Posted on 08/18/2015 7:38:48 AM PDT by Kaslin
The Obama Department of Justice argued last week that a Boise, Idaho, law against "public sleeping in a city without adequate shelter space constitutes criminalizing homelessness itself, in violation of the Eighth Amendment." In a statement of interest filed in federal court, the Obama administration asserted that banning sleeping and camping in public places constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment." Republican candidates, please take note.
Mike Journee, spokesman for Boise Mayor David Bieter, described his city as "a fairly progressive island in a deeply red state." Bieter is trying to address homelessness, Journee told me, "from a holistic standpoint" -- and with compassion. That said, the Obama statement is "misguided" in that it is based on a notion that "those experiencing homelessness have no recourse and we are willy-nilly criminalizing this by writing tickets for people who have no options. That is not the case."
Homeless advocates have a mantra: No one chooses to be homeless.
I'm sure that's true for some people, but there are homeless individuals who make a series of self-destructive choices that inevitably lead them to homelessness.
"We fundamentally disagree that people don't have a choice," quoth Journee. Some "are choosing not to avail themselves of the services that are here." They congregate in camps where "there's inevitably conflict. There are inevitably public health issues. There is also illegal activity." That's why Boise police make arrests.
In this story, it depends on what the meaning of "adequate shelter space" is. Homeless advocates and the Obama administration have a high standard. Eric Tars, senior attorney for the National Law Center on Homeless & Poverty, which first filed the lawsuit against Boise in 2009, told me, "It's not OK even if there are enough shelter beds." And: "Not all people are able to access shelter beds." A city fails his test if there are available beds in a religious shelter that proselytizes; that violates a homeless person's First Amendment right to religious freedom. A veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder or a victim of domestic violence might feel "threatened or uncomfortable" in a crowded shelter.
I asked Tars: Does that mean anyone can pitch a tent on San Francisco's Market Street and the police can't do anything? He answered, "Anyone who needs a place to stay to survive should be able to shelter themselves as best they can."
Tars is right about the downside of law enforcement. Arrests can tarnish a homeless person's record and hence his or her ability to get a job. Law enforcement is expensive. It doesn't always work. Local governments should look for common-sense prescriptions that reduce homelessness. Tars points to a successful housing program in Salt Lake City. The key, he said, is to provide housing -- perhaps without preconditions, such as that those given housing not use illegal drugs or alcohol. Do that and "in the short term, you do have to tolerate the tent cities a little bit longer."
Those tent cities are breeding grounds for crime. So why is it that the only people who really get a choice under the Obama administration's regime are the people who make really bad choices?
Some do, some don’t. Sweeping statements about the homeless do not apply. Each is an individual. Some like homelessness, some don’t. Some have no other choice.
The fact is that there is a subculture of addicts and alcoholics that form tribal bonds with like minded people. They can beg for money, get food at soup kitchens, share needles, all the perks of belonging to a group.
They have no legitimate outlet for socialization so they choose an illegitimate outlet. It depends upon what part of the country they're in, but some places are ideal for it. San fransicko, for example.
And no, they don't want to change. They like living like that. Zero commitments and even less responsibility.
That's Leftys for you, before Obie they weren't so in your face about it.
She’s to well dressed to be homeless
Yeah, I don’t know why they chose that picture. That’s a girl waiting for a bus with her bags, she wasn’t sleeping there.
Many homeless need to be in mental health facilities for life.
There’s a reason homelessness skyrocketed after “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” led to most mental hospitals getting closed, on the idea that most of these people could be handled via outpatient care - and ignoring the fact that many had to be supervised or forced to take their meds.
Now we have fewer beds than we did in the 1950s but far more people in general.
deposited in their accounts automatically
Matthew 25:35-40
35 For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in:
36 Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me.
37 Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and fed thee; thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 And when did we see thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and covered thee?
39 Or when did we see thee sick or in prison, and came to thee?
40 And the king answering, shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.
Only in America.
BTTT
Urban out-doors-men as Boortz called them
those experiencing homelessness have no recourse .. They chose to be, so it’s horse apples. Some people have aspirations that we (the productive) can not understand. We have NO poor in the US. Until the government tells us we do.
Scroll down
I know of only one normal person on the streets. The rest take dumps on escalators, do drugs, act up and show the results of mostly drug abuse.
Exactly right, they want to do drugs or drink.
Society can’t afford to pay for places for like and have people watch them like hawks.
That is why they used to lobotomize people with certain levels of problems.
Truth is you need to calm them down and if they can’t regularly take medication the right way you get big problems.
Old-style hobo culture is almost gone, so I’m not surprised at the demographics of your observed sample. Out here in the Great Plains, I suspect we have a slightly higher chance of seeing the remnants of hobodom than one would on either coast or in any big city.
You’re so right.
When the Republicans were in office, homelessness was a huge crisis and all the Republicans’ fault. Now that the libs are in office, hardly a peep in the media.
I’m not an expert, but I know that a lot of them are willfully homeless. Some of them, when they get a spot in a shelter, break the rules and get themselves kicked out. Sometimes it is as simple as not making curfew. The inability to follow the rules is the same reason that so many of them are unemployed. I have friends who have tried to help them get jobs and they have absolutely no clue about either getting a job or holding one.
Even when they get a job, it doesn’t last. The idea of showing up on time or showing up for more than one day in a row seems impossible for them to grasp. Don’t even think about actually accomplishing any work.
These people need major intervention if they are going to change. Society should decide if they want to invest in that intervention, if they want to imprison them, put them into mental wards, give them space to live as they choose, or some other path. There seems to be no coherent or realistic plan.
>>They don’t want to have to think about bills, taxes, whatever.
Neither do I. Neither do most of us.
I think that modern life is extremely and unnecessarily complex. I would say at least 80% of that complexity (maybe more) is the fault of the government. We can choose not to deal with computers and cell phones and other gadgets, but the amount of paperwork and compliance demanded by our overseers is an affront to decency.
I don’t know if simplifying things would lift anyone out of homelessness or not, but it would certainly reduce the anxiety level of all of us.
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