I don't see why we can't do both. I would like to see some attempts to help people find a good path forward, and some attempts to just be generous and kind hearted.
I met a man recently who told me he was once within a day of being homeless. His last day in housing, having not paid his mortgage in months due to a serious back injury, he ran into someone who knew him who offered to not only get his mortgage caught up, but keep paying it while he recuperated until he was able to return to work.
One of the big differences between The Haves and The Have Nots is The Haves frequently had access to resources even when something had gone terribly wrong in their lives. The Have Nots either never had access to such resources or the resources ran out before their level of need was met.
That man was able to rebuild his life. How many homeless people could rebuild their lives if someone was willing to gift them many months of rent? Most people on the street will simply never see that level of generosity. And then we blame them for failing, not recognizing that others are doing better not due to personal virtues per se, but simply good fortune or kindness done to them.
The lion’s share of homeless are there because of untreated mental illness (25%) or addiction (another 33%, although I personally lump this in with mental illness). The kindest thing we as a society can do is de-stigmatize mental illness and addiction and treat it as any other medical issue. It’s easy for us, especially in the valley, to think it’s just a matter of writing a check — with enough cash airdrops or free apartments homeless would solve itself. Rather, the problem is complex and multifaceted and requires us to confront uncomfortable truths about ourselves and how we perceive mental illness and addiction.
I've had a class on homelessness and public policy. I spent 5.7 years homeless. I'm the author of the San Diego Homeless Survival Guide and something of a SME on homelessness. I'm trying to develop real solutions and I'm jazzed to learn that the state I moved to last fall is trying to establish statewide single payer healthcare. I just found that out this morning.
I think single payer health care and adequate quantities of affordable housing would make a serious dent in the homeless problem. It won't fix it for everyone, but if it cut it by 50 percent, that would be awesome.
Note that all the schemes involving giving free housing to the homeless also come with counselling and psychiatric help.
That the problem is multifaceted doesn’t mean that free money and housing won’t significantly reduce the symptoms. You doctore will still prescribe anti-inflammatories even if the problem is a broken bone. The anti-inflammatories aren’t there to fix the bone, they are there to ease the other symptoms to make recovery easier on everyone.
I met a man recently who told me he was once within a day of being homeless. His last day in housing, having not paid his mortgage in months due to a serious back injury, he ran into someone who knew him who offered to not only get his mortgage caught up, but keep paying it while he recuperated until he was able to return to work.
One of the big differences between The Haves and The Have Nots is The Haves frequently had access to resources even when something had gone terribly wrong in their lives. The Have Nots either never had access to such resources or the resources ran out before their level of need was met.
That man was able to rebuild his life. How many homeless people could rebuild their lives if someone was willing to gift them many months of rent? Most people on the street will simply never see that level of generosity. And then we blame them for failing, not recognizing that others are doing better not due to personal virtues per se, but simply good fortune or kindness done to them.