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Home secretary criticised for tweets vowing to restrict use of tents by homeless people, ‘many of them from abroad’
Home secretary criticised for tweets vowing to restrict use of tents by homeless people, ‘many of them from abroad’
I can’t speak to the UK, but here in Oregon:
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/investigations/260-shelter-beds-portland-homeless-arent-used/283-f028c410-3bf0-4425-bc3b-94eaeeaa10ee
“I don’t want to go to a shelter, I couldn’t do it, being out here, it’s freedom.”
Mostly when they say “freedom” what they mean is “shelters won’t let them bring their drugs, alcohol, and pit bulls.”
The problem is no human can simply give up a fentanyl addiction in a day or two. It takes MONTHS of hard work and support. One does not simply stop doing hard drugs and get into housing immediately. Solutions should be created and implemented by people that understand the underlying problems. We should be emulating countries like Portugal that have working systems. Instead we get braindead politicians creating the rules who have no idea what these people are going through or they want to create a system that will fail so we can go back to the failed war on drugs.
Oh, agreed, but the problem in Oregon is that UNLIKE Portugal, it’s all carrot and no stick. We decriminalized all drugs, which created a human interest disaster, with absolutely zero incentive for then to get treatment.
The way it “works” now is if you get caught with drugs it’s a $100 ticket. That ticket is waived if you call a toll free number and seek treatment. You don’t have to actually ENTER treatment, all you have to do is call the number.
16,000 people ticketed, 136 called the number. Genius. I guess those $100 tickets make great toilet paper.
Portugal can actually force people into treatment. That can’t happen here.
Oh look, it’s the dumbass with the bad takes lol.
Just telling you how it is here… people are choosing meth and fentanyl over housing. It’s not an assumption, this is what they actually tell people.
There’s a lot more to it than that. Many shelters have check in times and doors closed times. If your local shelter has a check-in time of 5 and queuing starts at noon, then when your work shift doesn’t let out until 3, you have to decide between temporary shelter and upward mobility on a regular basis.
They do, but the number of people attempting to juggle shelter life and employment is shockingly low. It’s not zero, because it’s never zero, but that’s not the primary reason people are living on the streets.
The primary reason people live on the streets is because they can’t afford housing. Unemployment, underemployment and physical ailments are bigger drivers than substance abuse.
The reason they can’t afford it is because they’re too far gone on drugs. At least here in Oregon. decriminalization has been a disaster here.
https://www.kptv.com/2023/10/11/man-says-portland-drug-homelessness-crisis-continues-pose-problems/
https://www.koin.com/news/oregon/we-enable-portland-drug-counselor-calls-for-new-approach-to-homelessness/
That guy though has other problems:
https://www.opb.org/article/2023/11/04/kevin-dahlgren-homelessness-service-provider-theft-misconduct-charges/
The sources for those are “some guy” and a drug councilor, neither seem particularly qualified to speak decisively about the causes of homelessness.
The sources are actual homeless people.