Homeless Folks

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
I scare the gentry and am frequently filthy. Should I be locked up?

Yes. Do you really need to ask?

[Q Classic]

That's mostly 'cause you're a commie, though. Pinko bastards don't belong in these great United States.

[Kidlicious]

I think people with mental illness should be put in assylums. Living on the street is not humane. A lot of them rarely even go to shelters, probably because they can't stay sober, and the shelters won't let them in drunk. Living on the street, sleeping in the gutter, and just drinking yourself to death is no life. Assylums should be made better.

[Dis]

Re: Homeless Folks

Originally posted by Space05us
Ive noticed there are alot of them around here. I even had one stumble towards me in a drunken stuppor on my walk to work. Luckily just stepping to the side was enough to avoid any situation.

From what Ive heard some of them make a decent living from begging, $100 a day or more. Thats almost twice what I make.


What are your thoughts about them?

Do you think there is any way to get them off the streets?

yeah, you don't see them up in Barrow, Alaska for some strange reason.

You will see lots of them in the southwest. We have thousands in our city. It's serious problem, but no one knows a solution.

[Dis]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
I scare the gentry and am frequently filthy. Should I be locked up?

all communists should be locked up.

sorry, you left yourself open for that one. , I guess Qcubed already beat me to it.

[Az]

A large part of the homeless people are substance abusers. It's a very sad issue.

I think they should all go through "recycling" - Clean them up, including any substances, if they're addicts. then send them to learn a trade - and there you go.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Az
A large part of the homeless people are substance abusers. It's a very sad issue.

Agreed.

Originally posted by Az

I think they should all go through "recycling" - Clean them up, including any substances, if they're addicts. then send them to learn a trade - and there you go.

Brilliant!! Lets just make all substance abuser into people that don't abuse substances. How come no one thought of that before !!! {Sarcasm OFF}

Sorry man but your solution was so simplistic as to invite ridicule. Yoou might as well say that the cure for unemployment is to give people jobs

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kidicious
I think people with mental illness should be put in assylums. Living on the street is not humane. A lot of them rarely even go to shelters, probably because they can't stay sober, and the shelters won't let them in drunk. Living on the street, sleeping in the gutter, and just drinking yourself to death is no life. Assylums should be made better.

What about the people that seem quite competent but simply abuse alcohol and drugs?? Would there be some sort of competency test to stay out of the asylum??

I agree that we should do more to care for the mentally ill but in a free society, once a person is competent, its difficult to force them to do anything.

Attempts to help the homeless can seem to backfire. Calgary built a new large multistory shelter and facility on beautiful grounds next to the river. The result of that was an large increase of homeless in the area such that the park is no longer a nice place to bring your children. Another area saw a huge increase when a small pharmacy opened up that would supply methadone-- Numbers seemed to triple. So if you better the condition of you homeless, you seem to increase your problem

[Dinner]

Most of the homeless people are homeless for a reason. They either have mental disorders or some form of addiction which makes them unable to hold a job. The best way to deal with homelessness is with a two pronged policy 1) You offer free treatment for addiction and/or mental health care for those who want it 2) You crack down hard on ever little infraction you can find.

The purpose of #1 is to help people treat the underlying causes of homelessness and the purpose of #2 is motivate/harass people to take the big step towards getting drug/alcohol treatment since continuing to be homeless would be intolerable. Even San Francisco has finally come around to this way of thinking and has stopped the cash handouts to homeless people (which normally got spent on drugs or booze anyway) & has started enforcing vargancy and loitering laws.

The net result is people are forced to either get enrolled in the treatment program or go some where else but it doesn't give people the option of just continuing to use their welfare to feed their addiction and stay homeless.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Flubber
What about the people that seem quite competent but simply abuse alcohol and drugs?? Would there be some sort of competency test to stay out of the asylum??

I agree that we should do more to care for the mentally ill but in a free society, once a person is competent, its difficult to force them to do anything.

I wasn't saying that competent people should be forced into asylums.

Attempts to help the homeless can seem to backfire. Calgary built a new large multistory shelter and facility on beautiful grounds next to the river. The result of that was an large increase of homeless in the area such that the park is no longer a nice place to bring your children. Another area saw a huge increase when a small pharmacy opened up that would supply methadone-- Numbers seemed to triple. So if you better the condition of you homeless, you seem to increase your problem

I really don't call that a backfire. Bring your kids to a different park.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Most of the homeless people are homeless for a reason. They either have mental disorders or some form of addiction which makes them unable to hold a job. The best way to deal with homelessness is with a two pronged policy 1) You offer free treatment for addiction and/or mental health care for those who want it 2) You crack down hard on ever little infraction you can find.

The purpose of #1 is to help people treat the underlying causes of homelessness and the purpose of #2 is motivate/harass people to take the big step towards getting drug/alcohol treatment since continuing to be homeless would be intolerable. Even San Francisco has finally come around to this way of thinking and has stopped the cash handouts to homeless people (which normally got spent on drugs or booze anyway) & has started enforcing vargancy and loitering laws.

The net result is people are forced to either get enrolled in the treatment program or go some where else but it doesn't give people the option of just continuing to use their welfare to feed their addiction and stay homeless.

I find this post extremely offensive. Obviously you don't put yourself in the same situation and ask yourself how you would like to be treated.

[pchang]

I would welcome the chance to get drug treatment and rid myself of addiction.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by pchang
I would welcome the chance to get drug treatment and rid myself of addiction.

And if you weren't addicted? Would you like some pig to come and tell you to get off the street?

[DanS]

Calling cops pigs = lame ass.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kidicious


I really don't call that a backfire. Bring your kids to a different park.

A bit flip today aren't we sir kidicious. You know that my kids going to that park wasn't the point (although if I lived in the area I might be peeved since its hardly safe to walk there anymore since many of the homeless are frequently intoxicated or belligerent)

The point was that calgary went out of their way to provide better services for homeless people and the net result was that there seems to be a lot more of them . . . and its not economic conditions since Calgary is booming and low end employment opportunities are numerous. . . and if you can get a trade, its not hard to start making 100K in a few years--