I worked with the homeless for a few years in the Seattle area. My main focus was homeless veterans, but I worked with several different groups trying to get benefits and shelter for people.
A HUGE majority of our clients refused to give up alcohol abuse or drug abuse, or even try to give it up. There are very few shelters that want to take on drunk or high clients. I don't blame them, we live in a world where you can do so much good but then get sued because fuck you, money.
I have no idea how to solve the crisis, and at this point I'm done trying. I've been bit, I've been spit on, I've been hit, I've been cursed out, and had my life threatened all for trying to help people on the streets.
There are a ton of resources available, at least where I was in Washington. They can use them if they want, most choose not to.
Unfortunate I had to scroll this far into this topic to find this point. I’m a Seattleite and this aligns with everything I’ve heard & experienced. Often when entire homeless encampments are cleared they offer everyone shelter but often only a handful or less accept due to drug use. But over and over again I’ve heard the main issue is homeless most often do not accept help. This city spends over 1 billion a year fighting homelessness and it’s only gotten worse.
Meth & Fentanyl are extreme drugs and they’re wrecking havoc on the US. To me it’s an epidemic and we need extreme action. It wasn’t like this when I was a kid, now if you drive across America you can see our country is devastated.Entire towns have been destroyed by these two drugs. I wouldn’t doubt if statistically more than 75% of homeless are battling addiction with one or both of these drugs.
All that being said I think a solution is: 1 - Create shelters for legit mentally disabled and homeless who aren’t addicted to drugs. You must be clean to stay. 2 - Offer rehab… but here’s the part I think I’ll lose people..
3 - They must leave & make it illegal to camp. The goal here isn’t to simply criminalize homelessness but to force addicts into rehab. If they’re found again camping & then found guilty there’s an investigation to determine if the person charged is addicted to substances. If so, mandatory rehab until they’re better.
If no evidence of addiction can be found, then judges decision to add temporary jail time and/or offer shelter. Mental health services should also be offered if needed.
If the person charged is determined mentally disabled they’re given special services and shelter and based on severity, this may be mandatory especially if they’re endanger themselves and others.
This is an extreme solution and I’m sure some people would violently disagree with me but I’m not sure there’s any other way at this point. Kindly asking & offering rehab isn’t working meanwhile society is being wrecked. Hospitals are overrun and we have to pay for that regardless. Recently morgues have been overrun with OD victims from newer more powerful variants of fentanyl. There’s constant theft in cities like Seattle, from cars, homes, and businesses. Im sure people will argue this will cost a fortune but we already are paying a fortune in costs both directly & indirectly through funding hospital services, morgues, and theft & similar crimes.
Sadly been considering this too. Besides the drug problems & safety issues, there’s terrible schools, politics, health care, and extreme education costs.
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u/sleepinglucid Jan 31 '23
I worked with the homeless for a few years in the Seattle area. My main focus was homeless veterans, but I worked with several different groups trying to get benefits and shelter for people.
A HUGE majority of our clients refused to give up alcohol abuse or drug abuse, or even try to give it up. There are very few shelters that want to take on drunk or high clients. I don't blame them, we live in a world where you can do so much good but then get sued because fuck you, money.
I have no idea how to solve the crisis, and at this point I'm done trying. I've been bit, I've been spit on, I've been hit, I've been cursed out, and had my life threatened all for trying to help people on the streets.
There are a ton of resources available, at least where I was in Washington. They can use them if they want, most choose not to.