4 ms·
You're absolutely right! The homeless have always been with us, and it's high time government policy caught up with that. Yet, might there be a kernel of subtle
by Kalium 9y ago
You're absolutely right! The homeless have always been with us, and it's high time government policy caught up with that. Yet, might there be a kernel of subtlety here?
In some places, the homeless quite commonly register intersections or similar locations as their stationary home location. Then things like notices are delivered to them there. This, as grandparent implies, is not so straightforward with a mobile vehicle.
What does that leave? A requirement to constantly update your location of record with local government? Overbearing surveillance to track the homeless so government can reach them? All-electronic systems relying on devices and services the homeless almost certainly can't afford? None of these are great solutions. All are clearly problematic, in the damning social justice sense.
Again, you're completely correct. We need to admit, accept, acknowledge, and embrace our unhoused friends and neighbors. It's just possible that a truck and a tent under a bridge might pose slightly different levels of difficulty for addressing-type needs.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- vkou 9y ago> In some places, the homeless quite commonly register intersections or similar locations as their stationary home location. Then things like notices are delivered to them there. What about those that don't?
- evanlivingston 9y agoThen those people are pretty hard to contact!
- bsimpson 9y agoThere are also folks who choose to live in vans or RVs as a lifestyle. There are also folks who go backpacking overseas for months or years at a time, or who work nomadic jobs (like travel nursing) which move them every few months. You don't have to be homeless to lack a permanent address.
- Kalium 9y agoYou're right! All of these things are true, real, and valid scenarios that can lead to this situation. Those who have relative means will often maintain a mailbox of some sort. There are services that accept mail and scan it for you and other ways. Few of which are available to the homeless, due generally to a lack of financial means. Lacking a real permanent address doesn't inherently make you uncontactable by governments. It's the combination of lacking a permanent address and lacking the means to work around it that creates a perfect storm.