A study
Here, where I live in the suburbs, the homeless are evident. We used to see a small encampment of them at the public library, but they were recently ousted. There are some at the grocery store too. And I live near the river, where many homeless encampments are.
What is dispiriting are the pervasive myths that most homeless people are unhoused because they are mentally ill or because they are drug addicts. It's a blame-the-victim mentality that lets you distance yourself from them .... "that could never happen to me".
I'm all to aware how easily one could become homeless. Rents are very expensive. There is Public Housing for those who qualify, but it too costs money and you can be waiting on a list for years. I feel so lucky that my sister and I inherited this house when my mother died.
I don't know why the state government can't get it together to help these people. Why not take a look at an example of success on this subject, like Finland. They first give homeless people a stable place of their own in which to live, and everything else follows that basic necessity.
posted by crystal | 7:49 PM
2 Comments:
I have read that Salt Lake City has a "housing first" program which has worked well at reducing homelessness there. Some people object to housing first because they think it doesn't address the problems that made them homeless in the first place. But why not get them into stable shelter and also get them help with their life problems? People need both. It's hard to solve any kind of problems if you don't have a roof over your head.
Yes. I saw something a couple of years ago about a similar program in San Diego where they helped homeless people get little apartments first, and what a huge difference that made in fixing their other problems. I think there's an unspoken puritan-ethic reaction to homelessness that just doesn't want to "give" people anything, even if it would end of helping us all in the end.
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