[yellowsnow]

Looks to me like lack of jobs, homelessness, is heating up to have an effect on all of us. What can the individual do? I'm at a loss.

I try to do a little RAOK whenever I can but it's a drop in the ocean of life. Wednesday I went to the Weinerschnitzel for 25c hotdogs. I got a bag of 10 extra and took them to the homeless people sleeping on the sidewalk.

Seems to me the homeless problem is now seeping out to the commercial areas of the burbs. It's not just downtown anymore.

[CaptsMom]

just my 2 cents here and I hope it doesnt offend anyone.

when I lived in CA the county seat where I worked was Martinez. I lived in a little town called Fairfield. home of Travis airforce base. Very nice clean and quiet. There was a lot of homeless in Martinez, there was the county jail there and when they were released many stayed right there either on the streets or in the old sleazy hotels. Very bad environment downtown.

Well, in Fairfield there was a park not far from downtown with just a few homeless. Well a kind lady decided to start feeding them. Word got around quickly. Since the two towns were only 15 miles apart it wasnt long before the homeless heard about the nice park and free food. One day driving home I saw a homless man hitching a ride with a sign "Fairfield". The beginning of big trouble. Soon this park and surrounding area was overrun with homeless -- including families.

So more people fed them, and more came. Soon it was a disgusting park and families stopped going there because they would consistently get hit on for money and hassled. Also became a police problem.

Just saying . . .

[cedar_bluff_tree_farm]

I don't live in Vegas (actually Seattle despite what my profile shows) but we have a significant homeless population in Seattle.

My observations is feeding them or giving them money enables them to continue doing what they do. If you stop, they'll go elsewhere. Enabling them to be homeless doesn't fix the problem, it actually keeps it going.

[barocko7]

Originally Posted by cedar_bluff_tree_farm

My observations is feeding them or giving them money enables them to continue doing what they do. If you stop, they'll go elsewhere. Enabling them to be homeless doesn't fix the problem, it actually keeps it going.

Yes, it`s true - Our Governmental System is not of social character, you`d have to go to Europe to find otherwise, thats why our country has the majority of homeless helpless victims of a greedy System of dog-eat-dog mentality.
It`s not right for you to see homeless people as some kind of "Mosquito" that should be slapped away, because you think they bother you when you see them vegetating in their horible lives of poverty.

Imagine, if everybody would bring them food, clothing and maybe even a few dollars, or professional qualified persons like lawyers, bankers etc., would visit them from time to time and give advice for free, or Doctors would, from time to time, visit and help them without charge, which would maybe help some of them toward getting on a different path in life. This would be the real "American way" through SOLIDARITY with your fellow citizens who really need all the help they can get.

[cedar_bluff_tree_farm]

Originally Posted by barocko7

Imagine, if everybody would bring them food, clothing and maybe even a few dollars, or professional qualified persons like lawyers, bankers etc., would visit them from time to time and give advice for free, or Doctors would, from time to time, visit and help them without charge, which would maybe help some of them toward getting on a different path in life. This would be the real "American way" through SOLIDARITY with your fellow citizens who really need all the help they can get.

Where I'm at, the homeless have ample public services available. Not sure what it is like in Vegas. We have free clinics, lots of shelters (many that have extra beds that aren't used). Heck, the goverment even gives free housing to chronic alcoholics with the condition that they only drink inside their rooms and not on the streets. Homeless kids gets tons of jackets, clothing, and other things as well.

I wouldn't wish the homeless life on anybody and I don't see them as mosquitos that should be swept away. But many of them where I'm at choose to be homeless (many have PTSD from wars and they find living in a van to be more comfortable than living in an apartment) and don't use the services that are available to them.

By the way, banking is as available to the homeless as it is to everyone else. If they have done wrong in the past - like bounce too many checks - they may not be able to get an account. But I had a parent who worked at a bank and many homeless people had bank accounts, and they weren't empty by any means.

[Kaiminani]

Just a random anecdote - I tried to get a cash prescription for a $5 bottle of amoxicillin filled at Target a few months ago. They absolutely refused to fill the prescription unless I gave them a home address. When I asked the pharmacist, "what if I'm homeless" - she told me that there were no exceptions.

Now, nothing is stopping me or an actual homeless person from simply lying and making up an address, but that's not the point - the corporate policy of one of the largest pharmacies in the US is such that homeless people are not acceptable customers.

FWIW, I ended up at a mom&pop pharmacy which had no problem filling the script without anything more than what was written on the script itself.

[Kalbo]

Once they are homeless it is hard to help effectively. The time to help is before someone becomes homeless. Most do not just become homeless over night. Where are the friends and families of the homeless in the beginning. That is the time a big difference can be made and prevent someone from going homeless.

[yellowsnow]

Originally Posted by CaptsMom

just my 2 cents here and I hope it doesnt offend anyone.

when I lived in CA the county seat where I worked was Martinez. I lived in a little town called Fairfield. home of Travis airforce base. Very nice clean and quiet. There was a lot of homeless in Martinez, there was the county jail there and when they were released many stayed right there either on the streets or in the old sleazy hotels. Very bad environment downtown.

Well, in Fairfield there was a park not far from downtown with just a few homeless. Well a kind lady decided to start feeding them. Word got around quickly. Since the two towns were only 15 miles apart it wasnt long before the homeless heard about the nice park and free food. One day driving home I saw a homless man hitching a ride with a sign "Fairfield". The beginning of big trouble. Soon this park and surrounding area was overrun with homeless -- including families.

So more people fed them, and more came. Soon it was a disgusting park and families stopped going there because they would consistently get hit on for money and hassled. Also became a police problem.

Just saying . . .

And there's wisdom in what you are saying. Not too long ago somehow Kandyohi County in MN became the best place to live for welfare benefits and the same kind of thing happened. People moved there from all over.

I don't think my hot dogs are enough to redistribute the homeless population but I do get your point. I do remember there were people feeding the homeless downtown at that park close to the bus station, I think. If I'm remembering right there was some kind of law passed against feeding the homeless?

[yellowsnow]

Originally Posted by Kalbo

Once they are homeless it is hard to help effectively. The time to help is before someone becomes homeless. Most do not just become homeless over night. Where are the friends and families of the homeless in the beginning. That is the time a big difference can be made and prevent someone from going homeless.

So let's say someone will be homeless in a couple weeks.... What should that person be doing? What's out there to help?

I have a friend who will be in this position shortly. I had him dumb down his resume and remove his degrees so he could apply for minimum wage jobs but no luck so far. He is a veteran but doesn't have PTSD. This guy has applied for hundreds of jobs with no luck. He is good looking and dresses well. Has teeth and no tats, not a drunk or a druggie. In other words a pretty normal guy. He's overqualified for most of the low wage jobs and there's nothing in his field. His unemployment has run out. He's over 50 so he can't go back to the military.

Any suggestions?

[Swigchow]

Originally Posted by cedar_bluff_tree_farm

but we have a significant homeless population in Seattle.

My observations is feeding them or giving them money enables them to continue doing what they do. If you stop, they'll go elsewhere. Enabling them to be homeless doesn't fix the problem, it actually keeps it going.

Thats the way to solve the problem. Dont help them so "they'll go elsewhere" and be someone elses problem. I am also from Seattle. We in Seattle have developed tent cities recently supported by sympathetic churches in the unsympathetic microsoft-rich suburbs. This attitude is telling of our society. Many wish to deal with the problem by trying to hide it, or push it away, or blame it on those people themselves. But as long as it is someone elses problem then its ok.
Kudos to you, Yellowsnow for caring.