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>This article makes the same tired argument that homeless people are all junkies and crazies which gets used to blame the people on the street. I'm confused. O

>This article makes the same tired argument that homeless people are all junkies and crazies which gets used to blame the people on the street. I'm confused. On your blog which you linked below, you wrote (in 2017) [0]: >Most people who are on the street have intractable personal problems, such as health issues, mental health issues or addiction. These difficult or impossible to resolve issues are always a major contributing factor to the fact that their lives have come unraveled. Doesn't that point to the same root causes and solutions expressed in the link? It's true that other states ship their homeless to California, but unless California just ships them back, then the solutions proposed in the link seem reasonable: >The way every other developed nation solves homelessness is through assertive case management, mandatory psychiatric care and drug treatment, and sufficient facilities of different kinds for different populations, from psychiatric hospitals to homeless shelters to permanent supportive housing. [0] https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/2017/10/creating-future-for-yourself-from-street.html https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/2017/10/c...

DoreenMichele 5y ago
Doesn't that point to the same root causes and solutions expressed in the link? Addiction and mental health issues tend to grow out of other problems. There are plenty of addicts with well paid jobs. It's common knowledge that rock stars are often heavy drug users. No one concludes that this must mean that the way to become a rock star is to snort cocaine all the live long day because, obviously, that's the source of their creativity. But when a homeless person has an addiction, we blame their lack of housing on the addiction and we feel they first need to get clean before they deserve housing and a decent life. It is unfortunately true that it is easiest to reach an audience if you meet them halfway on some of their assumptions. It's hard enough to get anyone to listen to anything useful and constructive even with that approach. I've been writing about such subjects for years and I think it is reasonable to say I'm a Subject Matter Expert. I have very little traction. People mostly prefer to hear the same rehashed nonsense from larger news sources rather than promoting someone like me. So I may never get much traction and that means I have little choice but to use some of the same language that is commonly used while wholly disagreeing with the way other people frame the problem overall.
- rblatz 5y ago
  What do you say about the studies referenced in the article that show improved outcomes for homeless people involved in programs that provide housing based on positive desired behavior outcomes like addiction treatment, passing drug tests, going to doctor appointments?
  - DoreenMichele 5y ago
    People who want to solve their problems badly enough will take the "half a loaf" solutions offered to them, even if they hate them. Choosing the lesser evil is a known rubric for fostering success in life, which is why it's a saying at all. But we don't want to give the homeless any credit for solving their problems in our awful system. We want to give credit to other people for kindly offering more beatings until morale improves. The assumption people tend to make us that you have to force homeless people to solve their problems and only wiser, morally better (wealthier) people are qualified to decide for them. Some people sometimes need a wake up call. A lot of people want their problems solved and need opportunity, something people mostly do not wish to give to homeless individuals, which becomes a head trip of a trap.

DoreenMichele 5y ago

Doesn't that point to the same root causes and solutions expressed in the link? Addiction and mental health issues tend to grow out of other problems. There are plenty of addicts with well paid jobs. It's common knowledge that rock stars are often heavy drug users. No one concludes that this must mean that the way to become a rock star is to snort cocaine all the live long day because, obviously, that's the source of their creativity. But when a homeless person has an addiction, we blame their lack of housing on the addiction and we feel they first need to get clean before they deserve housing and a decent life. It is unfortunately true that it is easiest to reach an audience if you meet them halfway on some of their assumptions. It's hard enough to get anyone to listen to anything useful and constructive even with that approach. I've been writing about such subjects for years and I think it is reasonable to say I'm a Subject Matter Expert. I have very little traction. People mostly prefer to hear the same rehashed nonsense from larger news sources rather than promoting someone like me. So I may never get much traction and that means I have little choice but to use some of the same language that is commonly used while wholly disagreeing with the way other people frame the problem overall.

rblatz 5y ago
What do you say about the studies referenced in the article that show improved outcomes for homeless people involved in programs that provide housing based on positive desired behavior outcomes like addiction treatment, passing drug tests, going to doctor appointments?
- DoreenMichele 5y ago
  People who want to solve their problems badly enough will take the "half a loaf" solutions offered to them, even if they hate them. Choosing the lesser evil is a known rubric for fostering success in life, which is why it's a saying at all. But we don't want to give the homeless any credit for solving their problems in our awful system. We want to give credit to other people for kindly offering more beatings until morale improves. The assumption people tend to make us that you have to force homeless people to solve their problems and only wiser, morally better (wealthier) people are qualified to decide for them. Some people sometimes need a wake up call. A lot of people want their problems solved and need opportunity, something people mostly do not wish to give to homeless individuals, which becomes a head trip of a trap.