For those that haven't been around long enough to remember this being posted here is an article by a guy who experimented with being homeless for a few days...
An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin
81–90 of 216 posts
Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin
#82What's remarkable about this is how the poster finds these casual encounters with homelessness "unremarkable". No other western city that I have visited has the massive, in-your-face homelessness as SF. I don't know enough about the causes of this phenomenon in SF to suggest what can be done about it; I'm sure they are complex, multi-factorial and politically fraught, but the level of homelessness in SF and (almost)…
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Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin
#83What's remarkable about this is how the poster finds these casual encounters with homelessness "unremarkable". No other western city that I have visited has the massive, in-your-face homelessness as SF. I don't know enough about the causes of this phenomenon in SF to suggest what can be done about it; I'm sure they are complex, multi-factorial and politically fraught, but the level of homelessness in SF and (almost)…
Westwood in LA was pretty similar. I would guess the climate and the excess change is the primary draw. As a visitor to the US, I find the homeless there very emotionally saddening. I had a morning routine in LA where the same guy would greet me and everyone around. I just started buying him breakfast each day and he was always very appreciative. Saw a lot of people grabbing food out of garbage cans. Another guy with…
Has Westwood gotten worse since I graduated UCLA in 2010? By my memory, there were only several decipherably-homeless individuals wandering about. In most cases, they would talk at me, mumbling, and didn't actually talk TO me in a real attempt to get anything. I would even say downtown Palo Alto is worse than Westwood. The rest of LA is pretty bad, but Westwood was a far cry away from any of it.
Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin
#84This is just me, and my approach to the homeless or destitute, but if someone asks me for money, the answer is some form of no (if I even acknowledge the asker). Yeah, you tell me you're hungry or whatever, but I'm not going to risk participating in your next fix. If they ask me for food , however, it's always a yes, assuming I can do it right then (not late for something, have money or my card on me or whatever). Yo…
I used to subscribe to this idea as well, until a friend of mine told me this: "Have you thought of the fact that you're enabling people to be homeless, thereby making the problem worse rather than better?". This really struck me, since I agreed... I'd rather work on the causes than the symptoms.
Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin
#85I won't speak to specifics of my interactions with homelessness, the unfortunate interface of drugs, gangs, homeless services, and criminals in Santa Cruz is f'd up right now. Recent other events are exacerbating my feelings on that even more.
So, I will focus on a positive example of charity and goodwill. Ryan Hupfer (@hup) of iSocket has been blogging about his interactions with an individual named Mo in the city. It has been an amazing read. Hup's blog is at http://ryanhupfer.com/
Stories of Mo are interleaved with other entries.
Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin
#86At the Safeway where I live, there are nuns that stand outside with a grocery list of food they ask people to donate for them. I didn't know if they were really nuns so I asked the cashier, and they confirmed it, so it made it a lot easier for me to go ahead and donate food. They make food for the homeless and the donation goes straight into feeding these poor people so it's a lot better than giving food or money dir…
I liked the sentence in original post, "Maybe it was because we had something in common: we both wanted a sandwich. Except that I was actually going to get one. I can have as many sandwiches from Subway as I want." Sometimes what I've got in common with a homeless panhandler is that we both want a beer. I use some portion of MY money for drugs (including beer), I don't see why it should bother me if a homeless person…
My concern isn't that they'll use it for drugs or beer, my concern is that the beer/drugs are what made them homeless in the first place. Giving them money for this stuff is potentially making their problem worse.
Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Westwood in LA was pretty similar. I would guess the climate and the excess change is the primary draw. As a visitor to the US, I find the homeless there very emotionally saddening. I had a morning routine in LA where the same guy would greet me and everyone around. I just started buying him breakfast each day and he was always very appreciative. Saw a lot of people grabbing food out of garbage cans. Another guy with…
Has Westwood gotten worse since I graduated UCLA in 2010? By my memory, there were only several decipherably-homeless individuals wandering about. In most cases, they would talk at me, mumbling, and didn't actually talk TO me in a real attempt to get anything. I would even say downtown Palo Alto is worse than Westwood. The rest of LA is pretty bad, but Westwood was a far cry away from any of it.
Didn't spend much time in the rest of LA, but I was in westwood for 8 months in 2011. There was less than the tenderloin, but most of the streets with shops had a homeless on every corner. I would walk by 5-10 on my way to grab lunch or dinner.
Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin
#88I don't know if that was the right thing to do, but I did it. Maybe I'm a sucker.
I think spending time doubting yourself for performing one of the most basic acts of human kindness is way over thinking things. It only reduces the likely hood you'll do it again, and i think you'd agree the tenderloin is not suffering due to an over-abundance of kindness.
It's hard for me to be sure exactly what negative result you're worried you could have caused. I guess it's probably that by feeding him you're encouraging him to rely on others instead of resolving to seek self sufficiency. By the numbers that's vanishingly improbable - the vast majority of the seriously down and out homeless are suffering from some kind of debilitating mental illness which often gets in the way of even being able to obtain basic social services.
You don't have to help everybody or anybody and however you do help you could have always done more. You can't get wrapped up in that, you did good full stop.
Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
i can't believe that. it fails the conspiracy secrecy test - there would have had to have been a bunch of people involved and eventually there would have been a scandal. my bet is that we have mild winters in California that are much less Darwinian.
"New York has found a novel, if expensive, way of dealing with its overcrowded shelters – buying one-way tickets for homeless families to leave the city." http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/29/new-york-homeles...
From that article: “Families can qualify for the tickets if they have a relative in another part of the world, including the US, who says they are willing to house them.”
NYC also gets its share of people from outside the NYC region who actually fall for the myth of NYC as ultra-socialist nirvana.
Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin
#90What's remarkable about this is how the poster finds these casual encounters with homelessness "unremarkable". No other western city that I have visited has the massive, in-your-face homelessness as SF. I don't know enough about the causes of this phenomenon in SF to suggest what can be done about it; I'm sure they are complex, multi-factorial and politically fraught, but the level of homelessness in SF and (almost)…
If you want a glimpse into San Francisco's hardcore homeless, read this excellent Chronicle series from 2003:
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/SHAME-OF-THE-CITY-HOMELES...
This problem is in no way unique to San Francisco; our engineering team has offices in San Francisco, Seattle (Pioneer Square) and Vancouver (Gastown) -- and we can collectively report that there are large, hardcore homeless populations in all three cities.