Some things just don't make sense. Big debate here because a local town is " evicting homeless people". You can't evict people who are already homeless. They are camping out on town property and people are complaining. Local government is trying to work with area LLs to get them into proper housing. One happy camper was on the news last night saying they dont want housing because there are too many rules. Too funny watching it all go down. I don't think it is funny that they are homeless. They are obviously gypsies. By the time the local government has all their meetings and forms committees to handle the situation it will be months from now.....and these people will have moved on because of the snow.

NE, here, the city passed an ordinance that bans unauthorized camping in the city. Of course the ACLU took it to court and won. The city can't enforce it.

The cops can't do much unless they commit a crime.

Still Learning, it's funny, I have two sisters in NH.

Many are mentally ill - many are addicted to you name it.

In the old days - prior to Ronnie Reagan - These folks would be locked up in mental hospitals.

Maybe its time to re-examine that again especially considering all the brain dead young people wondering around the streets (Portland Maine)

You know, I've always heard that Reagan was responsible for closing down mental hospitals and psychiatric facilities, tossing people onto the street...but then I read that it was really the ACLU: they sued the government for false imprisonment and won - people were legally allowed to walk out - straight into homelessness.

Here's another take on it, too:

Steve, I feel the same as you and remember the week after that policy was in place when a new employee in a Cupertino park was stabbed by a recently released-mentally-ill person.

WMH, you are right. While Regan (as governor) did sign legislation to downsize/close some state mental hospitals in California, the legislation was drafted and promulgated via civil rights advocates. With the development of "atypical antipsychotic" medications, it was felt that the seriously mentally ill could be managed in the community -- the "least restrictive" environment. The federal government has no authority over STATE mental institutions.

My husband was getting his graduate degree in psychology at the time (late 1970s) and spent his career as a provider in community mental health. The closing of STATE mental hospitals was purely financially driven at the State level. The Federal government DID fund Community Mental Health Centers through the Community Mental Health Act signed by President Kennedy in 1963 -- 17 years before Regan became President.

Not to mention those on angel dust and bath salts. Those folks literally have their brains eaten away.

It seems the release of the mentally ill was a combination of good intentions and lack of money. It's always about the money.

I do see landlord opportunity based on the increasing numbers of these folks.

VA, Medicaid, Medi-cal and a host of state and local programs to get these people off the streets.

If you can't see them, they don't exist. Thats why some cities transfer them to other cities. Los Angeles and San Diego are huge dumping grounds.

I see no solution.

We have a huge population of bums here in Vegas. The bums are not really looking for work (despite their fake signs "will work for food"), they are not capable of work (some of them are capable of holding a sign on the corner advertising a business instead of asking for alms!), they are not dependable, and I would fear accidents if I were foolish enough to hire one of them.

As a former member of the ACLU, I have a problem with locking them up for being street bums, but I strongly support locking them up for public urination or defecation or other crimes. But we don't even lock them up for breaking into an empty rental home and squatting! Maybe time to borrow LTV's shovel.

In Florida, it is a huge problem as well. In fact, they just ship them out and make them sign a waiver that they will never come back. http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/road-to-nowhere-homeless-bused-out-of-st-pete-but-then-what/2236491

There appears to be 2 Steve [MA] now posting.

Evicting Homeless People (by Steve [MA]) Posted on: Aug 11, 2018 6:23 AM

Message:

Curious as to all the contributors solution to the problem ? --98.216.xx.x

Evicting Homeless People (by Steve [MA]) Posted on: Aug 11, 2018 10:16 AM

Message:

Many are mentally ill - many are addicted to you name it.

In the old days - prior to Ronnie Reagan - These folks would be locked up in mental hospitals.

Maybe its time to re-examine that again especially considering all the brain dead young people wondering around the streets (Portland Maine)

Sad really that we cannot take care of this issue --98.216.xx.x

Evicting Homeless People (by Steve [MA]) Posted on: Aug 11, 2018 11:45 AM

Message:

Not to mention those on angel dust and bath salts. Those folks literally have their brains eaten away.

It seems the release of the mentally ill was a combination of good intentions and lack of money. It's always about the money.

I do see landlord opportunity based on the increasing numbers of these folks.

Think AirBnB for the homeless. Some of this already exists, but we can improve on the existing and make it better. Simple to do and lucrative, but certainly Not easy. --98.216.xx.x

Evicting Homeless People (by Steve [MA]) Posted on: Aug 11, 2018 11:59 AM

Message:

VA, Medicaid, Medi-cal and a host of state and local programs to get these people off the streets.

If you can't see them, they don't exist. Thats why some cities transfer them to other cities. Los Angeles and San Diego are huge dumping grounds.

--98.216.xx.x

What? There are more than two Steve's in Massachusetts?

Here's my solution. May sound silly but it woukd work-

YouTube is chock full of videos by people teaching how to live in a van. $5 per month "O cellphones" are still available. Gotta have a phone to get a job and make appts for doctor, caseworker...

Buy each person/couple a used minivan (plentiful and cheap), take out some seats and throw in a mattress. The person now has WHEELS to get to work, doctor, food stamp office, soup kitchen, food pantry... and SHELTER which can be locked.

Many Walmarts allow overnight parking. We have 2 in my town, alternate each night. City could allow overnight parking at certain locations. Would be safer for everyone by giving them a place rather than roaming.

A church in SD allows oil workers to park their RVs at the church. $10 per month at Planet Fitness for showers or vouchers to the showers at a truck stop. SSI check covers gas and basic repairs. But cities won't try this because it's too logical and practical.

The politicians don't want to fix it. They want the issue to remain so they can run on "fixing" it.

Look at the money we have spent on ending human misery and poverty, yet we have MORE of it than ever. Trillions of dollars to end poverty, yet all we are doing is subsidizing it to groom voters.

If you really want to clean up the cities, end welfare or drastically reform it. #1. Drug test. Fail and no check.

#2. Must have verifiable employment of at least 15 hours per week. Create pan handling allowed zones. An abandoned industrial park would be a good spot.

You don't have to punish people to make them stop having extended drug camp outs. Just cut the funds off. Drugs cost money. No money they will either get with the program or wind up in Jail and forced rehab.

... they are not capable of work (some of them are capable of holding a sign on the corner advertising a business instead of asking for alms!)...

Not all of the homeless have mental illness or addicts. Many are homeless due to unaffordable housing. A common denominator for the cities with the highest rate of homelessness also have the highest housing costs.

I talked to a homeless person earlier this year who moved from Chicago to Madison. She said that where she was in Chicago that housing was cheap. But no jobs in her area. So she and her kids moved to Madison, WI. Jobs are plentiful her ( jobs galore in the low paying service sector ). However, there isn’t housing available for a family that a single person earning a low paying job can afford (and no housing available if you don’t have a decent prior housing history OR don’t have a job).

Can’t verify what she said about Chicago. But I do know moving to Madison without a place to stay or a job as a single parent without good career prospects put her in a tough position. She was in a program that helped families for a year with housing assistance. Our vacancy rate for rentals is low.

From what I know about the homeless in Madison is that there are a variety of reasons for homeless. Some are drug addicts, some alcoholics, some mentally ill. Some a combination of addiction and mental illness. Some are from the inner city of Chicago trying to escape crime, poverty and lack of jobs in their area (like the woman descibed above) but didn’t have sufficient skills, background and financial assets to make it work here. Some folks just ended up homeless after medical issues, job losses. Some are runaway teenagers... ugh how sad is that.

Brad, the first thing I thought of when I read your solution was -- where would these people in vans go to use a bathroom, especially if Walmart is closed?

We had an outrageous situation in downtown San Diego for a number of months--the city provided a large number of porta-potties but those weren't used very often by the homeless, and then we had the rampant Hep C outbreaks--b/c the homeless would continue to just squat and drop, or urinate wherever. The city had a massive campaign of educating the homeless, washing down the sidewalks etc with a bleach solution, and trying to find places for them (i.e. Fr. Joe's Village etc).

One of my friends just came back from S. Dakota, where he said many fast food places and restaurants are closing, b/c no one wants to work at a minimum wage job-- the general feeling was that they'd rather be homeless than work (yeah, until a brutal So Dak winter arrives!)--and granted, many homeless are mentally ill and that can often interfere with doing a job. I have no idea where they go when winter hits.