18 Mar 2018 Who Is Responsible For The Homeless?

Who Is Responsible For The Homeless?

You would be hard pressed not to find homeless in every town and city.  Who should take care of them?  Should they have to live on the streets if their bad choices put them there?  Should tax dollars be used to provide facilities or should the private sector (churches, etc.) do it?  

It would appear to be cold hearted to do nothing.  However, if public funds are to be used, where do you draw the line?  Does the person have to be on the streets? How much support is provided?  Is the goal just to keep them fed and a place to sleep?  Or, are services offered to get them back to where they can work?

If drug abuse is a major factor, do they need to help themselves first by stopping? What priority do they get for treatment facilities?  If they attended a treatment facility before and relapsed, should they be allowed a second chance?

If mental health is a factor, what type of intervention should be done?  It appears treatment facilities are just another drug dealer to them.  “Here take this pill….”

A lot of questions here but little answers.  I don’t believe each question has a straight yes or no answer. 

Dealing with the homeless is one of the issues most people would like to just go away and not talk about.  There is a saying from the book “A Day In The Life Of Ivan Dinisovich.”  It is about life in a Soviet prison camp.  The saying goes “a man who is warm does not understand a man who is cold.”  To me that means that people who are comfortable in their homes do not understand life of the homeless.  They don’t know the circumstances that led the person to where they are. 

I don’t know how many studies have been done of the homeless to determine what is the general cause, if any, that gets them there.  I think most people just want them to go away.  The homeless are an inconvenient aspect of people’s lives. 

I believe we should provide basic food and shelter. However, it should not be a long term option because it would become another form of welfare.  If the homeless person is content to be fed and a place to sleep and does not do anything to change, why should the basics continue to be provided?  Again, it is easy for me to appear to judge the homeless.  They may be in an endless cycle.  They may have no hope.

A society could be judged on how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. Homelessness is an issue that needs to be discussed and solutions tried.  Doing nothing is not what a compassionate or civil society does.