Here in Germany homeless people are all drug addicts and/or severely mentally ill. Housing is a right and the only people unable to do their part to acquire it are either mentally ill or junkies.
That is largely the case here in the United States as well, minus the part where housing is a right. In practice, there is a lot of support available in the form of public assistance, private charities and religious organizations, and just good old fashioned help from family, friends, and neighbors. The sad truth is that many of the homeless are out on the streets because they have completely burned through their support network, often due to drug addiction or refusing to be treated for severe mental illness.
I think providing a place to live is only a small piece of the puzzle to solving homelessness.
> The sad truth is that many of the homeless are out on the streets because they have completely burned through their support network, often due to drug addiction or refusing to be treated for severe mental illness.
Yes, absolutely. Pretending that these people are on the streets because of tough luck and that they can be helped by just putting them in housing is delusional.
Homelessness is almost always the cause of a more severe issue and if you are ignoring that much more severe issue you are at best masking symptoms. A meth addict, with zero non-addicts in his life, is not suddenly going to stop being an addict because he has a place to stay. And his real problem is the meth addiction and not that he has no place to stay.
>I think providing a place to live is only a small piece of the puzzle to solving homelessness.
The much more difficult puzzle pieces are how to deal with the underlying causes. Ignoring these real causes also does not help anyone.
The statistics that I have been able to find are that about a third of homeless have drug addiction problems, and about a third have serious mental health issues. I assume there is also some overlap between those two groups. That would mean that between a third and two thirds are not drug addicted or mental health casualties.
In the other hand, the people that are most visible and cause the most problems for the normies probably do fall into those two groups. So I can understand why people think that.
> Yes, absolutely. Pretending that these people are on the streets because of tough luck and that they can be helped by just putting them in housing is delusional.
It can't be the last step, but we've got a lot of evidence it helps as a first step.
> The much more difficult puzzle pieces are how to deal with the underlying causes. Ignoring these real causes also does not help anyone.
It's a lot easier to get therapy, addiction treatment, and other services if you're not looking for somewhere to shelter all the time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_First
Here in Germany homeless people are all drug addicts and/or severely mentally ill. Housing is a right and the only people unable to do their part to acquire it are either mentally ill or junkies.
That is largely the case here in the United States as well, minus the part where housing is a right. In practice, there is a lot of support available in the form of public assistance, private charities and religious organizations, and just good old fashioned help from family, friends, and neighbors. The sad truth is that many of the homeless are out on the streets because they have completely burned through their support network, often due to drug addiction or refusing to be treated for severe mental illness.
I think providing a place to live is only a small piece of the puzzle to solving homelessness.
> The sad truth is that many of the homeless are out on the streets because they have completely burned through their support network, often due to drug addiction or refusing to be treated for severe mental illness.
Yes, absolutely. Pretending that these people are on the streets because of tough luck and that they can be helped by just putting them in housing is delusional.
Homelessness is almost always the cause of a more severe issue and if you are ignoring that much more severe issue you are at best masking symptoms. A meth addict, with zero non-addicts in his life, is not suddenly going to stop being an addict because he has a place to stay. And his real problem is the meth addiction and not that he has no place to stay.
>I think providing a place to live is only a small piece of the puzzle to solving homelessness.
The much more difficult puzzle pieces are how to deal with the underlying causes. Ignoring these real causes also does not help anyone.
The statistics that I have been able to find are that about a third of homeless have drug addiction problems, and about a third have serious mental health issues. I assume there is also some overlap between those two groups. That would mean that between a third and two thirds are not drug addicted or mental health casualties.
In the other hand, the people that are most visible and cause the most problems for the normies probably do fall into those two groups. So I can understand why people think that.
> Yes, absolutely. Pretending that these people are on the streets because of tough luck and that they can be helped by just putting them in housing is delusional.
It can't be the last step, but we've got a lot of evidence it helps as a first step.
> The much more difficult puzzle pieces are how to deal with the underlying causes. Ignoring these real causes also does not help anyone.
It's a lot easier to get therapy, addiction treatment, and other services if you're not looking for somewhere to shelter all the time.