In one of my rabbit holes last night, I came across this thread. I found it very insightful & I'm sharing bc I think some of you may as well.
@ExecutiveFunction404 What an excellent idea! And what if people didn't have to worry about being homeless, either!
What timing, as #scotus is deciding whether homelessness should be criminalized, without providing a solution for the hundreds of thousands of unhoused people 🙃
@ExecutiveFunction404 Yeah. I would like people to really think about it.
If a person or a family has gone through such hardship that they don't have a place to live, should they be punished by law not having a place to live?
That's like giving someone a fine or jail time for getting cancer.
@AskTheDevil @ExecutiveFunction404 There are people who believe they are only there due to laziness or drugs, and treating them with kindness enables them. They think the homeless must hit rock bottom or be better people before they get better, and if they are so lazy and awful that they are willing to live in the squalor of the streets, the jail might be the only solution. After all, they are unsightly and "good" people shouldn't have to look at them.
@tippitiwichet @ExecutiveFunction404 That's the size of it.
@AskTheDevil @ExecutiveFunction404 I know the numbers are changing, our streets are so much more full than they were before 2020, but it used to be that only about 30% of the homeless population was chronically homeless (more than once, and for longer than a couple of months - I qualify). Most of them have jobs, go to school, keep clean, and use the resources they are offered wisely, so they are off the street in a couple of months. They certainly don't all drink or use drugs, either.
@tippitiwichet @ExecutiveFunction404 I think everything you have said is worth saying again and again.
@tippitiwichet @ExecutiveFunction404 Some years back, when they did a study of alcoholism in homeless people in Boulder county Colorado, they discovered that homeless people there did not appear to have a higher rate of alcoholism than the general public.
@AskTheDevil @ExecutiveFunction404 Yeah. That's been my experience as well. Personally when I was a street kid I refused to buy any drugs or alcohol. Occasionally someone would offer me a drink or share a joint, but they all knew I would not return the favor, ever. A lot of people had similar rules for themselves, and it was generally understood to be rather wise, so people were supportive. I definitely also knew addicts, but certainly not everyone. Fewer in the shelters.
Going up a few replies...as if not having a home & living on the streets isn't rock bottom 🤦♀️
I wish it didn't matter whether someone is on the streets due to a "socially acceptable reason" vs alcohol/drugs. No one grows up hoping to become an addict. It's usually due to a plethora of reasons, likely beyond the person's control. They didn't choose that life; they need help, not disdain or threats to their life.
I'm happy you're more secure now, Gemma 🩷
@ExecutiveFunction404 @AskTheDevil Lol, me too. And yeah, I grew up in a home that was very "tough love", I was on the street due to religion (me pagan, her Catholic, at the tail end of Satanic Panic), Grandma tried to lock me out for my own good like she does my addict uncle. It didn't make him cave to her will either. It got me close to the people she thought should sleep outside, made me wonder what "Christian" would wish freezing to death on someone just because they couldn't sober up.
That was another thing I was going to mention...how many kids were kicked out/left bc they were LGBTQ+ or pregnant or being abused? Or in a situation similar to yours?
Conservatives consider all "undesirables" as worthless. No matter the story. Anything to make their shack with no running water feel like a castle, right? They need the homeless, bc it affords them someone, *anyone* to look down on.
Sounds like gram may be the reason for uncle's addictions 🤦♀️
@ExecutiveFunction404 @AskTheDevil Gosh, if that were true then she'd probably have issues with all of the 8 kids she raised having lifelong struggles with either chemical dependency or mental illness of one form or another, even running through eating disorders and PTSD... Oh wait.
@tippitiwichet @ExecutiveFunction404 It would be so nice if there were not so many people spending the majority of their lives either recovering from what their families did to them, or crazy because of what their families did to them.
@AskTheDevil @ExecutiveFunction404 Don't know why I'm telling you that, you don't need to be persuaded. Must be a sore spot of mine for some reason.