Homelessness, begging, and what to do about it

#51
#51
NEO said:
Easy….bring back all the manufacturing. These were good paying jobs that people not college bound could find a career in. Now it’s Walmart at 12 and hour.
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I think Walmart might be paying more than $12 an hour. Some manufacturing jobs in this area are at $20 an hour or more now. Some restaurants are at $15 an hour or more now. There are restaurant, retail, and manufacturing jobs now paying more than some office jobs. Which is great.
 
#53
#53
DonjoVol said:
That's why most days, when I'm working out in the field and not at home, I will bring extra bottles of water and snacks. If I happen to run across someone who is homeless I will offer them that. I haven't had anyone refuse a bottle of water, bag of chips, crackers, etc.

If someone is homeless and they say they are a veteran there is actually help they can get if they go to the VA.

Knoxville itself should have better homeless services but when you have a democrat mayor and democrat majority city council you get what you vote for. It's not a problem they intend to fix.
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Knoxville already has a multi million dollar homeless industry that several other areas send their homeless here. It’s quite a racket for them
 
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#54
#54
Just put them in uniforms with a shiny badge and convince people that it’s their civic duty to look the other way when they commit violent crimes.
 
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#55
#55
The explosion in chronic homelessness is a by-product of closing so many of the large state-run mental institutions. Some of those places were borderline medieval dungeons but they did keep the loonies off the street corners.
 
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#56
#56
lawgator1 said:
First, when I'm stopped at a red light and someone walks up with a handwritten sign asking for money I have such mixed emotions.

The human in me take south on them and tells me to give them a handful of change I'll probably never use, or a dollar if one is sitting out. They often seem in genuine pain.

But then I remind myself, it's pain in the moment and that odds are well over 90 pct that whatever I give them would go to alcohol or drugs or both. And then I convince myself that not giving them money is more moral to not contribute to the cycle.

I see in the news today that the feds are giving Orlando $12 million to address homelessness. If it goes to temporary shelter for those who have had a bad situation arise, I'm fine with it. If it's just more kicking this can down the road, it's hurting and not helping.

So anyway, my mixture of guilt and righteous indignation on this is finished. Wondering how other people rationalize giving or not giving when they encounter someone at the traffic light.
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I keep 5 bucks loose in my pocket. If someone asks I give it to them. If I dont have any loose I just say no. Not a perfect solution for what I feel called by Christ to do, but better than what I have tried otherwise. Once I give them the money it's none of my business what they do with it, so I try not to assume they are getting drugs or alchohol, because I dont care if they use.

Working at some of the Catholic run/assisted homeless shelters was eye opening. Many are stuck in loops greater than just drug dependency. There are a plethora of people who take advantage of them, including some who should be helping. Any program that wants to effectively help them would need to extend beyond the confines of direct charity/shelter. A lot of what I saw was people needing to get over/through their learned helplessness. Many have been through so much for so long, and had so much taken from them they literally cant process.standing up for themselves or taking actions that would change their lives. Its trama.
 
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#57
#57
OrangeTsar said:
It is not 100%, but it is a large percentage seeking drug money. Like many people say, offer them food instead of money and you will find out the truth.
With the current job market with employers basically BEGGING for workers and the crazy starting wages for the simplest jobs, there is really no reason to be hungry
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It's as though mental illness doesn't exist.
 
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#58
#58
Vol8188 said:
Mighty accurate brush too. Going through hard times isn’t what leads to panhandling. Needing drug money is.

If you’re going through hard times there’s day labor services, possibly friends, family, churches, other community services. The problem with all of those is they require accountability.

Panhandling is chosen because there’s no accountable. You pull at someone heart strings so you can go get high behind the weigels
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I promise you that I've dealt with homeless far more often than most in my line of work, and it's easy to tell the difference between a junkie and someone who is off their meds.

It's not as overwhelmingly drug addled as you may think and, in cases where drugs are an issue, you can almost always bet there's mental illness behind it.

Any ******* who thinks this is something waving the magic job wand can solve doesn't have the first clue about anything.
 
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#59
#59
LouderVol said:
I keep 5 bucks loose in my pocket. If someone asks I give it to them. If I dont have any loose I just say no.
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I don't encounter many walking but I keep some bills in my glove box. Sure I may make a snap judgment about the person but imo it's worth the risk. Plus I usually have young eyes watching me from the backseat so it's a cheap lesson for them.
 
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#61
#61
DinkinFlicka said:
I promise you that I've dealt with homeless far more often than most in my line of work, and it's easy to tell the difference between a junkie and someone who is off their meds.

It's not as overwhelmingly drug addled as you may think and, in cases where drugs are an issue, you can almost always bet there's mental illness behind it.

Any ******* who thinks this is something waving the magic job wand can solve doesn't have the first clue about anything.
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That’s fair actually. I forgot to include the mental illness aspect, and I agree with you there’s no answer I know of. Keeping them against their will has obvious issues and allowing them to suffer through their own actions has issues.
 
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#62
#62
lawgator1 said:
First, when I'm stopped at a red light and someone walks up with a handwritten sign asking for money I have such mixed emotions.

The human in me take south on them and tells me to give them a handful of change I'll probably never use, or a dollar if one is sitting out. They often seem in genuine pain.

But then I remind myself, it's pain in the moment and that odds are well over 90 pct that whatever I give them would go to alcohol or drugs or both. And then I convince myself that not giving them money is more moral to not contribute to the cycle.

I see in the news today that the feds are giving Orlando $12 million to address homelessness. If it goes to temporary shelter for those who have had a bad situation arise, I'm fine with it. If it's just more kicking this can down the road, it's hurting and not helping.

So anyway, my mixture of guilt and righteous indignation on this is finished. Wondering how other people rationalize giving or not giving when they encounter someone at the traffic light.
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A great many of them are mentally ill.
There's no "transforming" them.

Before Reagan got rid of the crazy houses they used to be able to live there.

My solution: Turn all of them into farmers.
Land allocated for farming can be turned into many things.

They can work, eat, sleep AND rehabilitate there. All of those options are on the table.
Instead of automating thinga or giving them to illegals, give the homeless a chance to change their fortunes. At worst, they stay field workers , take up a bunk space and eat 3 hot meals a day...
 
#63
#63
LittleVol said:
A great many of them are mentally ill.
There's no "transforming" them.

Before Reagan got rid of the crazy houses they used to be able to live there.

My solution: Turn all of them into farmers.
Land allocated for farming can be turned into many things.

They can work, eat, sleep AND rehabilitate there. All of those options are on the table.
Instead of automating thinga or giving them to illegals, give the homeless a chance to change their fortunes. At worst, they stay field workers , take up a bunk space and eat 3 hot meals a day...
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I think you should reevaluate your premise. Was it Reagan, or the courts, who decided we shouldn’t hold people captive?
 
#66
#66
Vol8188 said:
I think you should reevaluate your premise. Was it Reagan, or the courts, who decided we shouldn’t hold people captive?
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Even when he was a governor he did things to take away from funding for those type of programs.
He definitely pushed AWAY from that and then ultimately signed into law in 1981 to end it.

Also stop taking away from the main point, please 🙄.

My solution would help a great deal of them.
They're already accustomed to being out in the elements and straining.
It's extremely annoying that there are people here in this great country that have to beg for money on a corner to survive. We simply have to many resources and LAND that should be able to remedy the homelessness....
 
#67
#67
In this new era we live, it’s a whole new meaning to be working the street corner.
 
#68
#68
LittleVol said:
Even when he was a governor he did things to take away from funding for those type of programs.
He definitely pushed AWAY from that and then ultimately signed into law in 1981 to end it.

Also stop taking away from the main point, please 🙄.

My solution would help a great deal of them.
They're already accustomed to being out in the elements and straining.
It's extremely annoying that there are people here in this great country that have to beg for money on a corner to survive. We simply have to many resources and LAND that should be able to remedy the homelessness....
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You should look into O’Connor v Donaldson 1975 and the mental health act under Kennedy. Those were the major reasons (granted I support both).

What specific 1981 bill are you talking about from Reagan?

I didn’t mention your “solution” for obvious reasons. It’s not even worthy of discussion
 
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#69
#69
LittleVol said:
A great many of them are mentally ill.
There's no "transforming" them.

Before Reagan got rid of the crazy houses they used to be able to live there.

My solution: Turn all of them into farmers.
Land allocated for farming can be turned into many things.

They can work, eat, sleep AND rehabilitate there. All of those options are on the table.
Instead of automating thinga or giving them to illegals, give the homeless a chance to change their fortunes. At worst, they stay field workers , take up a bunk space and eat 3 hot meals a day...
Click to expand...

LOL
 
#71
#71
It's a tough call. I have personally done things in the past to ease a moment in a life. I prefer to offer food or something rather than throwing money out. I've given at church and let them decide how to apply funds, which I'm OK with since we provide food and clothing weekly in a very large and busy ministry.


But...I also see sign holders take a break from the sun and go sit in a nice mini-van in hte Walmart parking lot, or dial up someone on their cell phone while on break. Makes it hard not to judge as a whole.

My side gig (Bowling Center) hired a homeless individual to help out. apparently he was well spoken, etc. One of the employees bought him a nice bicycle to get to work. 4 Days later he prepped his exit with a $500 change bag, looking at the cameras twice.
 
#73
#73
utvolpj said:
I don't encounter many walking but I keep some bills in my glove box. Sure I may make a snap judgment about the person but imo it's worth the risk. Plus I usually have young eyes watching me from the backseat so it's a cheap lesson for them.
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I have some rules I follow. Most of it is to avoid violence. Never give to one homeless person if there are multiple around, and never give on the train or bus or otherwise confined space. There can be a lot of tension and the only two fights I have seen up close with homeless have been in those situations, so I try to avoid. Also learn to recognize the pushers, again it's not just drugs, and avoid giving with them around.

But even working in midtown atlanta and walking past homeless at least once a day I rarely get asked, so it's not much of a drain as some would assume.
 
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#75
#75
Rickyvol77 said:
Knoxville already has a multi million dollar homeless industry that several other areas send their homeless here. It’s quite a racket for them
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The more you provide for the homeless the more show up. Like every other leftist solution, it never solves the issue and actually makes it worse which is what they want. A permanent citizenry completely reliant on gubmint cheese.
 
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