A Topic Revisited: The Homeless

Ruthanne

Ruthanne

Caregiver
Location
Midwest
Do you do anything for the homeless? Do you ever give handouts of anything? What is your solution for homelessness in the world? We have discussed this topic before but thought I'd revisit it because we have lots of newer folks here now, too, and to hear everyone's opinion. Our opinions may change over time, too. So, what do you have to say about the homelessness topic?

I, myself, am only a paycheck away from homelessness and I feel many are in this country. I think specific programs to help people stay afloat should be enacted. For those close to homelessness or homeless. I have some clothes I am going to donate to a charity when I find one for the homeless. I have helped them on the street a bit.

What is your opinion on this topic?:anyone:

Here was my original thread on homeless:

https://www.seniorforums.com/showthread.php/22385-Homeless?highlight=homeless
 

We have tended the clothing handouts
Food handouts
Soup lines
Guess it’s a feel good thing, but moreover, I am fascinated with the folks on the receiving end
All walks of life
Reading their eyes tells their stories
Typically, those that divert eye contact have seen better days, much better.

There is also a disdain t’wards the giver

Heh, and there’s a hierarchy even at lowarchy, as some folks helping take it upon themselves to commandeer who gets what

What’s kinda cool is a good lot of the food is high end stuff, past day old, but stuff not many can afford.
The sad thing is, most don’t have a means to carry stuff
Some have shopping carts
Some just stuff what they can in their coat pockets
and eat

I’ve been on the other side
Not the give outs
Just without
My fault
Rode some rails

No ties

Young
No folks
So not much consequence

Dove off a slow moving box car in north Houston
Slept under the bridge that separated main and north main
Not sure what river now
I remember the term ‘Bayou’
Got the shivers from the thought of snakes
Hate snakes
Some degenerates rolled an old man, one night, not far away

Got my shit together and found work, any
Turns out, my dad was right
Keep going back til they hire ya
It worked

Never without work for long since

A solution for the homeless?
A permanent one?
In this country?

I have no idea
 
I have just recently retired from working between 10 and 12 hours per day for and on behalf of the homeless
 

We have worked at PADS shelters in the past. This is 'public action to deliver shelter'. We have a number of churches in our county, including in our town, where homeless are given dinner, a place to sleep for the night, bath and shower facility with needed items, and breakfast. We get food from meals made at local hospital, and all other items needed are donated or funded. We have to staff these venues from dinner through breakfast, so someone has to be there the entire night.
We have a lot of local actions in our town: clothes drives and donation boxes everywhere, food bank, a place to meet during the day with some social services. DW and I are going to be working at the local food bank in the near future.
 
I donate to Manna, a food bank which is not entirely for the homeless, but helps all in need.

I sometimes give a small cash donation to the homeless appealing to drivers who are waiting for the traffic light to change.
 
I live in a very small town. AFAIK there are no homeless here. I have noticed one man who appears to be living rough in the woods off the main road. But I am hesitant to approach him as he seems to want to be left alone.
My idea to help the homeless would be to fill all abandoned/vacant commercial locations with beds and install bathrooms. I believe all humans deserve the dignity of a shower and a clean safe place to sleep.
I do regularly donate to a soup kitchen in the city that is closest to where I live.
 
I definitely feel sorry for the homeless. Depending on who we believe, I have read in articles about the homeless that some want to be homeless and I have read that most of the homeless want it that way. It's hard for me to fathom that anyone would "want" to be without a home,especially if they would live up north in the winter. I could never see myself hunkering down under an overpass at night while covered with a sheet of cardboard and then having to rummage through a garbage can to find something to eat. Not me, no sirree. Of course, I have had people tell me to never say never, but I can almost guarantee that I would never get to that point.

Like many others here on this board, I do what I can to help them and I am one of those dumb-dumbs that hand over a few bucks to the the homeless person standing at the street corner holding out a sign. My wife tells me that I am being taken, but I generally have a few bucks on me that isn't put aside for anything, so what's the harm? Maybe I am donating to help the person make his Mercedes payment, but I would only spend it on something that I don't need anyway.
 
The subject of how the help the homeless is a tough nut to crack.
Here, in San Diego, there are an estimated 10,000 homeless. Yes, the county and city and various other charities, do provide some food, clothing and on cold or very rainy nights the shelters are opened. Occasionally, a few dozen are granted a small utility apartment, complete with stove, frig, table and 2 chairs and a bed with pillows, sheets and blankets. And, of course, food stamps are provided along with a small monthly cash allowance.

However, more and more homeless arrive from all over the country. They come here because of the fine climate. So, there is a never ending supply of homeless, arriving every day. Many, but by no means all, are alcoholics and/or drug addicts. Based on what I personally see, many of them have chronic mental problems. This last group are the ones I feel most sorry for. Additionally, there are some who, have tried their best but, due to circumstances, perhaps beyond their control, become homeless due to loss of a job or other financial reasons.

San Diego County is one of the most expensive places to live in all of the United States. The average 1-bedroom apt goes for $1,200/month.
Add on another $ 1,200 for security deposit and more for deposits on gas and electric and the amount necessary to move in to an apt is aprox, $2,600. That, my friends, is one heck of a lot of money for a homeless person to come up with. And, even if they did manage to come up with that amount, where in the world are they going to find NEXT months rent?

To be certain, there are some who seriously want to help themselves. I think they would probably be more than willing to work IF they could get cleaned up and properly dressed to apply for a job. As for the rest, very many of them just flatly refuse help.

I will give money to poor wretched women who sit on the sidewalk with their child/children, but the rest would just buy alcohol.
 
oldman said:
…Depending on who we believe, I have read in articles about the homeless that some want to be homeless and I have read that most of the homeless want it that way…
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Isn't it a little too convenient for people to dismiss the homeless by saying such dishonest crap? I think you're too bright to believe that kind of propaganda.

The homeless I've known are unable to function within the strictures of normal society. For whatever reason, they can't get along well enough to live among people.

My wife tells me that I am being taken, but I generally have a few bucks on me that isn't put aside for anything, so what's the harm? Maybe I am donating to help the person make his Mercedes payment, but I would only spend it on something that I don't need anyway.
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American life is about being "taken." We're being "taken" every time we turn around. We have a right to decide how and by whom we're being scammed. I would far rather be "taken" by someone begging on a street corner than by some multi-multi-millionaire, be he TV preacher/scammer or another variety of scam artist.
 
Smiling Jane said:
Isn't it a little too convenient for people to dismiss the homeless by saying such dishonest crap? I think you're too bright to believe that kind of propaganda.

American life is about being "taken." We're being "taken" every time we turn around. We have a right to decide how and by whom we're being scammed. I would far rather be "taken" by someone begging on a street corner than by some multi-multi-millionaire, be he TV preacher/scammer or another variety of scam artist.
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I disagree with that statement. I am much too positive of a person to believe that I am being taken or scammed. Sure, there may be times when I get the short end of the stick, but so what. I have been a very fortunate person in life and have nothing to complain about that would really matter. I am good with things the way they are and that's all I have to say about it.
 
ProsperosDaughter said:
......My idea to help the homeless would be to fill all abandoned/vacant commercial locations with beds and install bathrooms. I believe all humans deserve the dignity of a shower and a clean safe place to sleep......
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We have a location in our town, a block from the historic town square, where homeless can stay for the day (not an overnight shelter) and have access to bathroom/shower. It's a big controversy here. A small percentage of the people who show up there end up hanging around the town square, sometimes drunk, some will harass people, sometimes loud arguments. The city council, along with many of us citizens, advocate for the homeless (aside from the PADS shelters in the area), but there is a lot of bad feeling caused by the small number of people 'behaving badly'. It all comes down to if you believe that the homeless could be effectively treated for mental illness, or they're 'all a bunch of so-and-so's' who just want handouts.
Never ending debate. The largest problem, as is true with so many issues (imho), is the question of available resources and where the money will come from.
 
I could actually write reams of facts and figures regarding the homeless, but I won't because I'd never get anything else done, so I'll leave this to the majority of folks on here who are discussing the plight of the homeless in the USA of which I know very little...What I will say though in response to one comment , that homeless people don't just arrive in countries because the climate is hot and sunny, otherwise here in Europe we would have very few homeless...our climate is not something that would encourage people from hotter countries to arrive here in their thousands to sleep under motorway bridges and shop doorways ,which they do in their thousands all over the country

Of course, the vast majority of people who are homeless here in the UK, are Natives, who have lost their homes due to a myriad of reasons, more often Joblessness, Divorce, Domestic abuse... mental disabilities (just the most distressing thing because we no longer care for the mentality unstable in hospitals as we once did) , Substance abuse and so much more. There is not a shadow of a doubt that many suffer from a type of Stockholm Syndrome where, after they have been living a certain way on the streets for a very long time, they have come to feel that the streets and the homeless people they associate with are their comfort zone. many simply find it far too difficult to re-adjust into the normal world again regardless of how much aid they are given .

However the Vast Majority of homeless people.. ( usually substance abusers aside)..are desperate for help , simply a home and a job... but we just don't have that to give them in the UK...we don't have the land to build homes for people on this tiny Island, so we as a Homeless charity could do no more than provide them with a bed for a night or 2 in a church or cheap B&B where they could be warm .. go out with the soup wagons and feed them at night, provide blankets and support them emotionally whenever and wherever we could. We worked tirelessly raising funds to enable the homeless to eat , to provide them with dry socks and sleeping bags, and provide food for them especially during the winter where we desperately would try and convince Ministers and Vicars to allow their churches to be used for anything up to 2 weeks at a time to provide a dry sleeping area and a breakfast in the morning supplied by our many , many volunteers.. .

Further to that our Charity also provided Homeless hostels for singles, and then other for families..Then of course we also have another service which gives help and aid to young prisoners between 16 and 24 who would otherwise go straight back to jail having nowhere to go when they leave prison due to having no job or accommodation, and so a high proportion would commit a crime to return to incarceration where they are warm, dry, got a bed and 3 meals a day, so it's important to consider and help these people too as much as any other .

I'm going to stop now..I don't want to add any more to this thread, reasons given already... but I just want to say in closing that so many people who abuse substances while homeless, didn't start off that way..in fact it was only once many of them became homeless, and that includes sofa surfers.. that they began to use drugs or alcohol trying either to keep warm at night, or to block out everything that's happening in their lives.....and further although it's very difficult without an offical address, which in the UK prevents anyone from claiming benefits.. I must not finish without remembering the homeless people who haven't succumbed to mental illness or substance abuse and are working full or part-time jobs , unbeknown to their employers they are getting washed in the nearest MacDonald's restaurant bathroom, and changing their clothes there, working all day and then returning to sleep in a concrete car park at night to be physically abused by late night revellers , or moved on a dozen times a night by the police.. yet continuing to get up and go to work in some menial minimum wage job...
 
How could anyone in his right mind believe that homeless people are homeless because they prefer to live that way?

In the case of the very small number who might say they do, they are obviously mentally ill. For God's sake, they are sick, freezing, hungry, constantly in danger, without any physical shelter or emotional anchor. Who would "prefer" to live such a hellish existence?
 
Where I live the rents are sky high and keep going up. There are some families that are homeless despite the fact that both parents work full time. Some live in old RVs or vans. They make sure the kids get to school and then go work all day. Some of the towns have very strict policies and chase them away. In our town, one of the churches offers an overnight parking area behind the church. Local volunteers make sure that things are calm and safe, in part to keep the town government from chasing them away. The location is near a bus stop and a grocery store.

I find it disturbing when a local city goes in to clean up a homeless encampment that is out of sight down a creek bed in the woods. They round everybody up and the police keep them back while the workers throw their tents and belongings into a garbage truck. It seems so unnecessarily brutal.
 
Sunny said:
How could anyone in his right mind believe that homeless people are homeless because they prefer to live that way?

In the case of the very small number who might say they do, they are obviously mentally ill. For God's sake, they are sick, freezing, hungry, constantly in danger, without any physical shelter or emotional anchor. Who would "prefer" to live such a hellish existence?
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I agree, but there is a pervasive attitude among some who have never been in such dire straits, that if the homeless only pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, life would be hunky dory. Well, first you need bootstraps. This philosophy of blame, or Pharisee Syndrome, enables people to avoid any feelings of compassion for those less fortunate than themselves, while reminding themselves how righteously deserving they are to be one of “the haves.”
 
I live out of the city limits of a small town and never see homeless people so I don't know if there are any here.

As far as giving goes, a few years ago I was leaving Walmart when a woman approached me asking for a few dollars to buy gas because they were stranded and needed to buy gas to get home. I didn't have anything in my wallet except twenty dollar bills so I said sorry and went on.

After I got home I felt guilty. I said to my self it wouldn't have hurt you to give here twenty dollars. Since then I've made sure I always have an extra twenty in my wallet. I don't get out much but did come across a similar situation later and the man was surprised and grateful when I handed him a twenty dollar bill.

Be wary though, as others have said there are many scams out there.
 
I live in the country not many homeless here. I did work in Detroit a lot and saw many inneed, we would give them food never money. They would sleep in the job sites and I have toomany stories. One sleep in the port a john in December. We gave him food mostmornings and sent him on his way. My motherin law worked at a restaurant and one was panhandling out front. She said hecould work for the day or longer, he said “I don’t want a job, I just wantmoney.”
 
Rkunsaw, I would have been suspicious of that "ran out of gas" story too. It sounds like a lot of the scams out there. If I thought there might be some merit to the story, I would certainly have never given them $20, maybe a dollar or two. But I think anyone stranded in such a situation would have other options than just approaching strangers begging for money. Sounds hokey to me.
 
Growing up around NYC and living in places like South El Monte (CA) and Key West I've seen more than my share of homeless. There were violent ones and ones that had just given up. Some were mentally ill, some just hit hard times.

Regardless of their reasons, the system failed them. Sure, once in a while a van would come around and gather them up on the coldest nights of the year, but that didn't solve the problem - it only put a Band-Aid on it.

And yes, as the years have rolled on I've been insulated from their plight, but all it takes is a few bad breaks and I could join them.

There but for the grace of God ...
 
Ruthanne said:
What is your solution for homelessness in the world?
Click to expand...


That's been a poser for a long time, a very long time

Here in the US, seems corporate America could contribute
could....

you know

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sorry for the seeming triteness

it's not, really, just a nose thumb at the haves
the haves so much they can'ts find a place to puts it all
 
The shelter at St. Vincent De Paul is opposite about the sleeping... maybe due to set up or resources. The homeless can eat, shower and sleep there, but they can't hang around during the day. They have to be out working or out seeking work.

I hear some people prefer the streets, but I wonder if that's a symptom of a mental illness involving paranoia- not wanting to be involved or near others. Some are addicts to varieties of substances which render them useless or a danger on a job. I don't know...
 

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