Homelessness Epidemic In San Diego (San Francisco, Julian: sex offenders, centers, affordable housing)

[Bonez765]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

I think you are probably right about that, but that would mean their last residential address (even if it was military barracks) was in Hawaii, so that kind of wrecks the claim made by another poster that they are from "out of the area". I'm sure a good number of homeless were born somewhere other than where they now are, but at least 3/4 of them had their last residential address in the same city where they are currently homeless.

It's as I said, they would rather be where they are at than go back to their hometowns. I remember this hobo in Berkeley who was from Charleston SC. I bought him lunch at a café in downtown Berkeley and he told me he didn't want to go back to Charleston because he had a lot of issues with his siblings over there to the point he would rather be a hobo in Berkeley than face the music in Charleston (to be fair, he had terminal cancer and I'll guess he didn't want to cause a lot of suffering to his family).

[JasmineBasmati]

Unfortunately, most of the homeless people that you will see on the streets on any city, are mentally-ill first.

Yes, many are alcoholics, or drug users only, until they become mentally-ill from both. And the ones that are mentally-ill without first using drugs and alcohol, will become users of drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately, many of the laws passed to help them, often work against them....

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

Oh I see, all the data is fake except for the weird anecdotal stuff like a statement from a guy who runs a day shelter and says: "People tell us is that they think they can get a job because marijuana is legal here," said Tom Luehrs, executive director of the St. Francis Center, a day shelter in Denver" whatever...

Tell me this, how do the homeless get from the mainland to Hawaii, swim?

I'll spell it out for you in simple terms. The homeless in Hawaii from the mainland almost certainly arrived on a plane. LuvSouthOC posted this precisely because it shows mobility on the part of the so-called homeless.

As for your discounting the experience of a person who runs a shelter in Colorado, but then also considering yourself an authoritative source because you "help the homeless", well...that's rich.

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by JasmineBasmati

Unfortunately, most of the homeless people that you will see on the streets on any city, are mentally-ill first.

Yes, many are alcoholics, or drug users only, until they become mentally-ill from both. And the ones that are mentally-ill without first using drugs and alcohol, will become users of drugs and alcohol. Unfortunately, many of the laws passed to help them, often work against them....

I am in favor of helping the mentally ill, but want a return to involuntary detention. Moreover, while I support helping these persons, the assistance likely won't be in Ocean Beach, Venice Beach or Laguna Beach. It will likely be in a facility that could be anywhere in the state.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by LuvSouthOC

I'll spell it out for you in simple terms. The homeless in Hawaii from the mainland almost certainly arrived on a plane. LuvSouthOC posted this precisely because it shows mobility on the part of the so-called homeless.

As for your discounting the experience of a person who runs a shelter in Colorado, but then also considering yourself an authoritative source because you "help the homeless" is rich.

OC, what you are missing in your analysis is that nearly all the non-Hawaiian homeless in Hawaii were not homeless before they landed in Hawaii. They became homeless after their dreams failed to progress or sustain into reality.

Similarly, in most mainland locations, more than 75% of the homeless - in fact as measured in California, 90% of the homeless - became homeless in the area where they struggle.

The vast vast majority of homeless do not travel about the country after they become homeless. Multiple studies have confirmed this, a number of which have been linked in this thread - compared to zero studies proving otherwise. The anecdotal "experience" of one person who runs a shelter in one location does not even slightly dent the studies performed by scholarly and government research.

I am curious why you cling to this mobility issue?

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by LuvSouthOC

Because the homeless are mobile.


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/ny...less.html?_r=0
Texas Pot Smokers Filling Up Colorado Homeless Shelters

Forbes Welcome

“Only about 42% of [the state's] homeless are from Hawaii,” adds Menor-McNamara.

Cheese Louise OC, your own links contradict your claim of mobility. From the NY Times article above:

The share of single adults who applied for shelter and listed their last address outside the city rose to 23 percent in December from 19.9 percent in February 2012, the Department of Homeless Services said. The percentage of out-of-towners among homeless families has also been climbing, to about 10 percent last month from 8.4 percent of households in 2009.

But advocates for the homeless maintain that that estimate is overstated, unverified and distorting.

“It could be someone from the Bronx, who lived their whole life in the Bronx, got evicted, spends some time on the street, applies for shelter and gives their mother’s address and their mother lives in New Jersey,” said Patrick Markee, senior policy analyst for the Coalition for the Homeless.

“The majority of the people in the system are New Yorkers,” Mr. Markee added. “There’s always been a small percentage of homeless who came from someplace else.”

In other words, even if you were to use the "overstated numbers", the combined percentage of single and family homeless would run less than 20% - INCLUDING homeless whose last address (prior to homelessness) was in the NY city metro area but outside the city limits.

Generally agreed on by experts in the field, the mobile homeless run in the 10% range - because, to state it again and again, persons experiencing homelessness prefer, for obvious reasons, to stay within reach of personal history, family, friends, other contacts, and familiarity with existing support systems.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by Bonez765

The vagabonds are a problem everywhere in California. They come here because the weather is great and they get free gibs from the state government. If you ask me though, the hobos in SD aren't anywhere near as crazy as in San Francisco but there's still a lot of them.

Originally Posted by Bonez765

From being in military circles, a lot of vets who went military were already messed up to begin with and once out of the service, they can't survive and Hawaii has a large military presence. Then they end up being there rather than going home to the place they hated. Would be my theory.

Originally Posted by Bonez765

Hmmmm, idk, maybe DoD deploying them there and then they stay there once they are out. I have talked a lot with hobos here in the Bay who are vets but they are too ashamed to go back to their town wherever they came from because they had lots of problems with family before they joined the service.

Originally Posted by Bonez765

It's as I said, they would rather be where they are at than go back to their hometowns. I remember this hobo in Berkeley who was from Charleston SC. I bought him lunch at a café in downtown Berkeley and he told me he didn't want to go back to Charleston because he had a lot of issues with his siblings over there to the point he would rather be a hobo in Berkeley than face the music in Charleston (to be fair, he had terminal cancer and I'll guess he didn't want to cause a lot of suffering to his family).

Hey Bonez. Nice of you to buy the guy a lunch, really. And, his story, like some of the stories of "vets" in Hawaii and all homeless elsewhere, might be true (cancer, problems with people at home town, etc.). But, really, LOTS of these stories that get spun, aren't true. They are a mix of bulltweet just flowing extemporaneously and expedience angling for a variety of contributions - um, like a free lunch.

That said, there are a wide range of true stories and educational levels out there on the streets. A browse through the stats in the SD report on homeless provided a dozen or so posts back shows a surprising number of college grads down on their luck.

With regard to the vets in Hawaii, and elsewhere - yes, they're out there. But generally they represent only about 10 - 15% tops. Lots of those "vets" with signs aren't vets. The majority, I'd bet. (I am a war vet who has worked with homeless vets.) The majority of these vets are older demographically. These are guys who don't want to challenge their substance abuse / drinking problems mostly. That's why they don't come in to any of the many programs available to veterans. Veterans have far greater support available than non-vets. No vet needs to be out on the streets. And they know it. The ones who are, generally, living "outsde the wire" do so because they are afraid, or don't want, to confront their self-destructive habits.

[the topper]

The root reason for homelessness:high costs of housing. Food is so expensive these days to eat up your budget.

In the 70's: very few homelessness due to plenty of affordable housing/SRO's and flop houses as well as Mental ward for the mentally ill relatively cheaper costs of living. Take all that away=more homeless people!

[oddstray]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

There was one other issue raised earlier in this thread I meant to bring greater clarity to, and that is the myth that San Diego's - and LA's, and San Francisco's - homeless migrate here from across the nation for the weather and the community resources generousity.

I don't have a study for San Diego specifically. But I offer two others below for LA and San Francisco from which you can extrapolate.

Not so much a myth, it seems. 'Dumping' (outside agencies shipping their homeless to San Diego) is apparently an on-going problem:

Homeless 'Dumping' Settlement Impacts San Diego | NBC 7 San Diego

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by oddstray

Not so much a myth, it seems. 'Dumping' (outside agencies shipping their homeless to San Diego) is apparently an on-going problem:

Homeless 'Dumping' Settlement Impacts San Diego | NBC 7 San Diego

I'm familiar with the problem - and the article you linked. You need to read it carefully and critically. San Diego did not participate in the lawsuit initiated by San Francisco County for a reason. There have undoubtably been cases of dumping. But not a statistically signifcant number. You'll also note , if you read carefully, that the "dumping" was from within the state as well as a few locations out of state.

Furthermore, "dumping" is the sending out of mental patients from institutions and facilities. That is not self-"migration". Most important, again, is the numbers are insignificant statistically.

Read carefully.

Read thoroughly.

Cognate.