Compassion for The Homeless

[Jeni]

I think we need to view the reality and that is poverty, homelessness, and addiction is big business for those who work in the system.
When people throw money at a problem, and many disguised as help or " administrators " make a great living at it.
It is not helping to solve homelessness but keeping it going or growing to get even a bigger grant or donations to deal with it.

I saw a report in California person who worked a Nonprofit to help people set up lives give themselves a $96,000 a year raise. Their compensation was over 200K to teach people, who may only be able to secure a minimum wage job how to budget and get the services they need. seriously that is illogical at best.
Look at the fraud in these systems with people setting up a "non-profit" and getting taxpayer money or solicitating donations only to create big salaries and big "overhead" with very little trickling down to the person on the street. Notice many of these NGOs have extended family on payrolls.

The fight continues over housing first or getting clean first.
There is NO one size fits all and we want a quick and clean solution.
With constant media telling us it is impossible to pay for things or inflated studies saying you must make X amount of dollars to survive it is no wonder why people give up trying to work to survive.
I feel as a taxpayer we have paid several times over with no results or accountability.

 

[Muskrat]

My mother used to say "horses have heads, you have a head...therefor you are a horse". Homeless is like that...as varied as the sand on a beach. Screening as to Why a person does not have a home would go a long way toward having some success with helping some individuals.

 

[Coconut]

I think we need to view the reality and that is poverty, homelessness, and addiction is big business for those who work in the system.
When people throw money at a problem, and many disguised as help or " administrators " make a great living at it.
It is not helping to solve homelessness but keeping it going or growing to get even a bigger grant or donations to deal with it.

I saw a report in California person who worked a Nonprofit to help people set up lives give themselves a $96,000 a year raise. Their compensation was over 200K to teach people, who may only be able to secure a minimum wage job how to budget and get the services they need. seriously that is illogical at best.
Look at the fraud in these systems with people setting up a "non-profit" and getting taxpayer money or solicitating donations only to create big salaries and big "overhead" with very little trickling down to the person on the street. Notice many of these NGOs have extended family on payrolls.

The fight continues over housing first or getting clean first.
There is NO one size fits all and we want a quick and clean solution.
With constant media telling us it is impossible to pay for things or inflated studies saying you must make X amount of dollars to survive it is no wonder why people give up trying to work to survive.
I feel as a taxpayer we have paid several times over with no results or accountability.

I agree with what you are saying, there is fraud in every system.

The best I can do , at my age, is to donate money and useful items to locale places.
We have places here that feed people once a week, some on different days, so most people can eat everyday. some have temporary housing or information about getting help.
As far as addictions, people have to want help to get help.

One needs to find out where their money is going to before they donate.

 

[Brookswood]

Sadly, the misuse of fund that supposedly are spent to help the homeless hurts the homeless even more than the taxpayers who fund are being so flagrantly mismanaged at best. And, in some cases stolen by fraudsters.

Thankfully I am not homeless since I have a very old home with a small low interest mortgage. My kids are also not homeless because they moved to another state where housing is not outrageously priced and taxed. If they lived here, they would probably have to move in with me. That would be interesting as in the curse, “May you live in interesting times.”

 

[gruntlabor]

... There is NO one size fits all and we want a quick and clean solution.
With constant media telling us it is impossible to pay for things or inflated studies saying you must make X amount of dollars to survive it is no wonder why people give up trying to work to survive.
I feel as a taxpayer we have paid several times over with no results or accountability.

The one size that fits all is honesty and common decency in government. Term limits and an unpleasant prison system wouldn't hurt either.

 

[RambleTamble]

Screening as to Why a person does not have a home would go a long way toward having some success with helping some individuals.

Primary Drivers of Homelessness
Recent studies and surveys highlight how these factors contribute to the crisis:

• Housing & Cost of Living (60%–75%+):
  • One comprehensive model identifies the cost of living index as the single most important factor, contributing 61.4% to overall homelessness rates.
  • In demographic surveys, over 75% of individuals cite economic factors—specifically inability to find a sustainable-wage job or affordable housing—as the primary reason they lost their homes.
• Mental Health & Substance Use (18%–22% as a defined category):
  • Official HUD Point-in-Time data for 2024 identifies that 22% of adults experiencing homelessness have a Serious Mental Illness (SMI).
  • Approximately 18% are identified as having a chronic substance use disorder.
  • Note: While a higher percentage (up to 67–71%) may suffer from mental health issues, experts clarify that these conditions are often a consequence of the trauma of homelessness rather than the initial cause.
• Other Key Causes:
  • Unemployment: Contributes roughly 16.4% to homelessness models.
  • Family Issues & Domestic Violence: Family conflict, divorce, or death of a family member are significant triggers. For women, domestic violence is frequently cited as the leading immediate cause of homelessness.
  • Systemic Transitions: Up to 50% of the unhoused population is estimated to have aged out of the foster care system without adequate resources.

 

[Brookswood]

One needs to find out where their money is going to before they donate.

Unfortuantely, tens of millions of dollars are taken from the people using the coercive power of the state to tax us. Then all too much of it is waisted by bureaucracy, fraud and incompetence.

I give much of my charitable contributions to a church fund that our pastor and elders can use to help local people in need. They do not need to be church members. Perhaps a single parent has an unexpected car repair and is struggling to pay the rent. Maybe somebody can’t afford the high deductible in the medical insurance. At least I known 95% of the money is used to help people.

I say 95% because from time to time someone given rent money will spend some of it on booze. Or the person is just a lazy bum who does not like to work. But, that is very rare compared to newly documented misuse of taxpayer funds by our local and state government.