I’m thinking that maybe we should give up on the idea that EVERYONE can be rehabbed/socialized/cured to the level of being able to live a decent life on their own. Some people simpy ARE too ‘broken’ to fix into contributing citizens, at least with our current level of psychopharmacy/psychology/whatever. (I think that the people who say many drug addicts and alcholics actually have mental illnesses, and the drugs/alcohol served to treat at least some symptoms at the begining of the abuse are right.)
Anyway.
If we admit that we cannot help a certain portion of the ‘chronically’ homeless, what should we do to A) let them live in at least bottom-level humane conditions and B) do it cheaply enough that society won’t refuse to foot the bill and C) keep them from being an on-going irritant to the rest of society?
I keep coming back to the idea of some sort of humane ‘warehousing’ facilities, set out somewhere outside of cities or even towns. The government owns a whole bunch of land in places like Nevada and New Mexico that isn’t being used for anything else, and I’m sure in other states, too.
The Camps, or whatever you’d like to call them, would mainly be dormitory buildings with single rooms, likely the size of prison cells, but not with those barred walls and doors. The furniture being really basic and indestructable like, oh, molded in concrete ledges that serve as a bench to sit on and bed (supporting read mattress pads & bedding of course.) A communal bathroom for every X rooms.
There’d be other buildings for other purposes:
A mess hall.
A social hall where residents can gather and talk or play cards or whatever.
A laundry where the residents can turn in their soiled outfits and bedding and be provided with a clean set. (Some standardized outfit, like jeans and tshirts)
Several large auditorium type rooms with televisions playing continually, perhaps each one tuned continuously to a certain channel so no arguments over what will be watched..
A health clinic for ordinary level medical stuff. Some counselling/rehab services, offered but not forced upon anyone, for those who have enough gumption to want to improve their status.
Most controversial, I’d say go ahead and not just allow drinking and drugs but actually supply them to those who ask. Like, maybe, marijuana and heroin injections. These would be available on demand except I’d add some conditions like your room has to be adequately clean AND you have to take a shower before you get your hit of whatever, just using it as a bone to improve the level of hygiene.
Yes, I understand that some portion of the residents will drink or overdose themselves to death in these circumstances. Well, so do many of this category of homelss right now, combined with deaths from hypothermia, being hit by car, falling victims to crime, etc. This should at least cut way down on the other causes of deaths AND prevent crimes caused by homeless trying to support their habits.
Anyway, though the camps should be far enough away from towns to not have them impacting surrounding neighborhoods, they wouldn’t be prisons. No guards at the gates and at least once daily bus service to/from them. Maybe some deal like you only get one free bus trip a month to avoid commuting.
Getting into these camps could be as simple as going to a police station or bus station and asking: free one-way transit to the closest camp, reimbursed by the government. Judges could offer offenders of the usual streetless homeless type nuisance/crimes level the option of going to one of these camps vs. going to jail.
Anyway, I think a setup like that would be seen as better than scrabbling on the streets for the drunk/drugged/mentally ill type homeless, would be cheaper than the patchwork of services we offer now, and cutway down on the ‘nuisances’ they inflict due to their street-living.
I also don’t think the set up would be so attractive as to draw ‘normal’ people in, which might be a fear.