Solutions for the Homeless Problem

[Azihayya]

Honestly, the best change that could ever occur would be one that occurs within the many of us. For me, that's learning how to live without money, and rather, out of the goodness of one's own heart, which would entail acquiring practical knowledge & skills, such as being able to feed & shelter ones self and others, and being able to teach those skills to others as well. If we could slowly begin making the change towards self-sufficiency, and learn to live modest & humble lives, everyone would have a place on this planet.

The sad truth of it is, that here in America, we throw away up to 40% of food, right off the shelves. There doesn't need to be a homeless problem, nor do so many people need to be working merely for the interest of maintaining the transaction of money. At our best, we could be stemming the tide of tragedy and suffering in this world, and at our worst... we are destroying the environment and subjecting the worlds population to slavery...

 

[Shadow Wolf]

So to fix homelessness you would invoke slavery?

Was the Civilian Conservation Corps slavery?

 

[Monk Of Reason]

you see working for your food and shelter as slavery?
people would be paid for their labor of course.

The problem with these kinds of programs is that if we start giving "free' jobs to homeless people then then non-homeless unemployed people get pissy. And to be fair it is unfair.

The only things I have been able to come up with so far that is effective is
1) temporary residence not just a shelter.
2) Job links specifically for the homeless to assist them to get back on their feet.

Real mental health and drug rehabilitation programs is undoubtedly necessary. Not every homeless person had a mental illness or is a drug addict but a large number are and even if you gave them the option of a job and a home they would fall back into doing drugs or being incapable of functioning normally without the support for these problems.

 

[Robert.Evans]

There are a few ideas out there being floated on how to properly deal with the incredible homeless population and how to help them.

Without proposing any ideas of my own I would like to hear a defensible position on how to better help the homeless population both short term and long term. What would be a good strategy for getting them off of the street today and into a home tomorrow (the "tomorrow" is less literal).

The idea of the the law in the Pentateuch was that you lived with someone else and worked for them. That supplied you with all your needs. If everyone treated each man as their brother, then there is no problem. If their life gets better, then they leave, and if not, they stay. The problem with modern society is it is driven by greed, which we call market forces, and means that such a proposition as this might be harder than it first sounds to implement..... but still possible

 

[Midnight Rain]

Easy steps
1) Public Healthcare (including rehabilitation and mental health)
2) Temporary housing rather than shelters
3) Provide temporary government jobs to do low end tasks that are needed in the community to help them get back on their feet. $10 an hour for road work or filing for three months while they look for another job.
4) Piggy backing off of 3 is a job link program with local businesses to meet the labor demand as well as giving people access to jobs without having to have internet and endless time/resources.
5) This one is optional if it isn't already in place and that would be effective public transportation. One of the most difficult thing for homeless people without vehicles is transportation to work. You can't be expected to walk 11 miles to and from work every day rain or shine. You also can't get to work reliably if the bus runs once every 2 hours with six stops and closes at 5pm.