Public funding for healthcare, including mental health and rehab, would be a good start. Where do these people go even if they want help for their issues? Therapy and rehab cost tens of thousands of dollars. And throwing them in prison is just an “out of sight, out of mind” solution. Good luck getting a job and straightening your life out with prison time on your record.
You shouldn’t criminalize homelessness unless you’re also offering an alternative that actually helps people. But America will never do that, instead we just punch down and make an example out of the lowest among us instead of trying large scale solutions. There are localized nonprofits to help with this sort of thing, but they’re underfunded and limited in scope.
> Where do these people go even if they want help for their issues?
The crux of the problem, as I see it, is that in many cases the mental-illness/addiction is too strong and these people vehemently reject actual help even when freely offered.
I'm not advocating "criminalizing homelessness", but am simply pointing out that in practice, "criminalizing homelessness" might be the only workable solution to starting to get these people actual help. Many of these people will reject all actual help unless forced to go through some kind of drug treatment or mental health program.
Is being imprisoned an effective addiction treatment or therapy program? Would the threat of prison manage to turn people away from heroin or schizophrenia?
There is no publicly funded drug treatment or mental health program to send them to. Prison is just a temporary lockup before they’re returned to the same environment they came from. Where are you proposing we send them?
FWIW, I think we’re saying close to the same thing. I’m fine with disallowing people from openly camping in cities, but only if there’s a massive safety net to send them to that will actually help. Currently the anti-homeless sentiment is just being ginned up by corporate prisons who want more money. That’s clearly not a real solution.
You shouldn’t criminalize homelessness unless you’re also offering an alternative that actually helps people. But America will never do that, instead we just punch down and make an example out of the lowest among us instead of trying large scale solutions. There are localized nonprofits to help with this sort of thing, but they’re underfunded and limited in scope.