# We should end homelessness in America **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 6, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137 "2018-03-06T18:59:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2018, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/61 "2018-03-07T21:09:49Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Is it o.k. if they slip into your house when nobody is there and use your toilet? Since you seem to think it’s o.k. for them to use other people’s property as long as they don’t get caught… Congratulations on discrediting yourself with a blazingly stupid excuse for an analogy. I’m of the opinion that the poor should be well-treated - hell, let’s _coddle_ them. explicitly and deliberately. Society can only benefit from being actively supportive of all its citizens. However I’m not of the opinion that, as a prerequisite to getting to that utopian state, we have to embrace people pooping, just, everywhere. Poop here. Poop there. Poop caking the streets and painting the walls. No end to the poop. You can’t spell ‘utooppia’ without ‘poop’, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/62 "2018-03-08T06:26:11Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Congratulations on discrediting yourself with a blazingly stupid excuse for an analogy. > > I’m of the opinion that the poor should be well-treated - hell, let’s _coddle_ them. explicitly and deliberately. Society can only benefit from being actively supportive of all its citizens. > > However I’m not of the opinion that, as a prerequisite to getting to that utopian state, we have to embrace people pooping, just, everywhere. Poop here. Poop there. Poop caking the streets and painting the walls. No end to the poop. > > You can’t spell ‘utooppia’ without ‘poop’, apparently. Lovely bit of handwaving you’ve got going there, but I couldn’t help but notice that you didn’t answer the question as to where you honestly expect the homeless to shit and pee. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/63 "2018-03-08T07:12:41Z")
Larger homeless shelters? Instead of the “home” idea that may or may not work due to ideas outlined by others above. One’s with small, individual rooms with locking drape (room dividers) and personal facilities. If one can get past the “prison” aspect of it, as it would not be run like a prison, free to come and go as you please, eat as much as you want, medication. Not being sarcastic. I really only see furthering and modifying the efforts in place as having any effect. Increasing awareness campaigns can have such a huge impact. Describing how it affects those who are homeless, communities, how getting people healthy and to work can stimulate the economy, anything! You never hear enough about the effects homelessness has and it may actually get those who otherwise wouldn’t help to actually do something. Homelessness is bullshit! Nobody should have to go through that in a developed country (or anywhere else). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/64 "2018-03-08T07:28:13Z")
I have started a new thread on getting to the root cause(s) of homelessness [here.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=850723) ---
**Author:** ![HelenGawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/65 "2018-03-08T15:50:41Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Hell, man, I don’t even know how many _buildings_ are in my city. But if you simply _have_ to go, there’s lots of department stores around that won’t notice if you go in and don’t buy anything. > [@Telemark](#): > > They will notice if you look like a street person. This. I work in an office building downtown. The restrooms have a keycode pad - on the ground floor only. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/66 "2018-03-08T16:23:06Z")
> [@anomalous1](#): > > Larger homeless shelters? Instead of the “home” idea that may or may not work due to ideas outlined by others above. One’s with small, individual rooms with locking drape (room dividers) and personal facilities. If one can get past the “prison” aspect of it, as it would not be run like a prison, free to come and go as you please, eat as much as you want, medication. I’ve also thought something like this could work. Build it basically like a prison cell so it can’t be destroyed and can easily be cleaned. Once a week, everyone has to remove their stuff and the rooms get powerwashed. Obviously this isn’t a desirable living situation for most people, but it would at least be a safer and more practical alternative to people sleeping under bridges and such. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/67 "2018-03-08T18:51:45Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I don’t want to see anyone who is down on their luck or addicted or mentally ill and unable to work being out in the street freezing in the winter. Ditto. I don’t ever care to encounter another corpsicle on the sidewalk or the stairs leading into a subway station, thank you very much. > [@](#): > > If we could give each of them a clean safe room and a place to shower and sleep, they might be able to put their lives back in order and even if they can’t, it’s still the right thing to do. ^ And this. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/68 "2018-03-08T19:01:22Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > I can understand the urge to get out of the house, and not be cooped up inside all day. But who the hell prefers a cardboard box to a bed, and an alleyway to a toilet? They can’t be in their right mind. You can call me an authoritarian, but I think institutionalizing these people for their own good is a legitimate exercise of state power. Homeless shelters can be a site for rape and robbery - at which point sleeping in a cardboard box and pissing in an alley do start to look like viable alternatives. Which is not to say all homeless shelters are a cesspit of sin, but there are some genuinely nasty ones out there. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/69 "2018-03-08T20:07:27Z")
Frankly the only real way to stop this would be to outlaw it, then have a place where anyone caught sleeping on the street is rounded up and sent to. Basically a sort of concentration camp. The only way out of it would be to have a job or a place to stay. Now then the real problem cases, those on drugs or with mental issues, would have to be kept there. Sounds bad but is it worse than our present situation? Why do we allow people do sleep on doorways or set up tent cities? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/70 "2018-03-08T21:28:58Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Frankly the only real way to stop this would be to outlaw it, then have a place where anyone caught sleeping on the street is rounded up and sent to. Basically a sort of concentration camp. The only way out of it would be to have a job or a place to stay. We used to have laws against vagrancy, but those were struck down as un-Constitutional many years ago. Are we more free as a result? That is not easy to say. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/71 "2018-03-08T21:34:59Z")
Vagrancy charges were a common method to round up free prison labor for local businesses, farms, and road crews etc., and were normally focused on blacks, so yes, we’re more free without them. We do still have community policing that brings street people to shelters, but there’s no way to keep them there. We also have involuntary commitment procedures, also depending on locality, for the mentally ill - but there are capacity constraints and unpleasant conditions there too. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/72 "2018-03-08T21:36:58Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > We used to have laws against vagrancy, but those were struck down as un-Constitutional many years ago. > > Are we more free as a result? That is not easy to say. > > Regards, > Shodan It depends on whether you are the person having to look at the homeless, or the person who _is_ homeless. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2018, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/73 "2018-03-08T23:47:33Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Lovely bit of handwaving you’ve got going there, but I couldn’t help but notice that you didn’t answer the question as to where you honestly expect the homeless to shit and pee. Actually I already did - it prompted you to make that dumbass moronic excuse for an analogy in a pathetic failed attempt to rebut me, remember? And to repeat, I’m of the opinion that it’s well within society’s power to house the poor in relatively decent accommodations, and that we should do so - possibly at the cost of reversing a tax cut or two. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/74 "2018-03-09T01:38:39Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > In the richest nation on earth, it’s a disgrace that we still have people living on the streets. The solution is simple: give homeless people homes. Not only is it the humane thing to do, it’s [saves](http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2014-05-21/news/os-cost-of-homelessness-orlando-20140521_1_homeless-individuals-central-florida-commission-tulsa)taxpayer’s money. Great. Lead the way. Go down to the corner, get a homeless guy and let him come live in your house. Keep us posted on how that works out. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/75 "2018-03-09T02:54:36Z")
Isn’t it already against the law to piss and shit in public? ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/76 "2018-03-09T04:24:05Z")
I still think rounding them up and putting them someplace safe is the best thing. They can leave as soon as they can show they can be on their own like have a place to stay. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/77 "2018-03-09T04:40:52Z")
If you imprison them how the hell are they going to be able to secure housing outside your little concentration camp? ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/78 "2018-03-09T05:44:31Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > If you imprison them how the hell are they going to be able to secure housing outside your little concentration camp? Yeah, that. In fact, incarcerating people in the first place is what causes lot of people with a psychiatric diagnosis to _lose_ the housing that they already _had_. It’s kind of like doing a Lizzie Borden on your parents and then telilng the court you should be treated with lenience because you’re an orphan. ---
**Author:** ![Crazy\_Canuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazy_canuck/32/5282_2.png) [@Crazy\_Canuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazy_Canuck)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/79 "2018-03-09T06:27:37Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > We used to have laws against vagrancy, but those were struck down as un-Constitutional many years ago. > > Are we more free as a result? That is not easy to say. It’s only not easy to say if you have enough privilege to assume that you will never be the target of those laws. Otherwise, it’s very easy to say you are more free as a result. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2018, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137/80 "2018-03-09T08:30:45Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > If you imprison them how the hell are they going to be able to secure housing outside your little concentration camp? That’s the beauty part of **Urbanredneck** ’s plan. We outlaw being poor, then we lock up poor people in prisons—excuse me, “concentration camps”—until they have jobs. But since they _can’t_ look for jobs, they’ll be there forever, never to befoul our streets again. Brilliant! But why stop there? We should sterilize them while we’ve got them locked up, so they don’t pass on their lazy, entitled genes to future generations. Only productive people with a sense of personal responsibility should be allowed to reproduce. We could also use the homeless people for big jobs, like cleaning up toxic waste, oil spills, and things like that. They’d develop a work ethic, and build a sense of _esprit de corps_. It would be fun—they’d never want to leave! Oh, and they’d be available for medical experiments too. Think of the incredible scientific advancements that could be made with this enormous pool of human subjects! It’s amazing to me that nobody’s ever thought of this before. We Dopers truly are the smartest, hippest people on the planet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-should-end-homelessness-in-america/810137.md?page=5)