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The Chronically Homeless Americans
Canada Free Press ^ | 01/18/16 | Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh

Posted on 01/18/2016 11:56:30 AM PST by Sean_Anthony

Why must we relegate the homeless, the unemployed, and the poor to ePodments, to tiny homes, to mini-homes, to dwellings made of junkyard scrap and other cheap materials, to dwellings the size of closets?

The mark of a civilized society is how well the most helpless are treated—animals, children, the elderly, and those who are homeless. There is always room for improvement. We are plenty generous with people from other countries, but we miss the mark when it comes to helping our own chronic homeless, the veterans, babies in the womb, the elderly, and others who cannot protect themselves.

It is in plain view that we have failed the homeless. We all pass by people who look healthy, able-bodied, and well-fed, asking for help on a street corner, professional panhandlers who have a nice car and a home to go to – they make a living panhandling. But then there are those sleeping in the streets, in the cold, in the rain, too dirty and too exhausted to beg; they’ve become so invisible and ignored, nobody speaks to them anymore.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; Politics; Society
KEYWORDS: americans; epodments; homeless; minihomes
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To: Opinionated Blowhard

I think you nailed it. The old expression is: God helps those that help themselves. Some just do not WANT to be helped and actually resent it. I truly believe that.


21 posted on 01/18/2016 12:38:55 PM PST by mc5cents (Pray for America)
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To: Sean_Anthony

Differing to the one of the best founders, Ben Jammin' franklin!

22 posted on 01/18/2016 12:49:35 PM PST by GraceG (Protect the Border from Illegal Aliens, Don't Protect Illegal Alien Boarders...)
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To: Farmer Dean

yes, she could use some psychological help ...
(and had some hard knocks too)


23 posted on 01/18/2016 12:51:07 PM PST by faithhopecharity (Diff tween D's and R's is that the thatD's allow the poor to be corrupt, too. (O. Levant)
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To: Quality_Not_Quantity

agreed! (Im assuming she’s still there, I stay away from the City nowadays so am not sure about the last few years but she was surviving for so long on the streets I imagine she still is)


24 posted on 01/18/2016 12:52:05 PM PST by faithhopecharity (Diff tween D's and R's is that the thatD's allow the poor to be corrupt, too. (O. Levant)
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To: FourPeas

I tried, yes.
sorry I failed

I am not cut out to be a social worker type

I WANT to help people but really do not have much in the social skills department, alas


25 posted on 01/18/2016 12:53:10 PM PST by faithhopecharity (Diff tween D's and R's is that the thatD's allow the poor to be corrupt, too. (O. Levant)
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To: 43north

yes. understood.
but it is not fair to the rest of us, either.. that so many people mess up our cities and beg from us all the time


26 posted on 01/18/2016 12:54:04 PM PST by faithhopecharity (Diff tween D's and R's is that the thatD's allow the poor to be corrupt, too. (O. Levant)
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To: Opinionated Blowhard

A friend started a charity that helps mentally ill homeless. It’s a difficult job, but he’s been successful in helping many despite all the bureaucratic hoops the government puts in his way. He has nothing good to say about the government dumping the mentally ill on the streets to fend for themselves.

Another friend had a brother who was one of those discharged from a mental hospital who had no ability to care for himself. Every winter the government would commit him and hold him until spring when they’d again discharge him to live on the streets. Thankfully, someone who actually cared about him finally found him a place to live that would help him. It took a private entity entering the picture before he received real help.


27 posted on 01/18/2016 12:55:10 PM PST by FourPeas (Chocolate, sugar and lots of caffeine. Hard to beat that.)
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To: oldbrowser

I will take your work camp idea a step further. Build a big fence. Force the bum to do all the things they don’t want to do:

No boozing.
No pills.
Take your crazy meds.
Obey the boss/learn to take direction.

Force them to prove their ability to function in society before releasing them.

And if they can’t conform?

They can spend their days picking up litter on the side of the road. Society is far safer with those people locked up.


28 posted on 01/18/2016 12:58:11 PM PST by T-Bone Texan (The economic collapse is imminent. Buy staple food and OTC meds now, before prices skyrocket.)
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To: Sean_Anthony

I have a close friend (45 years), he is 57, his Son works for me, anyway because of his laziness he is going to be Homeless real soon, Always worked under the table his whole life, half time at best and has nothing. not even Social Security, and he knows it. Instead of doing something about it, he just Drinks All day and waits for the inevitable.


29 posted on 01/18/2016 12:58:20 PM PST by eyeamok
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To: KC_Lion
I think we could use our technology to help solve this problem, the solution would be "high technology" that we may very well have 10-30 years from now.

The idea is to make a "Bum-Trix" kinda like the matrix.

Kind of a fully immersive Virtual Reality moderated by A.I. system. Basically you hook them up to it, it provides their bodies with all the needs, oxygen, food, waste extraction, periodic muscular excersize, chemically dealing with substance addiction, etc...

It also loads them into a simulation where they can either get training or is ran by an adaptive A.I. that would slowly coax them and condition them to accept responsibility for their own lives. Think carrot on a stick. Since the "Therapist" would be an A.I. type system it would be eternally patient with them.

Granted this same VR type tech could be used to eliminate colleges for custom designed education programs that could be stripped of all their liberal indoctrination BS as well.

But it would have to be completely voluntary because such systems would be ripe for abuse by the seeming coming totalitarian state...

30 posted on 01/18/2016 12:58:57 PM PST by GraceG (Protect the Border from Illegal Aliens, Don't Protect Illegal Alien Boarders...)
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To: aomagrat

Wow, what a Scrooge.


31 posted on 01/18/2016 12:59:27 PM PST by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: enraged

And many have relatives who have tried everything to help them, and ultimately they wind up burning the bridges with all of them because that was their CHOICE to do so.

In many cases, not all, but many, homelessness is a choice.


32 posted on 01/18/2016 1:01:19 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: FourPeas

It took a private entity entering the picture before he received real help.

You just had to bring up the past when Government wasn’t there to pick up the slack, What’s next Private Charity and Families should shoulder the Responsibility of Unemployed, Unwed Mothers, most under 21?


33 posted on 01/18/2016 1:08:01 PM PST by eyeamok
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To: Sean_Anthony

I’ve put a considerable amount of time and money into working with the homeless and my conclusion is that most homeless people do not want to become responsible enough to not be homeless. There are a considerable amount of mentally ill too that need asylums.

Before anyone goes on about what WE should do about the homeless in America, they need to put in some trench time. (not the Hollywood celeb soup kitchen on Thanksgiving for the TV cameras crap either) That would put and end to a lot of the preening from the left about how wonderful they are with their compassion and all.


34 posted on 01/18/2016 1:12:33 PM PST by Blue Collar Christian (Ready for Teddy, Cruz that is.)
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To: Sean_Anthony
Strange, I thought for sure Obama cured all homelessness.

It hasn't been talked about for 7 years.

35 posted on 01/18/2016 1:12:33 PM PST by TexasCajun (#BlackViolenceMatters)
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To: Sean_Anthony

My lovely mother, who used to make a living in HHS (a rabid conservative handing out Gov’t welfare? Proof that unicorns do exist.....) said that all, or nearly all, of her homeless clients were homeless by choice.


36 posted on 01/18/2016 1:17:45 PM PST by wbill
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To: eyeamok

“You just had to bring up the past when Government wasn’t there to pick up the slack, What’s next Private Charity and Families should shoulder the Responsibility of Unemployed, Unwed Mothers, most under 21?”

Yes. Then the hand outs would be hand ups that would be controlled by discerning generous folks that could give the hard reasons to bums why they are now going to starve if they won’t get their act together, rather than bureaucrats who maintain the need for them to have a job as a social worker by keeping people on the government teet.


37 posted on 01/18/2016 1:25:56 PM PST by Blue Collar Christian (Ready for Teddy, Cruz that is.)
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To: Blue Collar Christian

Start with EBF cards: Rice and beans only=a complete protein. Add free veggies. LAST-all there RIPPLE they want.


38 posted on 01/18/2016 1:58:37 PM PST by DIRTYSECRET (urope. Why do they put up with this.)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

Let philanthropists choose how they will help (they already do) and cut off food stamps, EBT or whatever, subsidized housing, everything! Make a starting point, all persons born after that date will be ineligible for government subsidies for life. Take a chunk of that money and furnish proper treatment and shelter for the mentally ill. There’s probably enough money saved in just the salaries of the bureaucrats that will no longer be needed.


39 posted on 01/18/2016 2:16:11 PM PST by Blue Collar Christian (Ready for Teddy, Cruz that is.)
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To: Sean_Anthony

San Francisco counted 6,436 homeless in 2014. They spent $165,700,000 on the homeless. That is $25,746 per homeless person.

I concluded long ago that we spend too much already on the homeless. We spend too much on the allegedly hungry folks. The funds are there, they squandered through corruption and waste.

I’m tired of being ripped off as a taxpayer for liberal feel good projects that deliver zero results.


40 posted on 01/18/2016 3:10:26 PM PST by Senator_Blutarski
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