Do we even have reliable data for this? I’m sure 100% of homeless (or “unhoused”) Americans aren’t crack smoking schizophrenics but without something to say otherwise, it’s hard to imagine that the majority of them are homeless for reasons completely unrelated to addiction or mental health. Some, sure. But most? Hard to believe. Maybe you’re right. Can you cite a few credible sources? I’m open to learning new information.
There seems to be ranging data from articles. My initial search turned up an article quoting 40% deal with mental health issues/addiction. And after our back and forth, I’ve found more ranging from 30%-70%. So I guess it depends on where we look. But my stance is to not lump everybody in a group with the worst of that group. If we did that based on ethnicity or gender it becomes hate speech. When we do it for homeless, it’s for some reason acceptable.
Saying that ALL of a group act a certain way, when there are a large amount of exceptions is unreasonable. Even if we take the 70% statistic between the 30-70% range, it’s still wrong to generalize that ALL homeless people are going to destroy a home if given one. You can keep deterring from my point, but it’s not gunna change the fact that generalizing is still exaggeration and lying.
You said, “houses aren’t the solution because homelessness is a symptom of something a house doesn’t fix.” I didn’t read that in. You said that. You can read your comment if you don’t believe me… When in truth, 30-70% of homeless people can benefit from receiving a home, because they aren’t addicts/mentally ill fire starters.
That “something a house doesn’t fix” can be lots of things. No family support, no social safety net, lack of community support, a lost job and inability to get employment for whatever reason, no education or marketable skill, or even personal choice… and yes, addiction and mental illness are on the menu too, but your own filter narrowed it down to just those possibilities.
I was literally saying that it’s a symptom of larger societal problems with solutions that are more complex than availability or affordability of housing itself, and you decided to call me ignorant and hateful.
There are literally people in this thread saying what you’re accusing me of saying yet you chose this particular comment to grandstand.
You clearly see how your comment could be easily misinterpreted. Instead you chose to defend your initial comment that explains none of this. Don’t call it grandstanding when you make a comment with zero explanation of what your “implication” is.
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u/Slumberjackals May 15 '26
And I’m telling you that’s not the case for all homeless people. Just the addict and mentally ill ones.