this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2024
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I have bit of a nuanced take on the subject (ie: I'm going to get downvoted into oblivion.)
So here goes. To me Homelessness isn't the problem. Rampant drug addiction and mental illness are. For the mental illness part, we need comprehensive and affordable mental health care for everyone. That's not going to happen in my lifetime though.
The drug addiction however...
Places like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver (where I'm from) have followed the decriminalization theory of drug rehabilitation. This posits that by providing clean drug paraphernalia and safe places to use drugs, will help people to overcome addiction. But the current state of these cities prove that this theory is false. In order to make someone change, they have to want to change. When you make drug use easier, there is less incentive for that person to want to get clean. Homelessness and the accompanying problems are to most of them just the "cost of doing business."
Their lives should be made more difficult as to incentivize them to want to change their ways. Of course there should be certain exceptions, such as when it's too hot or cold out. But we have to somehow give them a reason to change their ways.
At least where I live there are systems in place to help you get off the street. I would know as I was homeless for a year living on the street. But when COVID hit, I finally had enough and decided to get help. I went to a shelter, got signed up for disability and through BC housing I got myself a room in a shared complex. I'm proof that when you really try, there is help out there for you to make your life better.
Now bring on the downvotes.
Drug addictions spiral out of control because their lifes suck and they want an escape. If you make their lifes harder you dont help anyone. Drug addiction should be treated in the same way as mental illness.
But the most effective way to help them is to give them a perspective and a way to get out of their situation before they have to stop using the drugs, i.e. give them housing and have a doctor supply them their drugs, then slowly taper them off.
Or just dont let people get homeless in the first place.
I know it's almost an oxymoron, but homeless is closely tied to housing prices.
If you lost your job how long would you be able to keep living where you are? Maybe a long time, but for maybe 10% of the population it's a much shorter frame. Add on some other twists of fate (or bad planning): a medical emergency; an abusive spouse; an unplanned pregnancy; a substance abuse problem; and you have a concoction that could land you on the streets in a few months if not weeks.
The "free drug paraphernalia" (e.g. services to help save addicts lives) has followed the wave of addicts, not the other way around. People were dying long before they showed up.
Affordable housing, shelters, and housing first programs are the real keys to solving this. But there's a lot of people who would rather eat their right arm than see a drug addict (or other undesirable) get government assistance.
Lots and lots of disabled people, even with disability income. The affordable housing wait list in some major cities is several years.
You seem to have some very naive ideas about drug abuse. Drug addicts always have problems that caused them to become drug addicts. For someone without underlying problems, getting clean is its own reward and requires no extra incentives. If you truly care about getting people off drugs, you have to fix the problems that caused them to become addicts in the first place, but that's difficult and expensive so nobody wants to talk about it.
I'm with you on the point that (mental) healthcare should be affordable and accessible. Drug use however isn't the problem, but merely a symptom as well. Figure out why people turn to drugs, solve the underlying issue (generally mental health related), and the drug issue is gone.