Comic Strips

Already in the works:“Safer Kentucky Act"

I have bit of a nuanced take on the subject (ie: I'm going to get downvoted into oblivion.)

So here goes. To me Homelessness isn't the problem. Rampant drug addiction and mental illness are. For the mental illness part, we need comprehensive and affordable mental health care for everyone. That's not going to happen in my lifetime though.

The drug addiction however...

Places like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver (where I'm from) have followed the decriminalization theory of drug rehabilitation. This posits that by providing clean drug paraphernalia and safe places to use drugs, will help people to overcome addiction. But the current state of these cities prove that this theory is false. In order to make someone change, they have to want to change. When you make drug use easier, there is less incentive for that person to want to get clean. Homelessness and the accompanying problems are to most of them just the "cost of doing business."

Their lives should be made more difficult as to incentivize them to want to change their ways. Of course there should be certain exceptions, such as when it's too hot or cold out. But we have to somehow give them a reason to change their ways.

At least where I live there are systems in place to help you get off the street. I would know as I was homeless for a year living on the street. But when COVID hit, I finally had enough and decided to get help. I went to a shelter, got signed up for disability and through BC housing I got myself a room in a shared complex. I'm proof that when you really try, there is help out there for you to make your life better.

Now bring on the downvotes.

There's some real societal stigma against living and working out of a vehicle and I think thats hurting lots of people right now.

I think that we should promote living in vehicles and the nomadic lifestyle as a legitimate alternative to the conventional housing and renting system, while getting the government dollars to flow into charities like the homes on wheels alliance to help buy and convert used vehicles into minimal living spaces for those in need.

The current housing market is fucked, the current renting market is fucked, more and more people are forced to choose between paying rent and not dying of starvation, inevitably choosing the latter and getting evicted. Its going to take either a complete breakdown of the system or decades of gradual correction to fix these problems at all. In the meantime, let's swallow our pride and accept that living in a pod on wheels is better than living on the street.

Also, I think the big issue with homelessness from the perspective of most people is visibility. Its not an issue as long as you can't see it and it doesnt affect property values. Putting people in cars helps take away some visibility of that reality for the yuppies and homeowners who can't stand seeing such things. One of the comments here complained about seeing a homeless person shamelessly popping under a bridge. If that homeless person had a blacked-out van with a sleeping cot and had pooped in a bucket out of view you would never know what's going on in that random van.

Of course some homeless people are just nasty pricks who dont give a fuck and would shit in public anyways hard on that Diogenes philosophy, but thats human nature for you.

Pretending like people who have issues with homeless people camping just hate the idea of seeing poor people in the presence is a massive straw man.

A lot of homeless who choose to camp in heavily urban areas are deeply disturbed, and almost proudly violate every rule of society.

Background details rule!!