Edit
I kinda made this post out of spite for the fact the most previous post in this community, whose title I quoted/copied, was getting so many downvotes… At the time I posted this, the previous post had about a 30% downvote rate, and it really, really made me mad.
I am relieved tho to see people in the comments here who have real, actual empathy for their fellow humans. Thank you for contributing here.
It blows my mind how normalized it is to hate on those who are struggling. Especially in 20fucking23 when so many of us now are on the verge of it ourselves. Let’s be better, everyone - to everyone. I beg you.
When those public spaces become shantytowns, crime rises in that area. So no- it’s not only about survival for the homeless. It’s not so cut-and-dry.
Those that live in those areas deserve to not be mugged. They deserve to feel safe in their homes.
Don’t act like it’s a right for people to become junkies that refuse help. Empathy is reserved for people who try and help themselves. Setting up a permanent encampments shows no intent to help one’s self.
A friend of mine once said “no one healthy wakes up one day and decides to try heroin, just for fun.”
That really stuck with me. There are many reasons why people use substances, and there are many reasons why people may refuse help. This doesn’t make them less than. You, as an outsider, have no knowledge or understanding of the circumstances that lead them to where they now are.
A 30+ year long friend of mine overdosed and died a few months ago. Don’t talk to me about what makes people become junkies. The fact is- ALL of them chose to remain so.
Being in perpetual debilitating pain from botched operations, wounds sustained during battle or plain accidents are not a choice. Neither is having any number of diseases that leaves you in said chronic pain.
The healthcare system is nothing but an administrative nightmare in many places, and it can be nigh impossible to get the help needed to recover to a functional life depending on where you live.
No one made someone an addict but themselves. Period. FULL STOP.
And the sooner we stop coddling addicts, the better for them- and everyone they make to suffer by their side.
I’m very sorry for your loss.
The only way tent shelters will ever work without simply adding to the public health crisis, is to heavily legislate urban camping rules.
Make it legal to use an emergency outdoor shelter, provided it has a permit, to be renewed every week, confirms to size and placement regulations, is constructed from flame retardant materials, and (barring hazardous weather) that it’s taken down every day from sunrise to sunset.
We then attach to the free permitting process, an identification check, automatic enrollment in welfare services, career counseling, etc. and immediate access to mental health and substance abuse rehabilitation.
Care for those who obey the rules and scrape up those that don’t.
We can’t just let people rot indefinitely, huddling half naked under a leaky plastic tarp, searching for that last good vein, and call it compassion.
Well said.
no
Yes.
Everyone deserves love, even those who are too lost to help theirselves.
this is entirely valid. and our kids deserve to walk to school without getting stabbed by the needles all over the place.
I think a balance needs to be found and the unhoused communities need to police their own residents; Seattle has had success with this and the tiny housing communities it’s established - they give people an address to start seeking assistance for their issues, and don’t tolerate violence and dangerous behaviors like leaving needles everywhere.
I don’t understand the appeal of going onto the internet just to lie about a group of people who have done nothing to harm you.
I used to live in next to a homeless encampment. I used to walk by it every single day for 2 years. I have never ONCE seen a needle on the ground, day or night. You know what I did see a bunch of? People claiming that there were needles everywhere, without a single shred of evidence whatsoever.
I’ve lived in Northeast Seattle (near 125th) and South Seattle (othello) - seen needles at the Van Asselt community center when taking my kid to daycare. The staff had to sweep the park and wading pool daily. In Lake City, all around the Lake City mini park and what’s now the skate park.
I’m an advocate for finding solutions but to disregard the reality faced by parents just trying to prevent their kids getting stuck with used needles is real man.
Those are the folks who need it most
I never said they don’t deserve love. I simply said they don’t deserve free sheltering if they are committing crimes and shrieking all night outside your window while slamming their shoes on the pavement.
Most unhoused are mentally ill they are not junkies who do not want help.
Got statistics to back that up?