4 ms·
When will we call the homeless crisis what it really is? A drug problem. The majority of the people you see on the streets in tents etc, are drug addicts. Refra
by Flatcircle 5y ago
When will we call the homeless crisis what it really is? A drug problem. The majority of the people you see on the streets in tents etc, are drug addicts. Reframing the problem as a drug crisis can give the people that are trying to solve it new solutions.
In a drug crisis, focusing on more housing might not solve the problem.
We have been trying to solve the problem with more affordable housing for a decade and every year the problem gets worse.
Because we're dealing with a drug epidemic. IMHO. It's opioids.
- craigmcnamara 5y agoYou're very incorrect. There are a huge number of people that are homeless that have full time jobs. There are a huge number of homeless people that don't use drugs. The problems they have are many and nuanced, trying to blame it on a single thing is a gross oversimplification of a complex problem. The solution to homelessness is housing first.
- liveoneggs 5y agopeople in tents?
- Flatcircle 5y agoFunny enough, your point of view has been the consensus over the last decade and has been used to formulate solutions and the problem’s only getting worse. So perhaps you might consider other points of view?
- craigmcnamara 5y agoConsensus is one thing, taking action on that consensus is another. We have failed to significantly increase the supply of housing so the cost of the existing housing has been on an unending march upwards. The solutions people are willing to implement are half measures and avoid the supply-demand causes of this problem.
- jerry1979 5y agoI came across research showing that the drug use people commonly find in homeless encampments leads to disaffiliation or the severing of social ties to people outside the encampment [0]. What do you think about the idea that addiction may not lead directly to homelessness, but rather that addictions prevent people from finding a place to live outside the encampments? [0] https://filtermag.org/drugs-homelessness/ https://filtermag.org/drugs-homelessness/
- x3n0ph3n3 5y agoDrug use is more likely a symptom rather than a cause. They are used for self-medication for other underlying social, mental, and other maladies.
- Gigachad 5y agoDrug use prevents treatment until the drug use is resolved. Shoving an addict in to a house and calling it job done will result in a destroyed home and a soon to be homeless person again.
- x3n0ph3n3 5y agoWe don't disagree, but solving the addiction is only a prelude to solving the thing that lead to the addiction -- which may or may not be solvable by the government.
- v7p1Qbt1im 5y agoNo. This reframing of the issue is incredibly reductive. The best thing you can do for homeless people us provide them with housing. Shocking I know. Once they have housing — no strings attached housing — you need to provide health care (mental/physical). Now they have a chance to get reintegrated into society. But without permanent housing nothing is going to happen. Having said this, of course drug problems are extremely prevalent among the homeless population. It‘s rarely ever the root cause of the homelessness though. Maybe they had an accident or illness and were prescribed opioids frivolously and for too long. After they are sandbagged with crippling medical dept they are addicted and can‘t pay for their expenses at the same time. Also, living on the street in extreme poverty is terrible and bleak. So no wonder one would end up depressed and start using even more opioids to mentally escape.
- s1artibartfast 5y agoWe should just build a resort city for them somewhere in the central valley and provide free housing, healthcare, and training opportunities. Anyone who doesn't want to go is left on their own and subject to the same expectations & laws as everyone else.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]