That’s so crazy it could just work!
Seriously, you don’t want homeless people sleeping in alleys and parks? Guess what? They don’t want to sleep in alleys or parks either. Build a shelter for them and they’ll clear the streets.
Really? cause we got shelters all over my city and damn if they don’t all use them. What’s up with that? How do we force them to accept our charity?
Not necessarily so. Various cities have made various attempts to set up various kinds of shelters for homeless people, and they homeless have tended to reject those.
Why?
Because everything the cities try to do, or that the (usually evangelical) Christian charities try to do, comes with too many strings attached, that the homeless see as bad and degrading.
There were several attempts in the news when I lived in Fresno. In one case, they attempted to set up tents or shelters or something in a large abandoned parking lot under a large abandoned freeway interchange, in a rather out-of-the-way area. With a trash cans and porta-potties even! And . . . Wait for it . . .
A chain link fence around the lot.
The homeless community vociferously felt that they were being herded into some kind of concentration camp.
In general, wherever any kind of “authority” sets up any kind of facility for the homeless, there are always way too many rules to suit the intended audience. No drugs! (Duh.) No dogs! Gotta be in line by 5:00 p.m. to get in when they open at 9:00 p.m. (which is incompatible in case any of them are actually trying to get or hold a job); gotta be out by 7:00 a.m.; rules, rules, rules. Such places just generally aren’t very homeless-friendly.
Stop making stupid restrictions like no drug addicts or requiring registration. Let them just use it the same way they would benches. Heck, if there’s something about being out in the open, put stuff out in the open, just somewhat obscured from view. And build small ones in lots of locations so they don’t have to travel a long way out of their way to get there. (Benches are convenient.) Figure out what it is about them that they don’t like, and fix it.
As for what a manager could do? Get together with other managers around and build a place for the homeless that’s out of sight, and then throw in all these other changes. The government apparently won’t do it, so you do it.
EDIT: Sorry Senegoid. Didn’t see you there.
Essays on what’s so bad about homeless shelters:
Shelters are for Someone Else, Part 1. (Discusses mostly faith-based shelters.)
Shelters are for Someone Else, Part 2.
Part of a larger collection of essays: Survival Guide to Homelessness.
Something else. I’m picturing coin-op electrical shocks. Don’t want homeless dude sleeping on bench? Feed in a dollar and the bench delivers a one second long electrical shock. The money thus raised can be used to build a shelter across town.
Install spikes all over the rest of the world except for the shelters. That’ll learn 'em.
I would do like the one local company that wanted to majorly curtail smoking around their building – bend the architecture so there simply aren’t any comfortable or sheltered spaces.
Ah, so all we need to do is provide food and shelter in an environment where anything goes. Problem solved.
I have an even better idea. Since we’re spending other people’s money and time lets just move them in with you. No need to build anything. You’re couch will work just fine. Don’t worry about drugs, bugs, mental health issues, prostitution or any of the other needs not currently being met by shelters.
I think most people would disagree with your proposal.
What? Your argument was demolished by the fact that people are sensible?
That’s the problem with slippery slope arguments. In the real world, people usually just get off the slope before they go too far.
I just flipped the suggestion that other people build shelters to accommodate whatever the homeless would like. Of course it’s not a sensible proposal. The original premise was a vague slam against religious charities for banning drug use and other destructive behaviors.
The last time I gave someone a ride home it turned out to be a shelter. I got cookies as my reward because they didn’t allow food in the rooms. They also didn’t allow: drugs, prostitution, fighting, loud nose and anything else that prevents the other people staying there from having a safe comfortable place to stay. Oh, and it had a fence around it and locked doors. The horror.
The idea that shelters should be built around the book “Lord of the Flies” is poorly thought out and denies those who are struggling to rebuild the protection and decency they deserve.
Having been homeless myself in the past, and currently being homeless, I gotta say they don’t really affect me. I use my hobo hammock (brand name!) to rise above all this non-sense ;). Really though, I don’t get how people sleep on the ground, or in public places where you’re lucky to close your eyes before being hassled by someone (owners or officers most likely). I just use a tarp and hammock and camp in the woods. Wonder if I’m the only homeless doper at the moment…
Don’t know about you guys, but I could definitely still sleep between those “spikes”… if i was the homeless sleeping outside type. :dubious:
I would install a massive sound system attached to motion detectors. If the sensors detect a person loitering too long, the speakers would blare the song Surfing Bird, by The Trashmen, until the person departs the scene.
The Family Guy has brilliantly demonstrated how powerful this song is in a number of episodes.
