If you look in the distant background, the line of homeless people and tents stretches from one end of the parking lot to the other. Side view of the same scene. The encampments stretch into another parking lot nearby as well. Saw this scene besides the side of the street at the same time. The homelessness here is worse than Seattle. Olympia is not a huge city. And this is not even the bad side of town.
This radical lady looks angry: Downtown faith communities offer warming centers for Olympia’s homeless Homeless congregating in front of local businesses One local business owner put up a fenced wall in front of the door to her business to prevent homeless from sleeping there: https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/ol...ng-wall-to-keep-homeless-people-out/501327602 There were even homeless people sleeping right in front of the city hall: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattl...leeping-near-olympia-city-hall-will-get-boot/ One spot in downtown Tacoma: http://www.movetotacoma.com/mdcs-ro...-on-homelessness-in-tacoma-learn-how-to-help/ The city of Tacoma has established a homeless camp, with outhouses and trash pickup: https://q13fox.com/2017/05/23/rapid-resources-deployed-in-tacoma-homeless-camp/ One woman who lived in Tacoma told me that a homeless man had followed her to the front door of her house without her realizing it, and when she turned around he said "You better give me food!"
We have a similar problem in Honolulu. Not sure about other states but Hawaii has cash welfare for singles and that apparently attracts some homeless.
Very bad situation. As I have said before, Scandinavian system is much more humane then the US System.
Scandinavian system is having shortages of housing, due to too much refugee immigration and a socialized housing system. Sweden apartment owners are not allowed to directly rent out to tenants. The state is the one who pays apartment owners and then decides how much rent will be from tenants. Obviously there's going to be a problem when the number of people is rapidly expanding and more apartments need to be constructed but the state is holding down prices. Sweden now having homeless issues, which would have been unfathomable 20 years ago. How Sweden's housing crisis is fueling homelessness
churches should all be required to allow sanctuary to those poor folks just like it says in the Bible
I would rather we put them to work or if the issue is drugs then in a secured community. I don't like enablers.
Those things are available to homeless people, but many don't want them because they come with conditions (like all of the real world does). I really hope you're not suggesting that such people should be exempt from the real world conditional nature of survival?
We have weaker families which leads to widespread homelessness. In China there are very few homeless despite them being a lot poorer. This is because family members are a lot more willing to help each other out and kids are more obedient to parents and family.
Let's not forget that the Chinese are also a lot less lazy and demotivated. Very few of them ever end up making the sorts of poor choices which inevitably lead to homelessness. Even the poorest will still work very very hard to retain what little they have. They don't spend it on drugs and alcohol, and they don't simply decide to opt out.
That's a half-truth. There do exist some homeless people in China, typically older people with medical conditions who can't afford housing because all their money is going towards medical expenses. Also, the Chinese don't have a very tolerant attitude towards homeless people. Cost of living is also a lot lower in China (at least in the rural areas). If Chinese can't afford to live in the cities, they just move to "third tier" or "fourth tier" cities that are not as glamorous and may not have as good jobs. Many migrants to the big cities choose to move back to the rural villages where they came from, where they will be poor but at least not be homeless and will have all their basic needs met. They usually have some family home waiting for them back in the rural village where they came from.
Not half true, mostly true. Very little homelessness in China. And such people who remained poor throughout life (as is common in China) but didn't marry and have children. Quite rare actually, even in a nation with a one child policy. Marrying (and staying married) and having children is a very high priority in a family driven culture, and few choose not to.
The Society has a duty to help people with mental disabilities. I have Moderate Autism and Moderate Depression. Many people have Severe Mental Disability.
Only if they're the result of profoundly disabling brain injury or birth defect. Otherwise, families can sort them out. We MUST differentiate between acts of god (brain injury etc), and dysfunctions resulting from poor parenting and the like. In my 'perfect' world, your conditions would not qualify for assistance, as you can still function and be a productive member of a family/community. Yes, and people with severely disabling brain injuries or birth defects, would always be cared for.
"Brain injury" can be a blurry line. I met one guy (29 years old) who had been involved in a car accident several years before and suffered minor brain injury. He seemed normal enough, but there were a couple of indicators that showed he didn't seem to be quite as mentally mature as his age would suggest (seemed more like a 20 year old, maybe a 16 or 17 year old in certain ways). Anyway, he had been arrested several years prior due to causing a minor scene in a restaurant, basically throwing an adult tantrum and then stubbornly refusing to get out of his seat at the table and leave. His iPhone (pretty expensive) had gone missing, presumably someone had stolen it off the table when he wasn't looking. This had happened six or seven months right after the car accident. It's very probable the brain injury strongly contributed to his emotional reaction to the situation, and subsequent arrest. As a result of being charged with "criminal trespass" he had great difficulty being able to find an apartment that would let him live there (even though the conviction had happened five years ago). Obviously this is a situation where the brain injury probably contributed towards the precarious situation this individual now found himself in, even though it wasn't a direct and obvious cause-effect relationship. You'd be surprised how much a slight mental impairment and a little difficulty concentrating can be disabling in real life. I've met two other people who were homeless as a result of injuries sustained in car accidents. Even a minor physical disability can make it difficult for someone to find a job if they don't have an education or skills or don't already have past job experience. Take a person who wasn't too bright in the first place and put them in a wheelchair, and there's not going to be too many jobs to which they are suitable for.
we do need areas people can go, like a giant complex that just has a bunch of rooms, like prisions without doors kinda thing, allow people in at night and make them get out in the morning (no drugs allowed and no intoxicated people allowed) offer job training, ect... now of course for the mentally ill or disabled we need to care for them and treat them when possible one of the sad things is the cost of rent is so high anymore, even if they work it's tough to find a place to live, and most places will not let groups of people live there to share rent part of the reason rent is high is cause it's hard to kick bad renters out, the other part is greed