The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #163386 Message #3898027
Posted By: Ebbie
08-Jan-18 - 04:48 AM
Thread Name: BS: Homelessness a Personal Choice?
Subject: RE: BS: Homelessness a Personal Choice?
Juneau, Alaska, has its share of homeless people; we have two shelters approximately 12 miles apart (Juneau is a narrow but l o n g town). The shelter near where I live is on a downtown street, close to bars, restaurants and tourist shops. The shelter serves three meals a day and can sleep something like 50 people (10 or so in a separate dormitory for women). The thing is that one has to pass a breathalizer test before one is allowed to go upstairs to bed. If over the limit, out you go. Many of those evicted look for any out of the way for a spot to sleep. Many of the proprietors attend town assembly meetings and demand that something be done to keep the homeless from sleeping in their doorways and alleys. Obviously, they have a point but that doesn't help those without beds.
It has been proposed by some people that the shelter should be moved to the vicinity near our hospital about five miles away. One problem with that is that the homeless wouldn't stay there- what serves as their social life is downtown. Another problem to my mind is that if they were trucked out of downtown, we townspeople would likely forget that we have the problem. Visible as they are now we are reminded constantly that we have to seek solutions.
One recent innovation is a hopeful one. An agency donated land and a building that houses 25 or so people was put up on it. The idea is to identify those who have drinking or other addictions but who are willing to pursue other options, give them a home while they are still using and through counseling and 'socialization' on a one to one basis try to turn lives around.
One other thing that appears to be working quite well is to pursue those on the streets who are willing to live in apartments, put them on Medicaid, give them a stipend and move them off the street that way. A number of them are living in the same complex where I live and mostly, it works. A few of them do eventually get evicted, mostly for the same reason that was outlined above: bringing in their 'mates' from the streets resulting in the occasional drunken party or brawl. But by and large it works.
On a personal note, when I lived up the street from the shelter and frequently walked my dog past it I felt safer because of the homeless men. They kept an eye out for me- if I walked in a different direction for a couple of days they worried that something had happened to me or my dog. I have no doubt whatever that they would have come to my aid if anyone had hassled or assaulted me.