What can we do? Redirect funds currently given to able bodied people who choose to not work. The mess we now have with so many folks choosing drug addled tent living just makes it even harder to identify those who truly need help.

Jyl’s items 2 and 4 are dead on wrt where this is heading. Yet another massively mismanaged govt program that becomes a means of maintaining power for those who ‘administer’ the program. We must not allow that to happen.

Regarding building mass housing I disagree that it is a good thing. Homelessness should be difficult and unpleasant to discourage the lazy and drug addicted from adopting it as a lifestyle. Free housing works against a solution, not for it. Read up on the history of ‘projects’ if you want evidence of this. The concept of ‘short time till back on feet’ simply doesn’t work in the real world.

I could tell you, but you don't want this thread in the dungeon

I have seen stuff would make your hair turn white

It all starts with the DGAF mindset. How a person gets there is many faceted. All the public can do is apply Carrots or Sticks.
Based on the supreme court ruling on homelessness at public places, a nation wide standard of personal sleeping space should be established as a 7ft x 3 ft space. Each community would come up with local solutions for their belongings and other transition needs performed by Non-profits that get publicly graded for efficiency. It starts by letting future people sliding toward homelessness know that that's all the public space they can use for sleep and they can't depend on acquiring any items used as a form of street currency that is used support their chosen DGAF lifestyle.
Start with the VETS for their own good

7x3 ft….
Reminds me of the homeless in Japan that live in Internet cafes(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_caf%C3%A9_refugee).

The most important thing all of us can do about homelessness is stop blaming the victims.

75% of the homeless are transitionally homeless. This group consist of those who can't afford housing, have left an abusive relationship, suffering extreme financial duress due to health issues, or simply don't have the cognative ability to function independently. These people are not in their situation because they don't care.

The 25%, considered chronically homeless, do have some degree of substance and mental issues. But a lot of people who have homes also share these issues, bringing the correlation/causation debate into play.

The net is that homelessness is due to problems outside that person's control. I'd like to think our society would work on ways to mitigate these problems. After all, one day that homeless person may be me, or even you.

Once again, jyl is on point.

We can look back a few years past the politicization of homelessness and the insanity of legalizing hallucinogenic drugs to find studies rooted in concern for the issue rather than studies looking for govt cheese. Here is a great article with a ton of citations-

https://mentalillnesspolicy.org/consequences/homeless-mentally-ill.html


I’ve mentioned this before- some years back NPR interviewed a doc who lived amongst the homeless for days at a time to study the types of mental illness and sicknesses most commonly found. It was an incredible effort but I cannot find a link to it at the moment.

One would have to make an awful lot of awfully bad decisions to become homeless. Society's excusing and even rewarding bad behavior leads to a lot of those sequential poor decisions.

Never met anyone with mental illness Fint?

Or someone who enlisted at 18 and learned how to "drink like a sailor" ... while serving in the military (any branch)?

They do now. I’ve dated a couple gals whose fathers died of rare cancer(s) attributed to agent orange exposure…

VA has opened the flood gates in the last 10 years or so with the liberal application of service connection. I had a kid brag to me how he claimed a DS grabbed his blouse and now gets 10% for shoulder pain. Never mind the DUI warrant he has for crashing his car and subsequent reason for shoulder pain. This occurred 5+ years after service.


The VA is bending over backwards to stop the homeless vet headline, but that wasn’t always the case.

Or maybe not.
I was married at 18, and divorced at 19. As a result I spent a couple months couch surfing at the homes of various friends. Since I had a place to sleep I wasn't technically homeless, but it sure felt like it.

Here's another slightly similar tale.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/07/08/opinion-i-never-imagined-i-could-become-homeless-heres-how-i-coped/

I took the bus the other day. Here’s the homeless i encountered in the span of a half hour. There’s different levels of homeless and one must make very bad decisions in life to be at the lowest level of homelessness. Note the ta50 with the second guy.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1720654698.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1720654698.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1720654698.jpg

It sure sounds like a series of awfully poor decisions to me.

It sure sounds like a series of awfully poor decisions to me.

Why would someone in the military be any different (with regard to drinking) than someone that is not? I have spent a day or two in the military and a day or two not in the military and I think that it is much easier to abuse alcohol (or any substance)
as a private citizen that is not more closely monitored 24/7.

I certainly did not drink as an 18-year-old in the military nor did I feel any pressure to do so. It might well have been different in the period before I served.

Not in the military (that I am aware of). Obviously, folks with severe mental issues can become homeless...but only after making a series of awfully poor decisions.

^^^^ AB made a post (since deleted) that everyone should have seen imo. Your last two posts .... I suspect all the folks who are around our age (give or take) and served are just shaking their heads going WTF :(?

Start a poll .... the folks who disagree with first-hand experiences that are counter to yours will be overwhelming.

Mebbe this is another 4K+ post (from you) thread ... I dunno .... but I'm out ;)

AB served before I did (in a vastly different military/era) and his experience in that period may be different (as noted in my post). Many of those folks were drafted and then treated like crap when they returned home...by folks that stayed behind. If I recall, you did not serve at all, so your experience is much like the many folks on the streets I have encountered that claim they are vets (and like many of those who opine here regarding the military). Nonexistent. Like anyone else, it is awfully hard to a person in today's military to fall between the cracks unless they make a series of awfully poor decisions...and no, they do not turn teenagers into raging drunks/addicts (who would have likely been a teetotaler otherwise).

Start a poll .... the folks who disagree with first-hand experiences (the millions that served and did not become alcoholics or homeless) that are counter to yours will be overwhelming. There are many (including AB) that post here that retired or served and went on to stellar careers in the government or private sector...even owning their own businesses or somewhat well off. Yes, we/they could have all made a series of poor decisions and suffered for them. Most did not.

Mebbe this is another uninformed post (from you) thread ...I dunno ...where you discuss things you know nothing about and take personal shots at those that have vastly more experience who disagree. Glad to see that you are "out".