The homeless

From this morning's WSJ:

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The number of homeless people in California grew about 50% between 2014 and 2022. The state, which accounts for 12% of the U.S. population, has about half of the nation’s unsheltered homeless, an estimated 115,000 people, according to federal and state data last year. It also has among the highest average rent and median home prices in the U.S.
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California spent a record $17 billion combating homelessness in the past four fiscal years. For the state budget year starting in July, Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed another $3.7 billion.

Voters in Los Angeles and San Francisco, which have some of the largest homeless populations in California, were unhappy enough about it to approve taxes costing them billions of dollars to fund anti-homelessness programs and housing in recent years. So far, cost overruns and delays have left little to show for the money.

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I'm sad to say it seems they need to find another approach :uhuh:

I'm assuming most of CA's homeless are in the Southern part of the state. Cause, that's where the weather is warm enough to live on the street.

Utah's homeless population is counted yearly (which requires knowing where to find them - not as easy as it sounds). They're primarily in the Salt Lake Valley - where they can beg for money and access emergency services. We hover around 3,130 of them statewide.

I'll be blunt - I cannot imagine living on the street in SLC. For, each Winter, the temps hit zero degrees F.

If I were homeless in Utah, I'd work my way down to St. George - which rarely gets below freezing. And, the residents are relatively high-earners (theoretically making begging more profitable).

I'm surprised CA is spending several billion dollars a year on homelessness. I'd want to know (e.g., audit) how much of that is spent on maintenance (feeding/care) v. programs targeting homelessness initiators.

Hunter

one of the problems we have in housing the homeless in CA are the NIMBY's Everyone wants them housed, just not in my neighborhood. Here in Livermore we have fought a special interest group over a downtown housing and shopping complex for 6 years and 5 special elections and numerous lawsuits all because it would include 50 units of low income housing (out of 400). The lost every vote by a 2/3 margin and now even the courts have had enough and are requiring them to post a $100,000 bond to cover the city's legal fees every time they sue the city and lose in court.

This same entitled group is opposing a plan by the local Presbyterian church on the outskirts of town to build 16 tiny homes on their church property to house homeless families

The focus in this article besides CA was Oakland and a particularly troublesome encampment under the Interstate. It had been unofficially condoned for a long time and then had a major fire--which among other things displaced many from their hovels.

They did not give any numbers relative to north/south.

In NYC when the temperature drops (or forecast to drop) below 32F they start picking up the homeless and taking them to shelters----but some will not go---they are fearful of the shelters and prefer to risk the weather. Many go down in the subways but some remain on the street---sleeping on steam vents or a couple pieces of newspaper laid on a stone door step:uhuh: The city also operates "warming centers" all over Manhattan, I'm not sure of how many in the outer boroughs.
The Port Authority is one of the more popular places as well---often it seems as if the homeless outnumber the travelers.

Those who insist on staying on the street are among the most mentally ill. They need compassion not ridicule.

Oakland has 3 major homeless camps. Westside under 880 spilling onto Shadduck and MLK. that's the worst even with the city providing wash stations and porta potties plus dumpsters its a filthy ****hole of druggies and mentally ill. Fruitvale and 880 by Home Depot. that one was really bad but has been improved. w12th street at e 14th total shanty town on the median but some of those folks built some really nice tiny houses. One of the things Oakland had down is rent out all the vacant hotels by the Colosseum and moved in the non drug using homeless which has gotten a bunch of families off the street

If anyone is poor among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them. 8 Rather, be openhanded and freely lend them whatever they need. 9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. 10 Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. 11 There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.

Two issues..
majority of who we call homeless are mentally ill, not just regular folks who are down and out.. two separate groups, two differing approaches.

We need to face the mental health issues that we have and we need to deal with them.

Yup! And the biggest problem we have is expecting law enforcement to handle those mentally ill rather than providing the help they really need. Building prisons is not a valid substitute for mental health care. The U.S., the land of the free, has more people held in prisons than any other country. We house about 25% of the world's prisoners.

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Originally Posted by Mike

Yup! And the biggest problem we have is expecting law enforcement to handle those mentally ill rather than providing the help they really need. Building prisons is not a valid substitute for mental health care. The U.S., the land of the free, has more people held in prisons than any other country. We house about 25% of the world's prisoners.

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AMEN on that!!:bowdown:

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majority of who we call homeless are mentally ill, not just regular folks who are down and out.. two separate groups, two differing approaches.

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I agree. The point was about how to approach the issue - with charity, in the original sense of the Latin root word "charitas" - love.

Nunc autem manet fides, spes, charitas, tria haec, major autem horum est charitas. Now remain faith hope and charity, these three, but the greatest of these is love.

I mean, Deuteronomy, the source of my original quote, dates from about 600 BC. Not a lot of understanding about mental health back then. Mostly, people with mental health issues were treated as being possessed by a demon. For example, the passage in Matthew 8 with the two demon-possessed men from Gadarenes is often read today as an early reference to what we today recognize as mental illness. Jesus exorcises the demons, which are cast into a herd of pigs, which then throw themselves over a cliff into the lake and drown.

I worked at an Intensive Treatment Unit for 3 years as an intern. Simply put, we seduced the street dwelling mentally ill to come in by offering them 3 meals a day. A large portion of them were suffering Tardive Dyskinesia from taking cheap bottom-rung psychoactive meds. Even though their lives were hell, they could not follow rules or laws - getting them kicked out of residential services.

Every Schizophrenic-affected person there had burned out their family members over several years. All they had were each other and us - the staff. Each Winter we'd lose a handful of them to cold weather.

Hunter

When Spousal Unit was in Nursing school she did two training rotations at St. Elizabeth’s, the public mental institution in DC.. they had “street people “ as patients.. as soon as these patients received on campus day passes they were outside.. in all types of weather, outside..

The County Court now has a mental health facility where people can be transported to vs “the adult detention facility “..


Also, we have a homeless day center on the edge of town (street people know where the city/county line is) so we get more than our share of Police involvement.. there were a few occasions of involvement that could have (maybe) been handled differently, the past Chief, a normally pleasant upbeat guy, read the department “the riot act” at shift roll calls.. he informed the officers that they were selected because they were the best on numerous levels.. but if two guys, fighting over a bottle of wine while camping in a bus shelter with their possessions in a shopping cart can say something or call a name that moves the officer to lose his/her temper and/or act in a non professional manner.. the department made a mistake and said officers services are no longer needed. They have had no questionable interactions since..