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I was just thinking about this when typing up a top level reply. If you make things free, sometimes people will abuse it or do weird things - for example, homel

I was just thinking about this when typing up a top level reply. If you make things free, sometimes people will abuse it or do weird things - for example, homeless people taking sponge baths in public library bathrooms. But I doubt homeless people would clean themselves in public libraries at the same frequency if they had convenient access to "public showers" or some such. But there are a lot of wrinkles to this kind of thinking. What if there is access to shelter, but it imposes some kind of deal breaking restriction like no drug usage? Or no felons? Let's get even more controversial - what if the shelter bans sex offenders, should homeless sex offenders be forced to shower in libraries? Things get complicated, and a lot of politicians aren't willing to die on these hills when their housed constituents have strong emotional reactions to these things.

Dracophoenix 5y ago
It's called the tragedy of the commons.
temp8964 5y ago
Nuh. None of those fix the problem. They just fix tiny issues around the problem. The only way to reduce homeless is rebuild traditional value and traditional family structure. Less people get divorced, less kids get abandoned. People always get last resort from the big family and the church and family friends and church friends, etc. Get help from the government and charity organizations should be rare cases. But we are on the destructive path for a long time. Part of it is natural consequence of social change, but it's also partly due to some people think they are capable of design a new society from top to bottom.
- dasv 5y ago
  Yeah, because 100 years ago there were not any tramps, hobos or bums.
- watwut 5y ago
  > Less people get divorced, less kids get abandoned. Afaik, most abandoned homeless kids are queers, most often trans. Then kids with behavioral issues (yes, stemming from crappy parents in the first place). I really dont understand how return to traditional values and family structure would improve either.

Dracophoenix 5y ago

It's called the tragedy of the commons.

temp8964 5y ago

Nuh. None of those fix the problem. They just fix tiny issues around the problem. The only way to reduce homeless is rebuild traditional value and traditional family structure. Less people get divorced, less kids get abandoned. People always get last resort from the big family and the church and family friends and church friends, etc. Get help from the government and charity organizations should be rare cases. But we are on the destructive path for a long time. Part of it is natural consequence of social change, but it's also partly due to some people think they are capable of design a new society from top to bottom.

dasv 5y ago
Yeah, because 100 years ago there were not any tramps, hobos or bums.
watwut 5y ago
> Less people get divorced, less kids get abandoned. Afaik, most abandoned homeless kids are queers, most often trans. Then kids with behavioral issues (yes, stemming from crappy parents in the first place). I really dont understand how return to traditional values and family structure would improve either.