
Homeless People Don’t Need an App, They Need a Fucking House - jamesknelson
https://jacobinmag.com/2019/06/homeless-people-dont-need-an-app-they-need-a-fucking-house
======
jamesknelson
> The founder of WeCount, a tech entrepreneur who has sold multiple companies
> to Google, raves to the press about the “huge emotional ROI” (return on
> investment) donors get from participating.

It sounds like these apps aren't designed to help the homeless in the first
place. They're designed to help people with spare change feel a little better
about themselves.

This seems even worse than trying to make a difference to the housing
situation and failing. Along with the idea of requiring homeless people to
wear a beacon around their neck to pick up scraps from the wealthy, it sounds
dehumanizing. Almost like the romans and their coliseum?

I'd love to hear the perspective of any people who've used these apps from the
receiving end though. Maybe it's not as bad as it sounds.

------
navs
> Users can then read the profile of the beacon-wearer, and donate money if
> they’re so moved. Donations can be redeemed at select stores and
> restaurants. They cannot be used to buy alcohol. The beacon-wearer must
> check in monthly at a participating nonprofit, or else their beacon is
> disabled.

Soon there will be multiple agencies that helps homeless individuals build the
most marketable profile and increase "Donation conversions".

I don't know much about homelessness and I don't have a solution to the
problem but this whole process of only being able to redeem donations at
selected locations feels inhuman. We can't trust the homeless so we'll donate
this amount but we say what you can use it for because we know better.

Again, I admit my naivety but I can't help feeling there's something
fundamentally wrong with this approach.

~~~
throwmebaby
To play devil's advocate here, why don't you think we do in fact know better?
They're homeless as a result of their life choices and we're in a position
where we could help them as a result of choices we made in our lives. It may
not be their fault, but do you think in their current state they can make the
most rational, logical choices? Would it be better for us to enable these
people's bad habits/mental illness and let them destroy themselves further
with alcohol and/or other drugs? If we are going to make the case that we
shouldn't blame them for their state of being, and that they're victims, then
we need to accept that a lot of them need help from __themselves __. If on the
other hand you want to respect their free will and self-determination or
whatever, then hey, they made their bed. I 'm certainly not going to fund
their lifestyles if they have agency and self-determination and this is what
we get.

~~~
vivekkalyansk
> They're homeless as a result of their life choices

that's just false. the same as people in privileged circumstances claiming to
have gotten to where they are due to their 'hard work'

------
bsanr2
Most people's ideas of how poverty works and how to get out of it are wrong.

[https://www.npr.org/2017/03/20/520587241/the-scarcity-
trap-w...](https://www.npr.org/2017/03/20/520587241/the-scarcity-trap-why-we-
keep-digging-when-were-stuck-in-a-hole)

[https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/magic-bureaucrat-
rive...](https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/magic-bureaucrat-riverside-
miracle/)

------
jerrac
Homeless people need a LOT more than a house. Every single one has their own
story and circumstances. From what I have read about people who have made
their way out of homelessness at my local Rescue Mission, it was a multistep,
and long, road to get back to "normal". One man spent years at the Mission.
Just giving them a house would not have saved them.

~~~
exabrial
Indeed. Without a education your new found asset will likely only lead to
worse destruction, much like the process of how winning the lottery bankrupts
most winners.

------
DoreenMichele
I 100% (100,000%!) agree that we need to resolve our housing supply issues.
It's a major contributing factor to homelessness.

The rest, I mostly disagree.

The primary reason for the limitations on after donation use is because that's
how donations generally work. It isn't a homeless thing.

People will not give you money or other assets if you don't first tell them
what will be done with it. If you don't give them some control, most people
won't give you anything at all.

A lot of homeless people have complex issues. Yes, helping them really is more
complicated than "just give them a house!"

------
ap3
Some homeless need homes, others need medical care, drug rehab, jobs or
education

Some just need a second chance and a hand to be able to climb out of the hole
they’re in

Others won’t be able to ever help themselves

Saying they “need homes” because they’re “home less” sounds so naive

Edit:

Everyone needs shelter and I hope a comprehensive solution could be
implemented where anyone in need could find the type of shelter that is most
helpful

------
flaxton
Give a bunch of homeless people homes they don’t work for, and they will trash
them in short order. People don’t respect things they don’t work for. I
suggest the author give up _their_ house and show us how it goes! Instead of
telling others how they want to take their money from them (that they worked
for) to fund crazy liberal schemes.

------
snvzz
>And that’s because it requires taxing the rich and redistributing our
society’s wealth.

The article is right. But of course... I work hard so that I can pay for my
home. The homeless should, too. His proposal is theft through tax.

------
purplezooey
"The unspoken notion is that homeless people need help, but they also need to
get their acts together."

I'm glad the author pointed this out. Our lame Puritanical values are far-
reaching.

------
timtim51251
They don't need a house. They have shelters and its known many if not most
choose not to use them. So its their own fault.

Its well known in Los Angeles where we keep burning taxpayer money and the
government officials keep making their friends rich by building more shelters
that aren't used. So its just a waste until we make it a crime for them to
sleep on the street and loiter and harass people if there are shelters
available. They just cause trouble and commit crimes, that's what they do
best.

~~~
reaperducer
So much [citation needed] here.

While I can't speak to Los Angeles specifically, every shelter I've ever been
to in the last ten years has been overwhelmed with more people than they can
house.

