Housing would clear a great deal of homeless off the street, but the recalcitrant people, no idea how to deal with them.
And no one ever proposes where to build this housing. Sorry, but NIMBY, not around my children and home. And anyone who says they would be fine housing the homeless in their hood is a liar or has no experience with homeless people. A great many of them are bugfuck at best, violent at worst.
Met a trans (?) dude in the woods the other day. He was madly packing his tent and throwing on a jacket and boots to hide his girl clothes (literally little girl clothes). I tried to calm him, chat a bit, let him know I’m peaceful. The shotgun and pistol probably didn’t help my case. :(
I regret not trying to help him more, wasn’t sure what to do. Gave him some trash bags and advised him to pick up the area so none of us get hassled for being back there. Wish I had sat him down and explained the area, directed him to more private places to camp.
Thought much about him. He seemed sane enough, but could he actually hold a job? Just show up on time, work, leave? He was so scared it was hard to get through to him, see how he was really doing. Anyway, that’s been eating on me, so I’m dropping this on y’all.
And anyone who says they would be fine housing the homeless in their hood is a liar or has no experience with homeless people.
On my street is a halfway house for recently released prisoners
Next street over is a bunch of housing for formerly homeless
In a few years, my entire street will be demolished to build new mixed-use housing, including some units set aside for formerly homeless, veterans, and teachers (this was prominently noted on the rental lease agreement and we know it’s coming eventually).
I’m fine with it. It’s a peaceful street. There are kids and families and people walking their dogs and old men fishing at the ass-crack of dawn. The people who are allowed to live there are vetted and have case managers and are given job training and psychological and medical support. I’m sure it’s expensive as all fuck to the government/nonprofits involved to run it that way, and it only serves a relatively small number of people, but it works very well from everything I’ve seen.
None of those three bullet points address random homeless people. I’d be happy with those sorts of folks, they’ve shown they’re capable of living in society. Many homeless simply can’t deal.
I’ve known two guys to up and leave perfectly nice homes because the pressure was too much on their mind. Hell, they weren’t even employed, just couldn’t stand being around other humans. A home with others in it felt too confining one told me.
Lived in cities most of my life, Chicago being one. Often worked the south side up there. That urban enough for ya? Now I live on the bleeding edge of town, nothing but cotton fields past our neighborhood.
Not sure how that matters, in any case I don’t want random homeless people roaming my hood. Most I’ve talked to are perfectly decent humans, but the homeless have a far higher percentage of fruitcakes and, more importantly, violent fruitcakes.
When I worked downtown I almost got in three fights with the homeless. My neighbors don’t bow up on me and follow me around when I say, “Sorry. Don’t usually carry cash.” And then there were the fights in front of our shop.
And those are only anecdotes from this city. You should walk the French Quarter. About got in three fights in a single night. And I have no idea why. One guy cornered us on a tiny side street, gave up when we confidently walked off. (Had a pistol and was scared shitless it would come to that.) Another guy chased us down the street when I gave a thumbs up to his street drumming and said, “Keep on!” I forget the last circumstance. OTOH, a homeless guy playing money for chess absolutely schooled my wife. That was fun.
Housing would clear a great deal of homeless off the street, but the recalcitrant people, no idea how to deal with them.
And no one ever proposes where to build this housing. Sorry, but NIMBY, not around my children and home. And anyone who says they would be fine housing the homeless in their hood is a liar or has no experience with homeless people. A great many of them are bugfuck at best, violent at worst.
Met a trans (?) dude in the woods the other day. He was madly packing his tent and throwing on a jacket and boots to hide his girl clothes (literally little girl clothes). I tried to calm him, chat a bit, let him know I’m peaceful. The shotgun and pistol probably didn’t help my case. :(
I regret not trying to help him more, wasn’t sure what to do. Gave him some trash bags and advised him to pick up the area so none of us get hassled for being back there. Wish I had sat him down and explained the area, directed him to more private places to camp.
Thought much about him. He seemed sane enough, but could he actually hold a job? Just show up on time, work, leave? He was so scared it was hard to get through to him, see how he was really doing. Anyway, that’s been eating on me, so I’m dropping this on y’all.
On my street is a halfway house for recently released prisoners
Next street over is a bunch of housing for formerly homeless
In a few years, my entire street will be demolished to build new mixed-use housing, including some units set aside for formerly homeless, veterans, and teachers (this was prominently noted on the rental lease agreement and we know it’s coming eventually).
I’m fine with it. It’s a peaceful street. There are kids and families and people walking their dogs and old men fishing at the ass-crack of dawn. The people who are allowed to live there are vetted and have case managers and are given job training and psychological and medical support. I’m sure it’s expensive as all fuck to the government/nonprofits involved to run it that way, and it only serves a relatively small number of people, but it works very well from everything I’ve seen.
None of those three bullet points address random homeless people. I’d be happy with those sorts of folks, they’ve shown they’re capable of living in society.
Many homeless simply can’t deal.
I’ve known two guys to up and leave perfectly nice homes because the pressure was too much on their mind. Hell, they weren’t even employed, just couldn’t stand being around other humans. A home with others in it felt too confining one told me.
Tell me you don’t live in a city without telling me you don’t live in a city
Lived in cities most of my life, Chicago being one. Often worked the south side up there. That urban enough for ya? Now I live on the bleeding edge of town, nothing but cotton fields past our neighborhood.
Not sure how that matters, in any case I don’t want random homeless people roaming my hood. Most I’ve talked to are perfectly decent humans, but the homeless have a far higher percentage of fruitcakes and, more importantly, violent fruitcakes.
When I worked downtown I almost got in three fights with the homeless. My neighbors don’t bow up on me and follow me around when I say, “Sorry. Don’t usually carry cash.” And then there were the fights in front of our shop.
And those are only anecdotes from this city. You should walk the French Quarter. About got in three fights in a single night. And I have no idea why. One guy cornered us on a tiny side street, gave up when we confidently walked off. (Had a pistol and was scared shitless it would come to that.) Another guy chased us down the street when I gave a thumbs up to his street drumming and said, “Keep on!” I forget the last circumstance. OTOH, a homeless guy playing money for chess absolutely schooled my wife. That was fun.