Wow! Some people have no respect

[jordonj]

Here we have another issue that is not as simple as it seems...

Here in TC, there's been debates back and forth about what to do with the Homeless problem here.

There's a hotel run by Goodwill, that's come under fire for ejecting people who are intoxicated (alcohol, meth, etc.), but there's also a tent city where there are some men live who tough out the winter (they hang by the beaches in the summer...often drunk).  Two of them froze to death last year.

Another irony of the situation is that they live on what used to be the State Mental Hospital.  It has been closed for some years now as several medications make the need for a hospital unnecessary...also there are more Adult Foster Care house available (several of them have mental problems).

The problems?  First of all, medications cost money, and money is not there for some people who cannot afford them.  Secondly, remember that many mentally-ill people don't think there's anything wrong with them...and they often stop taking their meds if they're not watched.

Thinking back to working in a nursing home, we had this one guy who had been a street person.  He was VIOLENT!  He was sent back and forth to a geriatric mental hospital before he was on so many meds, he was rarely awake for more than two hours at a time.  Of course, he would do all he could to hinder anyone trying to clean him up...

But back to homelessness...Saitek, I'm sure that Hagar meant no disrespect, but he does have the benefit of experience...just keep that in mind.  I myself am technically homeless (I had to move in with my mother 5 years ago), but I have a lead on housing...wish me luck!  I have been trying to get into subsidized housing, but they aren't taking any more applications (too many people asking for help).

I would never want to move myself and my daughter to a shelter...you have no privacy, things get stolen, and you are in danger of getting raped if you're female....

If you think I'm kidding, you didn't pay attention to the news about the people who were huddled in New Orleans after Katrina.  And even up here, a woman who was in a car accident just before the hurricane, is in a real state of transition, has been trying to get what aid she could, and works part-time at rite-aid (on top of the medical needs for her injuries...she cannot walk properly).  But it's looking like she could loose the temporary housing she has.

[Hagar]

Here we have another issue that is not as simple as it seems...

After what H said on the subject I've been trying to remember when homelessness first became an issue in the UK. As most people know, I grew up in the late 1940s - 50s. We travelled quite widely to London & other cities & apart from the odd local tramp (tramp is a vagrant in Britain, not a prostitute) I don't recall seeing any beggars or anyone sleeping on the street, railway stations etc like they do now. It's quite possible they were about but I didn't notice them & don't remember it being mentioned in the newspapers at the time. I assume this changed during the 1960s along with many other social issues but I can't think of a specific reason for homelessness becoming increasingly common in this country.

PS. By homlessness I mean individuals sleeping rough like the ones that were attacked in the subject of this topic. I find these official statistics difficult to believe. http://www.odpm.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1150039

[H]

It is one thing to look at a situation and another to be in it. My place in Nebraska was picked up by a tornado (I was in it at the time!) and, before I could properly repair it, my mom had a major stroke. She was healing and started walking; I'd surrendered my job (due to its health hazzards, I would eventually, anyway) after returning to NH to attempt salvaging her things but her medical bills alone escalated beyond me even by the time her subsequent strokes made the very attempt totally vain, bankrupting me. My place in NH has sustained extensive water damage and just getting the effects of mold out of the place has been very time consuming. The job I have may be fairly easy but doesn't pay much; at least it's something and I don't like the idea of welfare -- at least, not applied to me. I used to regularly make donations but I rarely have accepted them (right, not even while I was in the ministry -- howbeit, I didn't like using the title,  "Reverend," either). I've had money and I've been without it. I've slept in nice, warm beds and slept in a boiler room (that I wasn't supposed to be in) during cold winter nights, breathing in soot that the cloth over my face didn't completely keep out. Didn't eat much but never stole anything even when I could have. Still, others have had it much worse.
POINT: Just like you, every person on the street (so to speak) is an individual. Many with similar stories/reasons but, invariably (pardon the seeming contradiction in terms), very many different stories/reasons. Drugs have been mentioned: many are out there because their "habit" took the money that would have paid for rent, food and, even, a family's stability. That individual I bought the tuna for had the stench of alcohol on his breath; what do you think he would have done had I outright given him the money? I still spoke with him on occasion -- until he died from sclerosis of the liver. Discernment doesn't come easily. Judge carefully, not everyone is where they are for the same reason; some can also deal with situations much better than others.
Sorry, I've started another one of my books...

[ozzy72]

Ben some people are on the streets inspite of everything. They can't help it! Some people get pushed over the edge by things and have nervous breakdowns, others lose everything.
I think you need to look at the world a little more objectively. Not everyone has a choice, especially in a free and fair (cough cough) society!
A case in point; in London you'll find many young people living on the street, now I worked with Shelter some years back over Xmas and got talking to one young lady who had suffered years of sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather, so she ran away. Social services wouldn't do anything. She wasn't old enough to vote so politicians didn't give a toss. No charity existed to help her where she lived. Some choice........