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I Used to Be Homeless

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Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#71

Post by nyghtly »

wjossey wrote: post #25

I live in Central LA (near LACMA / La Brea Tar Pits), and share my neighborhood with dozens of homeless. Most of the homeless in my area are what I would deem "regulars", as they tend to sleep / hang out in the same spots day in and day out. I can't tell you how they landed in the situation they are in, but I can safely say that 9/10 appear (and I'm not a doctor, so I can't obviously say for certain) to have at minim…

Homelessness != Substance Use Disorder

Moreover, why does treatment have to come at the expense of self-determination? The reality is that people want to receive treatment--if they don't, it is because they encounter a barrier to treatment.

Barriers to treatment include: lack of treatment facilities (hospitals do not count), poor quality of existing treatment facilities, unwillingness of treatment facilities to take anything but an abstinence-only approach, lack of other treatment options, such as medically assisted treatment.

So I would say yes to all your points, except number 2. If people don't want to recieve treatment, then we should assume that the treatment isn't good enough and needs to be improved. But indefinitely detaining someone in a place that they don't want to be is frankly a human rights abuse, and contradicts your first point.

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#72

Post by toasterlovin »

megaman8 wrote: post #48

To live in, In SF. your choices are a 1.5 million dollar condo or a 50$ dollar tent. Seriously people, we need to allow for more choices than that. I'm sure builders and entrepreneurs would line up around the block to build solutions that are cheaper and more cost effective, but you first have to make it legal (get rid of the mountains of regulations and zoning headaches that make this problem so insurmountable), wit…

FWIW, people who have a problem with street people are largely not concerned with people living in unconventional shelters (such as tents and cardboard boxes). They're concerned with what street people do. Drug use, syringes left on the ground, shit and piss everywhere, piles of trash, theft, vandalism, etc.

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#73

Post by sam0x17 »

deckar01 wrote: post #70

> I was overqualified for most minimum wage jobs. The author lost me here. I have taken jobs way below my expectations to make ends meet. I got startlingly close to not making rent, but I took a job that barely got me by and rode it out until I was able to move to a company that understood the value of my experience.

People are often turned away for being overqualified at such jobs.

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#74

Post by ska »

deckar01 wrote: post #70

> I was overqualified for most minimum wage jobs. The author lost me here. I have taken jobs way below my expectations to make ends meet. I got startlingly close to not making rent, but I took a job that barely got me by and rode it out until I was able to move to a company that understood the value of my experience.

The author may just have meant that he was rejected from such jobs due to being honest about his education when asked, which is a fairly common practice.

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#75

Post by dsfyu404ed »

sam0x17 wrote: post #73
deckar01 wrote: post #70

> I was overqualified for most minimum wage jobs. The author lost me here. I have taken jobs way below my expectations to make ends meet. I got startlingly close to not making rent, but I took a job that barely got me by and rode it out until I was able to move to a company that understood the value of my experience.

People are often turned away for being overqualified at such jobs.

So go through a temp agency. They don't care how over-qualified you are. You're just another body on their call list. If they don't like you they won't call you with any work.

Edit: I worked for temp agencies for through college. At the time I probably would have been more useful to them automating some parts of their workflow. They stored everything in spreadsheets but manually copy pasting everything around for their workflow. I kept my mouth shut and did the work they asked me to do.

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#76

Post by TallGuyShort »

Question for the author or anyone else with similar background: I've previously done a lot of work with homeless and poverty-stricken people, and one of my biggest remaining difficulties is people who won't accept help, or are offended when people only do little things to help. Part of that certainly could come from any drug or mental issue that contributed to their homelessness in the first place, but I'm sure it's also unavoidable when you're an outcast from much of society for so long even without those problems. So my question is this:

What can people who work at food pantries, distribution centers or just strangers do to come off as less condescending and have their help be more readily accepted?

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#77

Post by nroets »

elliekelly wrote: post #31
nroets wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently toured for 5 months in the US on my bicycle. My average cost was $30 per day. That included sightseeing, an airline ticket every month and a bus ticket every month. I used Warm Showers and wild camping, so I rarely paid for housing. $7.25 per hour is enough to live on. You just need to work enough hours, do long commutes and be very, very disciplined in all your purchases.

Even if you live in a state with no income tax, work full-time at your minimum wage job, and live as you describe (which is homeless) your take home pay would only barely cover your $30/day budget. What happens when you get sick and have to miss a shift? Or need to see a doctor? What happens if your job is in New England where it's well below freezing at night for a significant portion of the year? It's disingenuous…

If I had to survive on minimum wage, I would do things differently: No airline tickets, no long distance bus tickets and no sightseeing. Cooking ramen noodles instead of eating the dollar burgers at that I bought at McDonalds.

I would also work much more than 40 hours a week.

I would share a flat in a poor neighbourhood with someone.

I'm not saying everyone has the discipline to pull it off. I'm just saying I can see how some immigrants can live off minimum wage and still send money home every year.

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#78

Post by virmundi »

codydh wrote: post #53
megaman8 wrote: post #48

To live in, In SF. your choices are a 1.5 million dollar condo or a 50$ dollar tent. Seriously people, we need to allow for more choices than that. I'm sure builders and entrepreneurs would line up around the block to build solutions that are cheaper and more cost effective, but you first have to make it legal (get rid of the mountains of regulations and zoning headaches that make this problem so insurmountable), wit…

The cost of your "regulation free zone" will likely be measured in human lives. Does that seem like an acceptable risk?

Ah, the “you just want people to die” argument. I wondered when that would show up.

How about a largely deregulated area where you can mix housing and business zoning. Like we use to with downtowns. At the same time get rid of the caps on building height. Tokyo has tall buildings and earthquakes. Allow SF to modernize. A 60 story apartment building neutralize the cost of the property.

Another option is to make SF a stronghold for the rich. Nothing wrong with that either. Push the poor out to locations they can afford.

Few will die in either scenario.

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#79

Post by megaman8 »

closeparen wrote: post #32
athenot wrote: post #4

> People often ask me what they can do to help the homeless and I always say, "Just look around you!" When someone has so little, it doesn't take much to help. You can start by not judging the homeless. This indeed where it all starts. There are so many voices telling us that these people aren't human, but deep down these rationalizations are just trying to cover the uncomfortable emotion we feel when we see a fellow…

This may work when the concentration is low. I’d estimate 15-20 homeless people on the daily walk between my front door in SOMA and the Muni Metro. Often in relatively dense tent encampments. I’d feel pretty weird giving to one and not the others on the same block. Especially since it’s probably the same people day in and day out. It’d take some serious preparation before going out the door to pack enough for everyon…

SF just passed 300 million/year measure that's supposed to help the homeless and that's in addition to the 240 million/year of funding that's already there. Both of those combined exceeds the budgets of most cities. First I would say, let's figure out how to use that money so that it's actually working. 540 million/year is enough to give the 7000 homeless in SF 77,000$ per year. Let's put that to good use and make sure it doesn't end up in administrative waste before throwing more $ at it.

Re: I Used to Be Homeless

#80

Post by dexterdog »

harias wrote: post #50
closeparen wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may work when the concentration is low. I’d estimate 15-20 homeless people on the daily walk between my front door in SOMA and the Muni Metro. Often in relatively dense tent encampments. I’d feel pretty weird giving to one and not the others on the same block. Especially since it’s probably the same people day in and day out. It’d take some serious preparation before going out the door to pack enough for everyon…

Charities? Some waste too much money on administration, but I think the smaller ones are pretty good.

True, but few of them waste 1/10 as much as the government and they all work off of willful contributions.
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