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Nothing solves homelessness like homes. No mental health program, court ordered treatment, financial assistance program, skills training program, or jobs progra

Nothing solves homelessness like homes. No mental health program, court ordered treatment, financial assistance program, skills training program, or jobs program will entirely fix homelessness for people struggling with maintaining an average everyday life. The only thing that will fix homelessness for people with the inability to make income and manage their bills is to provide them homes.

_-david-_ 4y ago
When people talk about the problems of homelessness they generally don't mean just people without houses. That is just a symptom of a greater problem. The majority of the homeless people have some sort of issue (mental or substance). Just giving them a house won't solve the problems they face, it will just hide it from the rest of us. If you want to provide housing and bill management as part of the solution that is fine, but it can't be the complete solution. Ultimately you need to fix the underlying problem so they can fully or partially support themselves. I would also say that just giving people houses will also not completely fix homelessness unless you ban people living on the street and enforce the law. Some people with mental illnesses will live on the street even if they have housing unless you stop them from doing it.
- cestith 4y ago
  Many of the reasons mental illness makes homelessness more likely have to do with difficulty keeping steady employment or lacking the executive function and presence of mind to manage finances. Yes, some people are so detached that they would wander parks and such anyway. But many, many people would be kept out of homelessness if they only had a little help with a place to live, some life management issues, or both.
  - _-david-_ 4y ago
    Some people are advocating just giving homeless people housing and then saying homelessness is solved. I'm not suggesting you are advocating for that, I just was attempting to be clear that something more than just providing housing needs to be done.
    - bombcar 4y ago
      “Giving homes” also doesn’t necessarily mean assign an apartment to everyone. Imagine “jails” that anyone can check into at any time, without being arrested or even accused. But deeper runs a fundamental issue - if the only tools you have are fines and jail time, how do you punish someone for minor crimes if they have no money or possessions? And let’s not dance around it, forcing someone to do something they do not want to do is a form of punishment, even if they profusely thank you afterwards.
      - _-david-_ 4y ago
        >“Giving homes” also doesn’t necessarily mean assign an apartment to everyone. >Imagine “jails” that anyone can check into at any time, without being arrested or even accused. OK? Not sure what that has to do with anything? If somebody wants shelter they can get it. Just because it isn't some great apartment doesn't mean that it is not housing. >But deeper runs a fundamental issue - if the only tools you have are fines and jail time, how do you punish someone for minor crimes if they have no money or possessions? I'm not advocating for only jail or fines. Maybe you are replying go the wrong person? >And let’s not dance around it, forcing someone to do something they do not want to do is a form of punishment, even if they profusely thank you afterwards. Not always. If a parent forces their child to go to school is that a punishment?
    - cestith 4y ago
      Call me a dreamer, but I believe in actually providing people the support they need to live if they are failing to make a go at it on their own. If that's some basic housing, so be it. If it's job training, great - we can use a more skilled workforce. If it's household management training, cool. If they need someone to make their budget and check in that they're following it, why can't a county office or university extension office help? If they need outpatient medical care - and mental health is health - then they should have access. If they need a support group or a sponsor to remind them to do things, or to take their meds, that's great for them to have. Maybe a lot of this the IT field could help scale, but it would take some number of people and some amount of funds. By criminalizing homelessness and blaming homelessness on mental illness, we're quite literally criminalizing being ill. We're falling for the Evangelical argument that bad things happen mostly to evil people. We're also spending more money making people full wards of the state who with a little bit of help here and there often can work and pay some taxes instead of sleeping in a heavily secured jail. People are like anything else that needs maintenance. You can invest up front and then invest a bit along the way, or you can let everything go wrong and spend a lot more to address the deficiencies you've clearly allowed. Some of that damage, just as with an ICE engine out of oil, may be permanent or even unrecoverable in cases where that didn't need to be the case.
Axsuul 4y ago
I live one block from Skid Row and it doesn't seem like just providing them homes will solve the mental illness.

_-david-_ 4y ago

When people talk about the problems of homelessness they generally don't mean just people without houses. That is just a symptom of a greater problem. The majority of the homeless people have some sort of issue (mental or substance). Just giving them a house won't solve the problems they face, it will just hide it from the rest of us. If you want to provide housing and bill management as part of the solution that is fine, but it can't be the complete solution. Ultimately you need to fix the underlying problem so they can fully or partially support themselves. I would also say that just giving people houses will also not completely fix homelessness unless you ban people living on the street and enforce the law. Some people with mental illnesses will live on the street even if they have housing unless you stop them from doing it.

cestith 4y ago
Many of the reasons mental illness makes homelessness more likely have to do with difficulty keeping steady employment or lacking the executive function and presence of mind to manage finances. Yes, some people are so detached that they would wander parks and such anyway. But many, many people would be kept out of homelessness if they only had a little help with a place to live, some life management issues, or both.
- _-david-_ 4y ago
  Some people are advocating just giving homeless people housing and then saying homelessness is solved. I'm not suggesting you are advocating for that, I just was attempting to be clear that something more than just providing housing needs to be done.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    “Giving homes” also doesn’t necessarily mean assign an apartment to everyone. Imagine “jails” that anyone can check into at any time, without being arrested or even accused. But deeper runs a fundamental issue - if the only tools you have are fines and jail time, how do you punish someone for minor crimes if they have no money or possessions? And let’s not dance around it, forcing someone to do something they do not want to do is a form of punishment, even if they profusely thank you afterwards.
    - _-david-_ 4y ago
      >“Giving homes” also doesn’t necessarily mean assign an apartment to everyone. >Imagine “jails” that anyone can check into at any time, without being arrested or even accused. OK? Not sure what that has to do with anything? If somebody wants shelter they can get it. Just because it isn't some great apartment doesn't mean that it is not housing. >But deeper runs a fundamental issue - if the only tools you have are fines and jail time, how do you punish someone for minor crimes if they have no money or possessions? I'm not advocating for only jail or fines. Maybe you are replying go the wrong person? >And let’s not dance around it, forcing someone to do something they do not want to do is a form of punishment, even if they profusely thank you afterwards. Not always. If a parent forces their child to go to school is that a punishment?
  - cestith 4y ago
    Call me a dreamer, but I believe in actually providing people the support they need to live if they are failing to make a go at it on their own. If that's some basic housing, so be it. If it's job training, great - we can use a more skilled workforce. If it's household management training, cool. If they need someone to make their budget and check in that they're following it, why can't a county office or university extension office help? If they need outpatient medical care - and mental health is health - then they should have access. If they need a support group or a sponsor to remind them to do things, or to take their meds, that's great for them to have. Maybe a lot of this the IT field could help scale, but it would take some number of people and some amount of funds. By criminalizing homelessness and blaming homelessness on mental illness, we're quite literally criminalizing being ill. We're falling for the Evangelical argument that bad things happen mostly to evil people. We're also spending more money making people full wards of the state who with a little bit of help here and there often can work and pay some taxes instead of sleeping in a heavily secured jail. People are like anything else that needs maintenance. You can invest up front and then invest a bit along the way, or you can let everything go wrong and spend a lot more to address the deficiencies you've clearly allowed. Some of that damage, just as with an ICE engine out of oil, may be permanent or even unrecoverable in cases where that didn't need to be the case.

Axsuul 4y ago

I live one block from Skid Row and it doesn't seem like just providing them homes will solve the mental illness.