There are some pretty smart m-fers on this site. What do we do with them? Realistically that is. Is the homeless problem a loophole in the constitution? Where forcing them to do something against their will infringes on their civil liberties.
How do we legally bridge the gap between their civil liberties and society to get them off the street and get them the help they don’t think they need? Most are homeless by choice. Most suffer from forms of mental illness and drug addiction. I feel their unsanitary conditions pose a health risk and concern for the general public and can be addressed that way, but, what do you do with them? Put them in camps? Force medication on them?
For the purpose of this discussion homeless are defined by those who are homeless by choice, living on the street, begging for handouts, and suffering from mental illness/addiction. Many do not really have the current mental or physical capacity to even flip burgers. I’m not referring to those who are working folk and down on their luck and usually homeless temporarily.
That documentary on Netflix about the hatchet man cracked me up because it provided insight to how homeless are. Unpredictable, mental, addicts, and homeless by choice.
I don’t know where to begin with these filthy shit bags. Obviously, lunatic left wing policies make this disaster much worse. So cracking down on these roaches and making the choice to shit bag around MASSIVELY more difficult (instead of fostering it) is a start.
Funny you should ask. I just came up with the solution this afternoon.
-No tents unless you are 21.
-No tents if you have a felony arrest or have been cited for domestic violence, even if in civil case.
-No tents for illegal immigrants.
-And that pretty much implies that you have to get a background check to get a tent.
-A three day waiting period for tents.
-A Red Tent law that if anyone who knows or has seen you can turn you in and the court can then take away your tent with out you knowing anything about it.
-For every tent that people want to bring onto the market, you have to take two models off the market.
-Of the new tents on the market, they must be “Smart Tents” that prevent domestic violence, drug use, and public urination.
-We have to stop the sale of tents, especially ‘high-capacity’ tents.
-No ‘modern’ tents out of anything but waxed canvas.
-There is no right to tents in the Constitution.
-No “Ghost tents” where you take some tarps or other stuff that gets you 80% to a tent and you finish it off yourself.
-No Bump Tents where you can butt them up against each other to make a longer tent.
-And of course, all tents have to have serial number.
-We have to hold the tent manufacturers liable for all of the illegal activity that these tents enable.
That people can use tents for recreation is not the issue? How many tents have you seen out in the woods versus the problems that they cause for our our neighborhoods of Color, LGBTQIAXYZ&±, and other victims yearning for equity.
Big Tent must end this circus of misbehavior in our cities.
No surprise that it is actually a really difficult nut to crack. The civil liberty issue plays big. Especially once the lefties get involved. I could regale you with experiences I have had with “advocates” for the homeless over the years in work situations.
For the type specifically mentioned in the OP? I don’t see any option short of adjudication of incompetence and forced treatment. Be it detox and drug treatment for junkies or involuntary institutionalization for the mentally impaired. That will spark cries of injustice from many, and to some degree it is true. It will also cost money. A lot of money.
Unfortunately I don’t see another solution. These folks are a legitimate danger to themselves and others. One advocacy group (National Health Care for the Homeless Council) estimates up to 40,000 homeless die each year. Overdoses, illness, injuries, you name it. Average life expectancy for a homeless person is 50. Crimes committed by the homeless are common, and they are often violent. So provably “dangerous to themselves and others”.
Lock them up for crimes, triage them for treatment, and involuntary commitment as necessary. It will be called inhumane, but how humane is it to “warehouse” them on the streets to victimize others as well as destroy themselves. What we have is simply “free range” inhumanity. How humane treatment facilities for them are is is controllable and monitorable. Living and dying on the streets is not.
I’m all for passing camping laws and such but what should the penalties be? Hauling a homeless person off to jail isn’t as easy as it sounds when they have a shopping cart full of crap. That and they’re nasty. They have lice, bed bugs, hepatitis, and usually staph infections.
Let’s use the Obamacare model where we REQUIRE homeless people to obtain suitable homes or fine them for non compliance. That way the government can get involved in the real estate market and **** that up too.
Cut all/most social welfare programs unless there is a proven need. ZERO help to anybody if they can’t pass a piss test. That should motivate some of these idiots to work…or starve.
That’s how we are where we are. Most can’t/won’t pass a piss test. And they’re not working, and they’re not starving either. They’re begging and getting by.
Don’t discount a whole lot of “petty” crime. I have worked a lot of construction sites that were heavy with homeless. Urban freeways, bridges, and other civil stuff. I can tell you that begging is not the primary source of income for many of these folks.
Dude I deal with this every day at work. Unless we all agree to start violating civil rights, there is no solution.
There are many homeless that are truly mentally ill. But, at least around here, the VAST majority are on the streets because of drugs. Fentanyl has made the problem significantly worse. Currently a single “blue” fentanyl pill is 1 dollar in Phoenix. The price fluctuates depending on supply but it’s rarely over 3 bucks a pill now a days. The potency of the drug coupled with the low price leaves us with zombies walking around the streets.
We have a really good program that will get them off the streets, addiction treatment, housing assistance, and help finding employment. Immediately. When we roll out with the program and go to the camps to offer it, maybe 1 in 30 will take us up on it. The others will flat out say that the high is worth the lifestyle.
It used to be when I caught a guy with meth he would say something dumb like “these aren’t my pants”. Find some blues on a guy, he will flat out admit they are his.
Yeah brah, you watch a cute but strung out teenage girl pull a train with a bunch of nasty old crackheads just to stay high and tell me all about freedom.
You are attempting to apply accountability to people who are completely alien to such ideas. They will simply steal more, sell more drugs and things like that.