How would YOU resolve LA's homeless problem? (Los Angeles, San Francisco: place to live, military)

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by jm1982

Portland's homeless 'solutions' fail. Could a real leader step up? (Opinion) | OregonLive.com

jm - what is your point in linking a short opinion blurb from a layman citizen of Portland, OR with no connection to the field of homelessness or to California? There's absolutely nothing - as in zip - in that little rant that reflects the slightest grasp of the history, issues or solutions.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by cmarlin20

Yes, I have.

I still see in depth mental health problems, many are addicts who will do anything to get their next fix, giving them a house won't fix their underlying problem of mental health or addiction.

Many have options but they don't want to live with any rules. Many have family that would love to shelter them, but their problems overwhelm those who love them. Add to that that too many are dangerous as they are paranoid and hear voices telling them to be violent.

Having them live together in any manner exacerbates the problem.

I will be honest to say I do think about this a lot because I understand these are humans with acute mental illnesses. I feel compassion for those I talk with who are sincerely scared to death because of their paranoia.

This topic interests me because I don't know the answer to what we as a society can do to help them and keep the general public safe from those who are violent.

cmarlin - your couple posts seem to indicate you have concern for the homeless - and you are not here just to bash them. Good start. It also seems you've taken some time at some point to have a few conversations with some down and out folks on the street. Nice enough. But you clearly haven't worked in the field with any real educated background on the issues. Which most folks haven't so that's not a big deal. Unless you project a story that you know what you are talking about because you've had conversations on the street - and from them you feel expert enough to suggest the problem of homelessness is hopeless, and especially that housing them will not solve the problems.

If one of your conclusions is that housing the homeless won't cure their problems of addiction and or mental illness, you are partially correct for a segment of the homeless population. But at that, partially correct for only a segment of even the addicted and ill part of the street population.

First off, Housing First works. Proven. Read about it before you talk further.

Second, understand that a significant percentage (more than 1/3) of the homeless are not mentally ill nor have addiction problems.

Third, understand that of those who are mentally ill and or struggling with substance abuse and addiction, a sizable percentage have become mentally ill and abusive / addicted BECAUSE of their homelessness. There weren't when they lost their jobs and housing. And those folks are often very recoverable.

Providing housing then, doesn't provide a cure for a segment of the mentally ill and or addicted homeless. But DOES, in fact, lead to recovery for others by providing some security from the primary threat.

If you are truly interested and concerned, you could help by first ceasing to voice your negative and essentially uninformed views.

Secondly you can educate yourself in some depth by accessing the wealth of research on the subject readily available.

After that, if you are still interested in doing more, you could, of course, volunteer your services and or contribute funds.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by adr3naline

It's easy to see the influx of divisive conversations about LA's homeless problem on City-Data. Conversations focusing on where they came from, what crime they committed yesterday, where the majority of them are at the moment, etc. These conversations eventually drown from two posters relentlessly attempting to sink each other based on trivial phrasing. Just bickering, really.

So thread is (meant to be) for individual posters to propose resolutions to LA's homeless problem. A somewhat ill-fated attempt at crowd-sourcing a solution, with the goal of putting bickering aside in favor of real discussion.

Let's hear it.

It's so simple. Tax the rich and give it to the poor. Vote for Democrats and redistribute the wealth. Supply-side/trickle down economics is a scam.
OP, I believe in brevity and one and done opinion posts

[TCROX]

Thank you sourdough!!
Haven for Hope in San Antonio has a great model. I have a good friend that works there and I don't know of a facility like it in California. They have a great development team and obviously know how to administer grants and maintain important relationships across the board. Collaboration is so critical - I would love to see their in-house reports and talk to someone from data management there !
Institutionalization is indeed THE taboo word- that's unfortunate as the term still has the stigma of prisons and mental hospitals of the 1960s. This can indeed be done- Haven for Hope proves that! The whole person approach is critical for success. I work with a "felt needs" organization-food, clothes, medical with no real resources for spiritual or psychological assistance: its frustrating and often sad. When I ask the folks that come in to where I work- the request is almost always the same: do you have a safe place I can take a shower and sleep? It is also my experience (and Haven for Hope validates it) that experience that private industry WILL support collective, mental and gender segregated housing. The government (us) cannot be allowed to have a controlling interest in this- there is something untoward in the results current programs are generating. That being said- there are some very passionate and hard working people in both the public and private sectors. What is also not factored in is the very real desire for many without a home to work and earn a wage- even if it is not much: we can structure that sooo easily,but, again unbending bureaucracy has set up no leeway for entering or reentering the work force. The mental hospital system ( with its egregious faults) used to provide vocational activities and training.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by TCROX

Thank you sourdough!!
Haven for Hope in San Antonio has a great model. I have a good friend that works there and I don't know of a facility like it in California. They have a great development team and obviously know how to administer grants and maintain important relationships across the board. Collaboration is so critical - I would love to see their in-house reports and talk to someone from data management there !
Institutionalization is indeed THE taboo word- that's unfortunate as the term still has the stigma of prisons and mental hospitals of the 1960s. This can indeed be done- Haven for Hope proves that! The whole person approach is critical for success. I work with a "felt needs" organization-food, clothes, medical with no real resources for spiritual or psychological assistance: its frustrating and often sad. When I ask the folks that come in to where I work- the request is almost always the same: do you have a safe place I can take a shower and sleep? It is also my experience (and Haven for Hope validates it) that experience that private industry WILL support collective, mental and gender segregated housing. The government (us) cannot be allowed to have a controlling interest in this- there is something untoward in the results current programs are generating. That being said- there are some very passionate and hard working people in both the public and private sectors. What is also not factored in is the very real desire for many without a home to work and earn a wage- even if it is not much: we can structure that sooo easily,but, again unbending bureaucracy has set up no leeway for entering or reentering the work force. The mental hospital system ( with its egregious faults) used to provide vocational activities and training.

Maybe I misunderstood you, but people are not 'institutionalized' at Haven for Hope they can leave whenever they want. And to be fair, it gets very mixed reviews. The part of the facility that provides supportive housing gets great reviews but the shelter side, the 'courtyard' sounds just about as bad as most of the shelters in other major Cities in the US How do we improve Haven for Hope

[V8 Vega]

Originally Posted by sourdough

It's so simple. Tax the rich and give it to the poor. Vote for Democrats and redistribute the wealth. Supply-side/trickle down economics is a scam.
OP, I believe in brevity and one and done opinion posts

So why work to have money when the Democrats will give it to you and you can lay around in the shade stone drunk all day.

[LuvSouthOC]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ6_EkkydMg

At 4:12 it is discussed why the homeless come to Southern California.

At 6:28 the question is posed whether the homeless come to Southern California for the weather or for the services. The answer is both.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Derpistan

You think the majority of homeless are thinking rationally? And those that are will be the ones to attack people?

Makes no sense.

# 1 No permanent homeless encampments. Period. Not for 2 days. Not for 2 hours. No tents/lean-tos you name it.

Just do a clear every night and confiscate all property not currently being carried by any individuals.

#2 start institutions again. Real psych patients need to be locked up not wandering the streets. This needs to be funded by the state or feds. Obviously LA can't pay for it all.

My inner libertarian hates to say it, but I agree. Some people just need to be forcibly institutionalized (not necessarily forever). There could be different levels of institutionalization, kind of like they have different levels of assisted living for old people. But a lot of these people simply do not act in their own best interest by almost anyone's definition.

I also think they should have to do some kind of work as part of their treatment.

There are others who are reasonably functional who need a stable place to live and a long term plan (i.e. skills upgrade, etc.).

Many of these folks also should be assessed. If they can't upgrade their skills enough to live in an expensive metro area then they should be encouraged to move somewhere cheaper and there should be a plan set up to make that happen.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by highlanderfil

Oh, really?

Yes, really. This is a well known and publicized fact. Where have you been?

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by Ceece

Our current corrupt system of government makes it impossible to simply DO something.

This is the core problem. That, and the insane byzantine rules. Much of the rule book needs to be thrown out the window.