7 ms·

> Within a fortnight, the police had trashed the amenities This sounds like a convenient anti-police narrative to me. I've never worked with homeless directly

> Within a fortnight, the police had trashed the amenities This sounds like a convenient anti-police narrative to me. I've never worked with homeless directly but I have several friends who have and one who still does. There's probably no broad demographic in society that is more efficient at destroying their own amenities. Granted, that's usually addicts. And I know not all homeless are addicts, not all addicts are homeless, but it is undeniable that there is large overlap between the two groups Anyways, my point is that blaming the police for destroying the amenities feels very fishy to me.

giancarlostoro 3y ago
Some of the homeless people don't want a home. They don't even want to be in the system, now become someone says that's anecdotal, I'm not saying ALL OF THEM, I'm saying there's a minority of them, who are in fact fugitives, or maybe they just don't want to go back to their old lives due to some trauma or stress. Even so. My point being, you'll never 100% solve homelessness. Some are also dealing with serious mental issues. I was part of a homeless non-profit for about a year so I got exposure to all sorts of different scenarios. We were able to get some off the street, some literally had relatives who would have given them a home, but they needed to sort through their personal issues first. You can't fix everyone even with infinite resources unfortunately, I'm not saying that if you can help don't, I'm just saying, I feel like some people think they can end homelessness, we're too far from that.
- justsomehnguy 3y ago
  > Some of the homeless people don't want a home. To understand the problem we should first define what is 'a home' is and then we should ask homeless about what they do understand as 'a home'. People who never actually interacted with homeless in any [bigger than some spare change] capacity would never understand that. > They don't even want to be in the system And this one is even harder, because most of them has a deep aversion and/or distrust for 'the system', for whatever reason. > We were able to get some off the street Kudos to you and your fellows, but, as you probably know already, many, many who get off the street gets back, often in a quite short time. > part of a homeless non-profit for about a year If you don't mind and the reason for quitting was related to it - what was the reason? Idle curiosity from my part.
MeImCounting 3y ago
The fact of the matter is that specifically in the US, cops hate homeless people. Cops are violent and empowered and from my own subjective experience absolutely will take anything as an excuse to destroy anything belonging to homeless people, from amenities to personal belongings. I dont see anything even remotely fishy about the idea of cops actively destroying social amenities. Regardless of any problems that may be more or less likely in a homeless population that doesnt change the fact that cops are a tool of anti-social conservative politics and actively try to prevent social programs from working or being implemented.
b4lr0g 3y ago
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jrflowers 3y ago
You make a good point. A post about a specific event wherein police trashed amenities is a convenient narrative, whereas broad talk about demographics is not. In a similar vein, in Portland, Oregon it is common to see police employ heavy machinery to bulldoze homeless camps. It is convenient to say that the police are responsible for that because we do not know that the police aren’t themselves homeless and demolishing their own camps (something they would be demographically inclined to do as homeless people)
pasabagi 3y ago
The facts aren't in question, although the police say they 'evacuated' the camp (at four in the morning, with force) - and they've done so four times, destroying everything in the process. https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20221206-strasbourg-city-mayor-sues-french-state-for-failure-to-accommodate-the-homeless https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20221206-strasbourg-city-mayor-...
- bluefirebrand 3y ago
  I don't see any statements in your source suggesting the police used force, so maybe the facts are in question after all? The police dismantling an illegal tent city is not the same thing as "the police destroyed amenities that the city provided to the homeless"

giancarlostoro 3y ago

Some of the homeless people don't want a home. They don't even want to be in the system, now become someone says that's anecdotal, I'm not saying ALL OF THEM, I'm saying there's a minority of them, who are in fact fugitives, or maybe they just don't want to go back to their old lives due to some trauma or stress. Even so. My point being, you'll never 100% solve homelessness. Some are also dealing with serious mental issues. I was part of a homeless non-profit for about a year so I got exposure to all sorts of different scenarios. We were able to get some off the street, some literally had relatives who would have given them a home, but they needed to sort through their personal issues first. You can't fix everyone even with infinite resources unfortunately, I'm not saying that if you can help don't, I'm just saying, I feel like some people think they can end homelessness, we're too far from that.

justsomehnguy 3y ago
> Some of the homeless people don't want a home. To understand the problem we should first define what is 'a home' is and then we should ask homeless about what they do understand as 'a home'. People who never actually interacted with homeless in any [bigger than some spare change] capacity would never understand that. > They don't even want to be in the system And this one is even harder, because most of them has a deep aversion and/or distrust for 'the system', for whatever reason. > We were able to get some off the street Kudos to you and your fellows, but, as you probably know already, many, many who get off the street gets back, often in a quite short time. > part of a homeless non-profit for about a year If you don't mind and the reason for quitting was related to it - what was the reason? Idle curiosity from my part.

MeImCounting 3y ago

The fact of the matter is that specifically in the US, cops hate homeless people. Cops are violent and empowered and from my own subjective experience absolutely will take anything as an excuse to destroy anything belonging to homeless people, from amenities to personal belongings. I dont see anything even remotely fishy about the idea of cops actively destroying social amenities. Regardless of any problems that may be more or less likely in a homeless population that doesnt change the fact that cops are a tool of anti-social conservative politics and actively try to prevent social programs from working or being implemented.

b4lr0g 3y ago

[dead]

jrflowers 3y ago

You make a good point. A post about a specific event wherein police trashed amenities is a convenient narrative, whereas broad talk about demographics is not. In a similar vein, in Portland, Oregon it is common to see police employ heavy machinery to bulldoze homeless camps. It is convenient to say that the police are responsible for that because we do not know that the police aren’t themselves homeless and demolishing their own camps (something they would be demographically inclined to do as homeless people)

pasabagi 3y ago

The facts aren't in question, although the police say they 'evacuated' the camp (at four in the morning, with force) - and they've done so four times, destroying everything in the process. https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20221206-strasbourg-city-mayor-sues-french-state-for-failure-to-accommodate-the-homeless https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20221206-strasbourg-city-mayor-...

bluefirebrand 3y ago
I don't see any statements in your source suggesting the police used force, so maybe the facts are in question after all? The police dismantling an illegal tent city is not the same thing as "the police destroyed amenities that the city provided to the homeless"