3 ms·

I have had two friends, one still, homeless. I understand, and do not take for granted, that homeless people do not have ready access to clean clothes or shower

by cco 8y ago

I have had two friends, one still, homeless. I understand, and do not take for granted, that homeless people do not have ready access to clean clothes or showers. Does anybody think that homeless people can just shower and do laundry? If they do I do not know them. Regardless you still are making portapotties out to be disaster zones, some are for sure, I've opened some up and there is human waste covering the entire thing and I wouldn't suggest that people, homeless or otherwise, plop down and use that. But portapotties are relatively sanitary places, they're a totally fine, emphasis on fine, way to keep human waste off of the streets. Having pooped in a lot of places I would 100% choose a portapotty over an alleyway or my apartment building's stoop. I'm a little surprised by your opinion as well, I can't speak for every homeless person by any means but the ones I do know would definitely prefer to see an unlocked and clean portapotty if they needed to go vs. having to go in an alley. Sure, a bathroom in their own home would be better...but that isn't what we're talking about right? We're talking about a public health crises and it is inhumane to suggest we take no action and instead shout, "These people deserve homes!", even though they do, when they're literally dying of Hep A.

DoreenMichele 8y ago
I'm not suggesting we take no action. I'm just suggesting we take actions other than the one you are advocating. There is a huge difference between those two things. I'm actively working on this problem space myself and have been for years. I personally run multiple websites that help address the problem. I do my best to get that information into the hands of homeless people wherever possible, both via internet participation and handing out fliers to local homeless services and the local police department. (Here is an edited version of what I am distributing locally: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L5CsLmHLPUV1uehvRtu17H9yL5iKFa_2PAH2mEK1L64/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L5CsLmHLPUV1uehvRtu17H9y...) I'm also involved (very part time) with two local non profits who do urban planning and economic development type work. Some of that I get a little for. Most of it is done pro bono. I cannot afford to just give all my time away for free and such interests tend to not pay. I blog. I do freelance writing. I edit resumes. I do a little website work here and there. Still, I continue to struggle to get by. I suck at promoting my Patreon. People on the internet routinely tell me to go get a real job and stop trying to monetize my online work and yadda. I'm a woman. I appear to be the only woman to have ever spent time on the leaderboard of HN. But being a woman closes a lot of doors for me. People here occasionally give me a few bucks out of compassion when I'm especially broke. But I can't, for example, get much support for my Patreon. There are no doubt myriad reasons for that. But I don't know how to readily solve it. I am not willing to create a non-profit homeless services thing. That approach is antithetical to my beliefs about how to actually fix things. I'm just saying that I have done substantial research on the problem space. I wanted to be an urban planner before life got in the way and I have taken a college class on Homelessness and Public Policy through SFSU when I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area as a military wife. I think I have a good outline for what works. I am interested in promoting real solutions. But unless I can get an actual job in urban planning or economic development, the odds are poor that I can find a means to monetize my efforts to address this problem. Some of those reasons are inherent to the problem space itself. Among other things, poor people don't have a lot of money to give you to fix their problems. If you want to get your city to build proper public bathrooms with a 24 hour attendant, I would be all for that. I don't support a policy of more port-a-potties. I'm okay with you being all surprised and what not about that. I'm tired and I think I left my best comments much earlier. It's probably all downhill from here. I plan on trying to step away from the discussion. I think I've made whatever useful points I can reasonably make. People can do with the info I've already posted as they see fit.

by cco 8y ago

DoreenMichele 8y ago

I'm not suggesting we take no action. I'm just suggesting we take actions other than the one you are advocating. There is a huge difference between those two things. I'm actively working on this problem space myself and have been for years. I personally run multiple websites that help address the problem. I do my best to get that information into the hands of homeless people wherever possible, both via internet participation and handing out fliers to local homeless services and the local police department. (Here is an edited version of what I am distributing locally: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L5CsLmHLPUV1uehvRtu17H9yL5iKFa_2PAH2mEK1L64/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/document/d/1L5CsLmHLPUV1uehvRtu17H9y...) I'm also involved (very part time) with two local non profits who do urban planning and economic development type work. Some of that I get a little for. Most of it is done pro bono. I cannot afford to just give all my time away for free and such interests tend to not pay. I blog. I do freelance writing. I edit resumes. I do a little website work here and there. Still, I continue to struggle to get by. I suck at promoting my Patreon. People on the internet routinely tell me to go get a real job and stop trying to monetize my online work and yadda. I'm a woman. I appear to be the only woman to have ever spent time on the leaderboard of HN. But being a woman closes a lot of doors for me. People here occasionally give me a few bucks out of compassion when I'm especially broke. But I can't, for example, get much support for my Patreon. There are no doubt myriad reasons for that. But I don't know how to readily solve it. I am not willing to create a non-profit homeless services thing. That approach is antithetical to my beliefs about how to actually fix things. I'm just saying that I have done substantial research on the problem space. I wanted to be an urban planner before life got in the way and I have taken a college class on Homelessness and Public Policy through SFSU when I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area as a military wife. I think I have a good outline for what works. I am interested in promoting real solutions. But unless I can get an actual job in urban planning or economic development, the odds are poor that I can find a means to monetize my efforts to address this problem. Some of those reasons are inherent to the problem space itself. Among other things, poor people don't have a lot of money to give you to fix their problems. If you want to get your city to build proper public bathrooms with a 24 hour attendant, I would be all for that. I don't support a policy of more port-a-potties. I'm okay with you being all surprised and what not about that. I'm tired and I think I left my best comments much earlier. It's probably all downhill from here. I plan on trying to step away from the discussion. I think I've made whatever useful points I can reasonably make. People can do with the info I've already posted as they see fit.