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I'm guessing her Redding honey moon phase is over? It won't get better in the summer. The meth heads will be out in full force like angry hornets looking to steal lawn mowers, copper pipes, wire, women's hand bags etc. Right now they're just over wintering.
I'm guessing her Redding honey moon phase is over? It won't get better in the summer. The meth heads will be out in full force like angry hornets looking to steal lawn mowers, copper pipes, wire, women's hand bags etc. Right now they're just over wintering.
LOL! Didn't take long, did it he he. I actually like a lot about Redding, and I bless Redding for giving me the opportunity to be able to retire.
But, I'm not loving the homeless situation here. And as i say, it's pretty much centered downtown. They aren't camping out on people's front lawns in the residential neighborhoods, just downtown where it's public property where they can hang out. I understand there are some camps outside of town, too, but I haven't seen them.
But, the homeless problem seems to be everywhere! I have another thread going about Santa Rosa, as an opportunity opened up for me to possibly move there. Again, it's a subsidized building in the downtown area. I've been reading posts and have been DMing with a couple of SR residents. The homeless problem is getting worse there, too, and I'd probably be stepping over homeless guys in downtown SR, too.
I'd like you to put your self in their position. for a week no cheating.
A week would be a piece of cake! I'd go to the mission, I can sleep there, shower there, they give me clean clothes, and pajamas and toiletries, and 3 hot meals a day. If they kick me out during the day, and I'm the lazy type, I go hang out at the library during the day, between my free hot meals at the mission.
But, let's say somehow I end up on the street. So, I go to the mission where I can stay for 30 days. During that 30 days, they will give me clothing, 3 hot meals, and job training, counseling on resources, etc.
At the end of that 30 days, I would have a job. This town is not without jobs.
Then, because I got a job within that 30 days, and made an obvious effort, now the mission will let me continue to stay there, and save my wages, so that I will have a deposit and moving money. And they will help me find a place I can rent, too.
Give me a few months, tops, and I'd be in my own place with a job.
Enough so people have to live on the streets? Nah. It just means they can't afford cable or a new car, or going out to eat, etc. It's not the cause of homelessness, IMO.
And as someone else said, the majority of the homeless that I see are fairly young able-bodied men. I think it''s a growing sub-culture. Like the old beach bum days or something.
And I can't say I really know what a meth-head looks like, but I am assuming they look really stoned out and are really skinny? I don't see many of those around, either.
There are two men who hang around together who are homeless here in downtown Redding. I have talked to them a couple of times because my dog is really friendly to everyone, and these guys like to pet my dog. They look to be from 30 - 40 years old, max (one older than the other). Both walk around fine. One has a bum arm. They are articulate and obviously not nuts.
One day I saw them out my window walking down the street with one of them pushing a wheelchair with nothing and nobody in it. I thought, huh, that's weird.
Then a few days later, I'm driving down the main artery I use to get to my apt from the main shopping district, and here's one of these guys sitting in the wheelchair on a corner with a cardboard sign asking for help. I laughed my ass off! The little scammer!
It's easier to beg for money for your booze, than to work. And if you don't mind camping out, you get free rent, and three hot meals a day here at the mission.
Anyway, I don't believe these guys can't find work because the economy has remained stagnant.
OTOH, I guess you could say they're self-employed...
You aren't serious are you? Health care, education, housing, gas etc. Have all gone up and income has not kept pace with these increases. About the only thing that hasn't gone up to the same degree is food.
There are all kinds of homeless people. While it is nice to think that they are all just happy hobos trying to scam some money from the working stiffs, that is simply not reality. I realize that cognitive dissonance is strong so we would rather think that that all the homeless people just did this to themselves. And of course there are homeless people for which that is the truth, but it isn't all of them.
You aren't serious are you? Health care, education, housing, gas etc. Have all gone up and income has not kept pace with these increases. About the only thing that hasn't gone up to the same degree is food.
There are all kinds of homeless people. While it is nice to think that they are all just happy hobos trying to scam some money from the working stiffs, that is simply not reality. I realize that cognitive dissonance is strong so we would rather think that that all the homeless people just did this to themselves. And of course there are homeless people for which that is the truth, but it isn't all of them.
I'm dead serious. Let's address the things you mentioned.
Health care: How is the cost of health care causing people to become homeless?
Education: Really? How is the cost of education going to cause someone to be homeless?
Housing: The cost of shelter is going to cause someone to be homeless? So move somewhere cheaper. You can't afford your rent, you get another job, or you move somewhere cheaper.
Just ask me. I had to go on disability several years ago. When you are low income, there is low income housing available to you. And as I pointed out earlier, the mission here will let you stay for 30 days and feed you 3 squares, while they help you find a job. If you make a serious effort, they let you stay longer until you are on your feet, letting you save up your money until you can get a deposit together.
Maybe you can't keep your McMansion, but you don't have to be homeless. At least not for long. You certainly don't have to camp under a bridge, unless it's by choice.
Gas: The price of gas causes homelessness?
Sure, people become homeless for whatever reason. But, those guys who somehow got a wheelchair and now sit in it with a sign asking for help? Those guys could get real jobs.
My income is $877/month. My rent is now $350. I pay for my own electricity, liability car insurance, renter's insurance, and even dog insurance. I pay for my internet and Netflix. My budget includes one tank of gas. If the car dies, and I don't have money to fix it or buy another one, I will take the bus.
I moved 3 hours away from my daughter to where I could afford housing. Before that, I stayed at a job I hated for 8 years, where I managed an apt building for free rent, until I could find subsidized housing in the SF Bay Area, and finally gave up on that idea, and moved to Redding where there was available low-income housing.
It's all about sacrifices and priorities. The cost of living goes up for me - and I get rid of cable, or I don't drive as much, I never go out to eat. You just can't tell me it can't be done, because I'm living proof that it can.
... I moved 3 hours away from my daughter to where I could afford housing. Before that, I stayed at a job I hated for 8 years, where I managed an apt building for free rent, until I could find subsidized housing in the SF Bay Area, and finally gave up on that idea, and moved to Redding where there was available low-income housing.
... You just can't tell me it can't be done, because I'm living proof that it can.
So you can work, did work after and while receiving SSDI (free rent is still income), hated your job (many people aren't thrilled with the work they have to do but plug on to keep a roof over their head) and moved to taxpayer-subsidized housing which you're apparently eligible for even though you obviously can work in some capacity.
It remains very interesting and quite confusing in context.
First, I used to live in a city with a very aggressive homeless population so that left me very impatient with the issue.
However, there are a few other dimensions to the experience of using available services. There is actually a working homeless population that can't use shelters because there are curfews that conflict with their work schedule. You are in lockdown for specified hours.
Shelters are also not always, counter-intuitively, the safest places. If you've spent time around the mentally ill as I have, you understand how one might want to keep a good distance. There is disease, violence, territorialism and theft. Indeed, it's often those who are beyond self-help that make shelters unwelcome to those who have the push to fix their lives.
So it's not always such an easy path from A to B. There are also homeless folks who are making perfectly sensible choices to go the long way and avoid the Shelter Cage. To the chagrin of agencies trying genuinely to help.
I'm dead serious. Let's address the things you mentioned.
Health care: How is the cost of health care causing people to become homeless?
Well prior to the housing meltdown unpaid medical bills were the number 1 reason for personal bankruptcy. But hey I am sure you could have saved up the tens of thousands of dollars for a surgery that your crappy insurance might not cover.
Education: Really? How is the cost of education going to cause someone to be homeless?I wasn't suggesting that the cost of education in and of itself causes homelessness. I was suggesting an expense that has outpaced people's income
Housing: The cost of shelter is going to cause someone to be homeless? So move somewhere cheaper. You can't afford your rent, you get another job, or you move somewhere cheaper. Move with what exactly? Last time I checked there isn't free moving to a place with cheaper housing
Just ask me. I had to go on disability several years ago. When you are low income, there is low income housing available to you. And as I pointed out earlier, the mission here will let you stay for 30 days and feed you 3 squares, while they help you find a job. If you make a serious effort, they let you stay longer until you are on your feet, letting you save up your money until you can get a deposit together.
Maybe you can't keep your McMansion, but you don't have to be homeless. At least not for long. You certainly don't have to camp under a bridge, unless it's by choice.
Yeah those schizophrenic fakers pretending to hear voices. Clearly they just read the billy goats gruff too many times as children and just want to be bridge trolls.
Gas: The price of gas causes homelessness?
Again not saying it causes homelessness, just another expense that has gone up. Fortunately it is heavily subsidized. However, income is still not keeping pace
Sure, people become homeless for whatever reason. But, those guys who somehow got a wheelchair and now sit in it with a sign asking for help? Those guys could get real jobs.
My income is $877/month. My rent is now $350. I pay for my own electricity, liability car insurance, renter's insurance, and even dog insurance. I pay for my internet and Netflix. My budget includes one tank of gas. If the car dies, and I don't have money to fix it or buy another one, I will take the bus.
I moved 3 hours away from my daughter to where I could afford housing. Before that, I stayed at a job I hated for 8 years, where I managed an apt building for free rent, until I could find subsidized housing in the SF Bay Area, and finally gave up on that idea, and moved to Redding where there was available low-income housing.
It's all about sacrifices and priorities. The cost of living goes up for me - and I get rid of cable, or I don't drive as much, I never go out to eat. You just can't tell me it can't be done, because I'm living proof that it can. Yeah I guess it can be done if you get subsidized rent and don't have to work anymore. I guess it is like all those red staters (excluding Texas) where they complain about the federal government but take in more federal dollars than they put in
I like how the OP said they weren't heartless about the homeless, after they literally called them animals, and then tell us they stole clothing that was left for them and chucked it in a dumpster. Couldn't you have taken it to a shelter or something atleast?
I understand when the elderly are afraid and intimidated by the homeless, but by the OP's own admission, they pose no threat in this case. So basically they're just an eyesore or something? I don't get the outrage.
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