Homelessness: Discuss!

[Ephraim]

It does sound harsh. I am sure that the costs involved with collecting bodies and notifying next of kin would be minimal though. Afterall, a bum can only die once, unless it's one of those super-human zombie bums. It's keeping them alive that costs the big bucks.

[findingnemo1]

Are you kidding me???
You seriously need to take a good look in the mirror and hope to god that nothing bad ever happens in your life that puts you in that situation.

So you are saying that all people on the street should just die so it all goes away????
Wake up call it is not just going to go away. And i must honestly say that i am pretty sure that your comment is the most.....we'll you know its just not worth it

[Lydia]

I jumped into this thread while reading the original 'help' topic. Had to throw in my 2 cents....

We're all pretty lucky to be sitting in our warm homes on our computer discussing this issue. This tells me several things.
1 - we have the capabilities to have and maintain a home - many people don't have those capabilities (ie common sense, life skills, financial sense, etc).
2 - we are all literate - many people on the street are NOT functionally literate. Remember those kids in the 'special classes' that ended up dropping out of school? They may be part of the homeless in any city across Canada. Hard to get, and keep, a job when you can't read or write.
3 - we have the luxury of not only covering our basic needs (ie shelter, food, clothing), but we have toys, too! As in the computers we are using to have this discussion. This means we have computer skills. We were not born with this, and not everyone has them. Think back to the time you had to learn how to turn a computer ON. Now think how you would function in society if you'd dropped out of school, couldn't read or write, and had never used a computer before.

Throw in a history of something like childhood abuse, and your prospects dwindle to nothing...

As for addictions - any of you tried to quit smoking cigarettes? Imagine if that addiction caused you to live on the streets? Ie if you smoked, you didn't work or have a home. Be thankful that you don't have the addictions that could waste your life. We have been blessed, and we should not knock those who have not been so blessed....

I work downtown, and know you can't lump 'the homeless' into one category. There are those who choose to panhandle because they make good money. There are those who are hopelessy addicted, and cannot function in our society. There are those who are mentally ill and thanks to King Ralph's health care cuts, have no beds in an institution that would care for them. Anyone who uses the Plus 15s would recognize a few people from that last category - they walk the Plus 15s all day and you KNOW they should be institutionalized.

As I said - it's wonderful that we can sit in our warm homes, on our fancy computers, and discuss this issue...my two cents.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Woooooow. I'm not even sure how to respond. Maybe this isn't good for my mental state right now. I'll respond later when I've pulled my jaw back off the floor.

[fishoholic]

I like to know the situation of the homeless person before passing judgment.

For example I knew a girl in high school that had the perfect life. Great parents, straight A student, lots of friends until gr.10. About half way through she started dating a guy who got her hooked on drugs and from there everything went downhill for her. I know her friends and family tried for a long time to get her help but she didn't want any part of it, I felt bad for her situation but I never understood how or why she couldn't take the help being offered to her to get her life back on track. It was really hard for me to see someone who had so much going for her throw it all away for the next high.

One of the sadder stories I know of was of this one homeless man. He lived on the streets because he was terrified to go inside buildings. When he was eight years old his house caught on fire and he watched his family burn to death, mother, father, and older brother. A firefighter pulled him out from under his mother and although he had 3 degree burns he lived through the ordeal. However this event traumatized him for life and now as an adult he is to scared to go inside buildings.

There are a lot of sad situations out there but then there are also success stories. Anyone who has seen "The pursuit of happiness" (which is based on a true story, and the guy who the movie is based on does a cameo in it at the end of the movie) knows that with some hard work and some training you can get yourself out of a bad situation.

[Seriak]

Originally Posted by Ephraim

Sorry i didnt mean that they want to be in that situation. I meant that for example, if there was no dropin shelter for them to keep warm when it is -40C, there would be less of the homeless. They would either try harder to change thier situation, or die.

Besides the harshness of this quote I wonder what percentage would try harder and what percentage would pass along to the next life. By helping all, you help the people who abuse the system along with the rest. I just hope that the rest way outnumbers the abusers. I cannot fathom spending money on slackers.

I deal with homelss on a daily bais as well when they relieve themselves in our office building stairwell and sleep in the halls. And yes this isn't a part of being homeless but more homeless do these types of crimes than anyone else.

How do you help the ones that really need it without helping the others that turn to crime. Answer me that and I will help.

[marie]

Originally Posted by Seriak

Besides the harshness of this quote I wonder what percentage would try harder and what percentage would pass along to the next life. By helping all, you help the people who abuse the system along with the rest. I just hope that the rest way outnumbers the abusers. I cannot fathom spending money on slackers.

I deal with homelss on a daily bais as well when they relieve themselves in our office building stairwell and sleep in the halls. And yes this isn't a part of being homeless but more homeless do these types of crimes than anyone else.

How do you help the ones that really need it without helping the others that turn to crime. Answer me that and I will help.

I just don't understand, How is sleeping on the street "abusing the system" . Someone who is on unemployment and not reporting income from a current job is "abusing the system"...Someone, trying to stay warm, huddled in a doorway with inadequate clothing in the pooring rain is not "abusing the system"
The sad fact of the situation is that most people find the homeless "unemployable" how do you get a job with no fixed address, no bank account, no official iD and unable to read or write

[ElGuappo]

Wow i cant believe im just finding this now. and man has it taken off. good thing too now i dont sound like such a heartless punk. or at least im not the only 1.

YOU ALWAYS HAVE A CHOICE................

even if you choose not to Decide you still have made a choice. "RUSH"

My brother an i are both adopted but whn he was afetus his mother was a crack additct is it strange he is now fighting for his 2clean year?

granted he was more than likley born addicted he had no addiction to it until some ******* put a pipe in his face. he made this decision.

He also made the choice that it wsa geting out of hand and destoying his family so he Chose to clean up rather then end up on the street.

DRUGS ARE AN EXCUSE NOT A REASON.

[Zylumn]

So I am sitting in my comfortable chair, in my warm house, cherishing in my luxuries. What have I done for the homeless in Calgary?. What have you, any of you done in your area?.
I give to a local church and a select few charities that I feel are a partial solution to this and many other of our societies problems.
So I want to do more.

Lets do the Workopolis advertisement: reverse engineer where we are at in our lives to where we would be if we were homeless. By breaking this down to its lowest denominators we can engineer creative solutions.

(A possible solution) In a democratic society everyone will have different solutions.(I) would like to see on every tax form how you would like to spend 5% of your taxes (in your area) on the homeless.

How would you spend in your area 5% of your taxes on the homeless?

1) police
2) shelters
3) work projects
4) prisons
5) hospitals
6) spiritual guidance

I would choose 3 as I believe the lowest common denominator for a productive life is work.

This was just to take this conversation to a new level so we could come to solutions not accusations.

Kevin

[ElGuappo]

i agree work project would be best but if i got to chose it would goto hospital. this is just my own personal experiences of going threw chemo at 22.(MEDI CARE a whole new ball of wax)

Plus you know they wouldnt give up money so this would require a raise in taxes. or they could have left the gst at 7%

As far as giving to charity i used to give to most canvasers. but now who know where your money is going ! its a shame that a few bad apple can ruin the bunch.