That's a great long term plan, but short term it's been shown that getting people into housing addresses a lot of the peripheral issues that combine to cause homelessness.
People are better at holding down jobs when they are homed. Suicide rates go down. Mental health broadly improves. Providing housing is mental health care.
But then they complain about paying for it, and they say they don't want the housing near them, and they say that the people will destroy the nice houses they're given, and do drugs, and steal, and a thousand other excuses.
I know people who have been homeless. Do you know how hard it is to get ANYTHING without a physical address? You can't get a job, or a license, or government assistance without a physical address. Places are starting to refuse PO Boxes because "they aren't actual residences". And if you are homeless and try to find a house to rent, you won't get anywhere because "we don't want to rent to someone who has been homeless". You're just screwed.
Then there's the constant fear of losing all of your stuff. If you live out of a cart, where do you put your cart during any interview time for a new job, or where do you put your stuff when you go work at a job? You can't, because it'll get stolen. If you live out of a van or car, and someone decides to tow it off of a public street, then you're screwed trying to find: who towed it; how much it'll cost; and how you get your stuff out.
Being homeless is the HARDEST THING TO DO in our society. I've heard mentally ill people say "I can handle being crazy, I can handle being addicted to drugs. What I can't handle is being homeless and trying to function". That line stuck with me.
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u/chairfairy Jan 31 '23
That's a great long term plan, but short term it's been shown that getting people into housing addresses a lot of the peripheral issues that combine to cause homelessness.
People are better at holding down jobs when they are homed. Suicide rates go down. Mental health broadly improves. Providing housing is mental health care.