Clearly the USA, is not a third world country despite people living in worse conditions than some third world countries.
Which 3rd world countries? No one in the US is living in worse conditions than any 3rd world country I can think of.
Sometime in the last 5 years, a federal law was passed that says any structure can be a home. Whether it's a cardboard box or a car, if someone lives in it, it's officially recognized as a home. Congress approved that law because, previously, you couldn't qualify for all social services unless you had an official address, which had to be a number on a house that had at least one door, two windows, and access to sanitation facilities and a place to prepare food.
Today, you can live on a piece of cloth on a sidewalk and get an Electronic Benefits Transfer card and a Medicaid card, be placed in a motel room or an apartment or on a waiting list for zero and low-income housing, and be assigned a social worker dedicated to making sure you get all the benefits you can qualify for, such as free drug rehab, free daycare, preschool, and wellness exams for your children, disability benefits if you have any type of disability including drug addiction, an official disability in the US, and free job training.
Every homeless American qualifies for social services. So, what's the problem?
I can tell you. I used to take supplies to 4 different homeless encampments here in Sacramento. Until about a year and a half /two years ago, I went to 3 of them every week, and 1 of them once or twice a month...that one was by the river, a long drive followed by a rather difficult hike, and it could be dangerous when Jazzy-Jay was around. And I never knew for sure when he'd be around.
Anyway, the majority of the people who lived there didn't
want a social worker, because a social worker's 1st order of business was to get them into rehab. And the 2nd-rated fear was that, at some point, the social worker would know if they had an outstanding warrant, were in violation of probation or parole, or were wanted in another state, which would result in an arrest.
In my personal experience, most homeless people choose to stay homeless. Most that I met, anyway. And whenever I saw single moms with kids in these camps, they weren't there for long....because they got social services. I gave one gal and her 3 kids a ride to the county office myself, and got bus passes for another one.
Fanning the flames of telling others they are wrong, bad, evil...and so on is bound to cause defensive behavior. It is time to drop the fighting and begin to listen.
