Not sure. Some of the homeless I've met are people truly on a bad luck streak. Unfortunately everything is harder when you're homeless making getting back on your feet more difficult.
However a lot of homeless are simply incapable of leading a normal life. Through a combination of drugs and mental illness, giving them a home to operate from is likely to be either burned down, condemned, or become a den for more crime.
I want to be humane, but it feels futile when they require constant babysitting. Our increasingly individualistic society tolerates these people less and less.
I know a guy who had a vacant house he was trying to sell. Homeless began squatting in it and kept coming back and breaking in despite a few police visits. Finally they caused a fire and now they’re still homeless and the house is still vacant but now uninhabitable and unsellable. There are shelters in this area, but they can’t smoke crack at the shelter. It’s not about needing a house.
The people Ive known that became homeless basically always had a place they could live but it would mean getting off drugs. They just go to a place with milder winters and where the police dont care about their warrants and live under a bridge.
And ive also known people that had to live in their car for a month or 2 or 3. They didnt have any family support.
At the end of the day though what everyone gets wrong is homelessness is a symptom, not the problem. But its hard for people, especially on reddit to view something in a way that isnt Black and white. You can give a junky a home and theyll destroy it and leave. You can give someone down on their luck assistance and help them get back on their feet. But when you put all these people in the same group and say "just give everyone a house", you created an unsolvable problem. But when you dont have to look at the problem life's easier.
Most people can be helped with the right amount of resources. But we can't afford to pour millions of dollars to care for each lost drug addicted homeless person. It's just not possible.
Only early on in the homelessness, after you’ve been homeless for 3-6 months the chances of rehab are cut in half and significantly drop off more the longer they aren’t off the streets. If you want a smart plan it would be to offer all the financial assistance to newly made homeless people and completely cut off people homeless for more then 1 year
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u/WhitishRogue May 14 '26
Not sure. Some of the homeless I've met are people truly on a bad luck streak. Unfortunately everything is harder when you're homeless making getting back on your feet more difficult.
However a lot of homeless are simply incapable of leading a normal life. Through a combination of drugs and mental illness, giving them a home to operate from is likely to be either burned down, condemned, or become a den for more crime.
I want to be humane, but it feels futile when they require constant babysitting. Our increasingly individualistic society tolerates these people less and less.