San Diegans beg city to curb violence by homeless: 'like you’re in the 'Walking Dead''

[stablegenius]

Originally Posted by joosoon

"We have an uptick in violent crime in general," said Mayor Todd Gloria, a Democrat. "And being homeless is not a crime, but being homeless is not a get-out-of-jail-free card either."A lot of that has to do with the fact that during the pandemic we had to enforce social distancing rules in our homeless shelters," he added. "That meant that literally hundreds of our beds have not been able to be occupied."


What a dumb statement and poor excuse.
Being homeless isn't a crime, sure. But we're not talking about the normal folks who are homeless and struggling. The excuse that shelters closed changed the dynamic is just that. The tendencies of the subset of homeless who are a menace to society, be it because of addiction or whatnot, aren't suddenly less of a menace when there are beds available in a shelter. I don't expect the mayor to single-handedly solve the issue but get a better speech writer or at least pretend to have a strategy.

Ugh, yeah. I'm so sick of people saying "Being homeless is not a crime". No it isn't, but loitering, camping in parks overnight, crapping on the sidewalk, peeing on the sidewalk, and shooting up drugs in public are crimes.

[joosoon]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Above post case in point. Bashing the homeless … not the mayor.

Ok, but *my* post was indisputably aimed at the mayor's comments and lack of energy in doing something about a problem.


What would the appropriate response about a victim of violent crime perpetrated by a homeless person be to you? Serious question; just looking for your thoughts. You said earlier that focusing on their homeless status is equivalent to focusing on their race but people can't change the latter while the former is often times a choice (e.g. the people who identify as "homefree", not homeless). Even where it's not completely a choice, being homeless is conditional and subject to change. Being black (your example) isn't.



I think it's perfectly fine to address crime by categories such as who the perpetrators are, and in this example, the perpetrator was homeless.

[joosoon]

Originally Posted by stablegenius

Ugh, yeah. I'm so sick of people saying "Being homeless is not a crime". No it isn't, but loitering, camping in parks overnight, crapping on the sidewalk, peeing on the sidewalk, and shooting up drugs in public are crimes.

The people spouting those refrains aren't doing anyone, any favors either. It's an enabling point of view. The way I see it, they're the polar opposite of those who want to pin everything on every homeless person out there, regardless of circumstances. There's plenty of people who aren't crazy, sidewalk pooping folks who live on the streets or their cars or wherever, and they don't want to be in that situation... especially families with kids. Those are the ones I feel for. The addicts and psychopaths, not so much. They should be getting help and yet the trend in big metro areas has shifted to live and let live instead.