[von949]

Was reading two seperate articles on crimes geared towards the homeless around the Foremaster lane and downtown area. Its terribly sad that someone would target people that are unfortuante. This just add to their situation. The same thing is happening in Las Angeles also.

A string of Los Angeles-area killings has thrust homeless safety into the national spotlight.

The previous night, a stranger attacked him in an alley near Fremont Street, knocking him unconscious, he said. He awoke with a sore back and pockets that had been emptied.

Homeless say threat of violence a constant on the streets of Las Vegas - Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012 | 2 a.m. - Las Vegas Sun
Coroner identifies homeless man stabbed to death - Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012 | 3:22 p.m. - Las Vegas Sun

This is just the lowest of the low.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by von949

Was reading two seperate articles on crimes geared towards the homeless around the Foremaster lane and downtown area. Its terribly sad that someone would target people that are unfortuante. This just add to their situation. The same thing is happening in Las Angeles also.

This is just the lowest of the low.

And yet we have thousands of vacant houses sitting empty. The fact that we cannot put the homeless into vacant houses should be a source of national shame. We have marginalized an embarrassingly-large segment of society. And a large percentage of that homeless "segment" is made up of veterans who fought for this country. And nothing ever gets done about it. (Might raise our property taxes, after all...)

[von949]

Wasn't there a recent scam of a couple of guys buying up properties just to rent them out to homeless veterans under some local housing assistant fraud. I will try to find the program name and article.

[von949]

//www.city-data.com/forum/las-v...hborhoods.html
Pastor again riles residents - News - ReviewJournal.com

[macgeek]

I thought Section 8 was all about helping disabled and veterans but like all good ideas
greed & corruption has ruined it

I thought most homeless where armed, I have read several articles about the 'underground homeless' and there is always talk about knifes, and other type weapons.

The final thought is, the people who are attacking homeless are themselves weak and sick
they always prey on the weaker, its a sad fact.

Jonathan

[Trash Can]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

And yet we have thousands of vacant houses sitting empty. The fact that we cannot put the homeless into vacant houses should be a source of national shame. We have marginalized an embarrassingly-large segment of society. And a large percentage of that homeless "segment" is made up of veterans who fought for this country. And nothing ever gets done about it. (Might raise our property taxes, after all...)

Sorry Scoop, gotta disagree with you here. The only segment of society who would benefit from raising taxes would be the government fed deadbeats who administer such programs.

I don't know what the answer is, but if you think higher taxes are the answer to taking care of our societal problems, all you need to do is take a look at Kalifornia. High taxes and plenty of poor and homeless there too, all the while the state workers get outrageous pay, benefits, and retirement. Are things any better over there?

[yellowsnow]

I've done enough volunteer work to have a modicum of insight on this problem. I believe the majority of street people out there are mentally ill. Just giving them a home is treating the symptom and 3 months later, most would be back out on the street. These people need medication, therapy, and support to be able to maintain a normal day to day life and do the things most of us don't even think about.

Support is probably the most important thing I mentioned above. They need attention and interaction with 'normal' people to guide them in their daily lives. Someone to provide structure. Many need to be told what to do. They will go to work every day if you tell them to. They will bathe and put on clean clothes if they are told to do so. They will pay their bills and save money to meet those bills with help and advice. Some will get it and learn to do these things on their own. Others need help forever.

These people can be helped and benefit from the aid offered. Some can become contributing members of society again. It takes more than just a place to live. Also a lot of these folks 'dropped out' of life in general. They have to have a reason to 'drop back in'.

Over time, the life you live and the people you encounter become your new normal. It's hard to walk back into a regular life when your normal is living on the street surrounded by those who are mentally ill. You no longer relate to 'normal' people. It takes time and effort to bring about change.

Each and every one of these people have a story and some of them would curl your hair. There was a writer not too long ago who published a book about these folks. I don't remember the exact title but it was something like A Week at the Blue Angel. It was available online and I thought it was an interesting read.

Here's what all these people taught me about homelessness and mental illness. Everyone is one series of disasters away from becoming one of these people. Most of us are lucky and this series of disasters never happens. We just go about our daily activities knowing this could never happen to us. We might even be smug about it. But we all have those buttons and if they are punched in the right order, we can go down the tubes too. Maybe it's good that people don't believe this.

In the big scheme of things, Las Vegas is a good place to be homeless and we will always have more than our share. Quite a few of those 'professional' panhandlers you see every day in the same place have homes and go home from 'work' every day just like we do. They learned they can make more money begging than working at a minimum wage job. This is a different animal and most of those folks are not truly homeless.

[Atlas1337]

Homelessness is a lifestyle choice in this country flat and simple. I've been to countries and villages where people still live in caves (literally) with holes carved out for windows. They use donkeys, old school wells, and everything that comes with the per-industrial/electrical/plumbing world. They manage.

I do agree a lot of these people have serious mental health issues, but it didn't start that way. They chose to walk down this path and it eventually consumed them. Am I supposed to have sympathy for these people when literally hundreds of millions of humans across the world are actually giving it their all and still falling short? Sorry. I help those who chose to help themselves. If these people have given up, let them fall into oblivion as they so desire. We're all destined for that fate eventually.

With all that said, violence against the homeless is abhorrent, just as violence against anyone is abhorrent. The title of this post reminded me of a mini-arch in the tv show 'The Wire'

[Muonic]

My Week at the Blue Angel ( http://www.beneaththeneon.com/my-week-at-the-blue-angel.asp - broken link)

by Matthew O'Brian

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

There was a writer not too long ago who published a book about these folks. I don't remember the exact title but it was something like A Week at the Blue Angel.

[Jukesgrrl]

Originally Posted by Atlas1337

Homelessness is a lifestyle choice in this country flat and simple. I've been to countries and villages where people still live in caves (literally) with holes carved out for windows. They use donkeys, old school wells, and everything that comes with the per-industrial/electrical/plumbing world. They manage.

I do agree a lot of these people have serious mental health issues, but it didn't start that way. They chose to walk down this path and it eventually consumed them. Am I supposed to have sympathy for these people when literally hundreds of millions of humans across the world are actually giving it their all and still falling short? Sorry. I help those who chose to help themselves. If these people have given up, let them fall into oblivion as they so desire. We're all destined for that fate eventually.

With all that said, violence against the homeless is abhorrent, just as violence against anyone is abhorrent. The title of this post reminded me of a mini-arch in the tv show 'The Wire'

This is quite possibly the most mean-spirited — not to mention incorrect — posts I've ever read on City-Data. You might have been to countries where people live in caves, but you clearly haven't spent much time with those who are experiencing homelessness in the richest country in the world.