Is Stimulus Money To Help The Homeless OK With You?

[mgifford]

It's my opinion that the many homeless will continue doing what caused them to be homeless in the first place & our tax money being flushed down the toilet of "Democratic foolishness" isn't what I consider kosher. 1.5 Billion?NY has a program in which the homeless can come into a warm, dry place with clean beds...they go out & compel them to come in but many refuse...they always have more beds than occupants.

They always have many beds that are empty, because hundreds around the country want to just be left alone to stay the way they are. Although, I guess it's better than the Millions that were given out in Fla. to make sure the turtles had a nice tunnell way of crossing the hwy. LOL!

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D99AH0V01&show_article=1&catnum=0

[MrShotShot]

How exactly does helping the homeless "stimulate" the economy?

I realize it's somewhat anecdotal, but here in Syracuse there were 40-50 professional intersection beggars - help a homeless vet, stranded and need help, etc.

The police did an analysis of them and found that roughly 85% had criminal records, several were sex offenders, and most had permanent addresses. But I agree with you, many homeless are that way by choice and many others aren't really homeless at all.

[JediMindTrick]

It's my opinion that the many homeless will continue doing what caused them to be homeless in the first place

Well duh. Mental illness doesn't just go away with a snap of the fingers. The vast majority of your street people are mentally ill. They may try to self medicate that with booze and drugs but it doesn't change the underlying problem.

[Claymore]

Job training, counseling, and TEMPORARY assistance to rejoin society and the workforce for those willing to work,,, YES
A handout to the lazy,,,NO!

[JediMindTrick]

The police did an analysis of them and found that roughly 85% had criminal records, several were sex offenders, and most had permanent addresses. But I agree with you, many homeless are that way by choice and many others aren't really homeless at all.

But your not really talking about homeless with some of these people. Many of the "beggars" you see aren't actually homeless as they've learned they make more money that way than a normal job.

However when your dealing with your true street people its a completely different bag of worms. Most will have criminal records with all kinds of charges like vagrancy, disturbing the peace, trespassing, shoplifting, etc. You might even have a few violent offenses in there. But none of that changes the underlying pathology that most of them are severely mentally ill. A person who is mentally ill and has a good support system gets approved drugs to treat the problem, a person without that support system often turns to street level drugs or alcohol to treat it. You can take away the drugs and alcohol and you'll still have a crazy person who can't function as a normal member of society. Its not a choice for them as none of them chose to lose the genetic birth lottery that causes their illness.

For instance we have one homeless guy here in my town named Todd. He is a paranoid schizophrenic and he's a regular problem person for us in terms of vagrancy, stealing beer, etc. I've talked to family members of Todd's and they said that none of the conventional treatments ever worked for his illness and the only thing Todd could find that would dull the voices was alcohol. So he drank and drank and drank. He now functions at about a .50 BAC (thats lethal for anyone except your raging alcoholics who have built up a huge tolerance). Todd in his occasional lucid moments will tell you that the voices are still there, they are just quieter with the alcohol. Todd could choose to quit drinking (though that would kill him at this point since DT's from his level of alcoholism are often lethal) but it wouldn't cure the paranoid schizophrenia.

[MrShotShot]

But your not really talking about homeless with some of these people. Many of the "beggars" you see aren't actually homeless as they've learned they make more money that way than a normal job.

However when your dealing with your true street people its a completely different bag of worms. Most will have criminal records with all kinds of charges like vagrancy, disturbing the peace, trespassing, shoplifting, etc. You might even have a few violent offenses in there. But none of that changes the underlying pathology that most of them are severely mentally ill. A person who is mentally ill and has a good support system gets approved drugs to treat the problem, a person without that support system often turns to street level drugs or alcohol to treat it. You can take away the drugs and alcohol and you'll still have a crazy person who can't function as a normal member of society. Its not a choice for them as none of them chose to lose the genetic birth lottery that causes their illness.

But they position themselves as homeless.