites/default/files/2015%20San%20Franc...