From Homeless to Penthouse

[Dean Hoffman]

The Seattle mayor has a plan to get homeless people off the street.

One of the commentators mentions St. Louis. "'..in the US city of St. Louis, Missouri. Living conditions in Pruitt?Igoe began to decline soon after completion in 1956. By the late 1960s, the complex had become internationally infamous for its poverty, crime and racial segregation. The 11-story high rises within the complex almost exclusively accommodated African-Americans. All 33 buildings were demolished with explosives in the mid-1970s, and the project has come to represent some of the failures of urban renewal, public-policy planning and public housing.'"

[Ed Pawlowski]

Sounds good but in a few months those "luxury" apartments won't be looking very luxurious. Most of the homeless will continue living the same way, just in a fancy building. The root cause will still be there for 98% of them.

[Wade Garrett]

Ya gotta' love them libbies: Throw a ton of taxpayer money at a problem for the same solution that's failed over and over in the past.

But expect a different outcome this time because, well...our hearts are pure and we really, really care.

Sheesh!

[gfretwell]

In the 50s we called them the projects. Three decades later we called them the ghetto and tore them down.

[Dean Hoffman]

California officials are at least talking about paying drug addicts to quit.

[Ed Pawlowski]

If it works, cheaper than Narcan and hauling them to the hospital every week. I wonder what the success rate will be.

[rbowman]

Slightly less than the percentage of pigs that can fly. Trade a flight on TransMeth Airlines for chump change?

[gfretwell]

African-Americans. All 33 buildings were demolished with explosives in the mid-1970s, and the project has come to represent some of the failures of urban renewal, public-policy planning and public housing.'"

Long term, I bet close to zero. If money drove these people they would have kept their jobs and not given them up for dope.

[Clare Snyder]

Judging from the "better tent city" project in Kitchener Ontario you may be very surprized. A good number of homeless who have been housed in these "garden shed" style residences have been able to get work and move on to better accomodations because they have a safe comfortable permanent address with available social services - allowing them to get good sleep - stay (or get) healthy - and have a "fixed address" for employers. Many won't go to a "shelter" because they have no privacy and no security.

Many "homeless" are not homeless by choice - and just need a "leg up"

- a chance to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

A good friend was approached by a couple of young fellers - likely intheir thirties, outside the Kitchener Farmers' Market - who asked for some money to buy something to eat. They had been forced out of their housing by mold from a leaking roof a month or so before - and then lost their jobs. She took them in to the luncheon counter, told them to order what they wanted and she paid their bill. 4 weeks later as she approached the market these 2 guys came up to her smiling and thanked her - they had both found work and a decent place to stay -

[Scott Lurndal]

Clueless, as usual.

[Dean Hoffman]

I wonder if it has been tried before. Timely, positive reinforcement vs. a possible divorce or job loss. It's easy for a drunk to make excuses. I drink only on weekends, only after sundown, because my boss is a jerk, my wife is a bitch, for examples. Remaining sober is a week to week, day to day, maybe hour to hour thing. Can I avoid that drink for the next hour? Okay, now what about the next hour? The hour after that? How about a whole day? What do I do when the guys at work have their usual drink at the end of the day? You guys would've gotten rich owning Coke stocks when I was sobering up. The habit of just having a Budweiser on a table by me can mattered. I'm sober and healthy today because of what God did for me through His Son a couple thousand years ago. By rights, I should be dead or crippled. Riding a motorcycle after a beer or ten isn't a good idea.

[gfretwell]

Maybe if you ignored the junkies, crack heads, drunks and mentally ill, you would have a point. There are certainly some people who would like a job and are homeless due to adverse circumstances but there are plenty who are simply unemployable, even in this market where employers are paying bonuses to get people to apply. It is too easy to be a bum in this country and live as well as they think they need to live without working. They did a story on the news about pan handlers in the county who are making $50k a year or more, tax free, in cash, only working the rush hours.

[Wade Garrett]

The problem dates back to the 60's when the "human rights" libbies forced legislation that emptied out and then closed the big state mental hospitals where 90+% of the homeless belong.

Seems that those poor souls' rights were being violated ya' know- being kept hospitalized for their own good.

I got plenty of heart-- but none for the nitwits that originally created this problem and their follow-on progeny that are keeping the disaster alive...

I was a psychology student back then and often visited many of the huge state mental hospitals on Long Island (Creedmor, Pilgrim State, Kings Park, Central Islip and the Northport VA Hospital, etc.).

40,000, 50,000 patients in each facility all fed, clothed, housed, cared for, treated, etc. and most doing pretty well; Far better than life on the street...

[rbowman]

[angelica...]

Of course the Republicans really got on board in the 80s when they figured out how much money they could save.

Cindy Hamilton

[gfretwell]

These were driven by court decisions that severely limited who could be committed and for how long. We ended up with toothless laws like the Baker Act here where a raving maniac can only be held for 72 hours unless a doctor is willing to risk being sued to hold them longer. Generally most of these people can calm down when they get put on mood altering drugs (or taken away from the illegal drugs they use) and look perfectly fine in 3 days. Then they are sent off with a bottle of pills and told to keep refilling that prescription. Most don't. Rinse Repeat

They had an article in the paper her about the Baker Act and pointed out they have frequent fliers who get "Baker Acted" several times a year and have been in that cycle for years. The guy who lived next to me went in every 4 or 5 months, usually in a cop car. He was out the next day most of the time. He knew how to answer all the questions when he sobered up. They had no reason to hold him.

[rbowman]

No big Republican donors own mental hospitals...

[Jim Joyce]

Were that guy's initials G.F.? I think I might know him.

[angelica...]

No, but state governments did, and Republican governors and legislators saw an opportunity for cost savings.

Cindy Hamilton

[Wade Garrett]

Yeah, and we know how you libbies are appalled by cost savings ;-)