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my city has a very large population of homeless.or "transients". florida gets a huge influx every year during the cold months up north, it is an overwhelming problem. i am aware many are mentally ill or addicts of alcohol or drugs. i have a LOT of contact with them on the job, they commit a great deal of petty crime, and sometimes much worse. we have food kitchens and shelters, but many cannot obey the rules to stay at the shelter. is there ever going to be a solution to the growing population of homeless?

ArnoldLayne wrote: Do you find many of them commiting minor missdemenours to get a night in a warm cosy jail ?we have some that do every time it gets cold here. regulars. a bed, three meals and a shower. this is a big tourist area and some of the problems are not minor, they break into out of state cars for valuables, it's big business.

Same problem up here in PA except that in winter they HAVE to find shelter otherwise they would freeze to death (literally).

We get temperatures down to negative 15F (about minus 30C) in January and wind-chill readings way below that.

Difficult to see a permanent solution. A lot of the 'homeless' seem to prefer it that way and if they don't want help there's little that can be done for them. They know that society won't let them starve/die so there's little incentive for them to change their way of living.

It is such an unfortunate situation. I dont know much about stats on homeless people in the US or anywhere else in the world for that matter. There is a great video that policing schools use (filmed in Vancouver BC) that shows a personal edge on how officers deal directly with these people. It features the lives of many different people challenging the streets, violence, drugs, etc. It is a 2 part series....anyway, after watching these videos it made me realize how lucky we are to have quality public safety in our communities. Another thing I've realized is how little effort and knowledge our government puts into the consideration of improving the streets. I always think municipal government gets ahead of themselves before thinking locally. If I can remember the name of these videos I'll post it.

lady cop wrote: my city has a very large population of homeless.or "transients". florida gets a huge influx every year during the cold months up north, it is an overwhelming problem. i am aware many are mentally ill or addicts of alcohol or drugs. i have a LOT of contact with them on the job, they commit a great deal of petty crime, and sometimes much worse. we have food kitchens and shelters, but many cannot obey the rules to stay at the shelter. is there ever going to be a solution to the growing population of homeless?


L/C I don't know your age so I don't know if you lived through the 70"s our not but anyway back then some groups got the politions to forbid the incarceraton of folks in mental institutions unless they were a threat to others or themselves. Then in their next wise move they decreed that sleeping on the streets and eating out of dumpsters because you were to mentally ill to hold a job was not a threat to anyone.

So they get no care or treatment.

I'm not an expert or even well read on this supject but this is the way I have seen it explained on some news shows.

Don't make a lot of sence does it?

To define sleeping on sub-freezing streets and eating spoiled food from dumpsters as not a threat to yourself.

On the other hand, there are people starving and dieing. Handouts are not a way out. Some of them need in drug and/or alcohol rehabs, some need educated, some need mental help, etc. Some choose this way of life because they know no other way. It's an issue I'm really split on. I want to know how and why there are so many homeless. I've seen a friend, who is a hard worker, almost lose everything due to a stroke. I've seen her harrassed by a system that is supposed to help her. This world is just really screwed up sometimes.

it is a terrible societal issue on many levels. the poor people who fell through the cracks, and the "cracks" who put their kids at risk to live the street life. i do recall what you speak of jahamaa, a huge burden was put on the public. i have mixed feelings in every situation involving the homeless. pity and also disgust at the refusal to accept services, they are squatting on private and public property and creating unsanitary camps as well as starting brush fires. we must enforce ordinances or we'll have disease processes in the water supply, everything enters the aquifer. the merchants have the right not to be robbed of their goods. the public has the right not to be harrassed on the street by insistant panhandlers. anyone can become homeless in the wrong set of circumstances, but we TRY to help.

I've been told homeless people travel from all over to come to Springfield (city close to me) because of all the accomodatons given to homeless people. I know of 3 shelters, huge, that house hundreds of homeless people. Plus, there are "soup kitchens", places where they can get free food and thrift stores that are actually free, not just cheap. There are several places on the North side of Springfield where there are homeless camps. Mostly in back alleys, under bridges, in groves of trees for wind protection. I was shocked to work EMS calls there.

lady cop wrote: it is a terrible societal issue on many levels. the poor people who fell through the cracks, and the "cracks" who put their kids at risk to live the street life. i do recall what you speak of jahamaa, a huge burden was put on the public. i have mixed feelings in every situation involving the homeless. pity and also disgust at the refusal to accept services, they are squatting on private and public property and creating unsanitary camps as well as starting brush fires. we must enforce ordinances or we'll have disease processes in the water supply, everything enters the aquifer. the merchants have the right not to be robbed of their goods. the public has the right not to be harrassed on the street by insistant panhandlers. anyone can become homeless in the wrong set of circumstances, but we TRY to help.


As much as I think people should be able to do there own thing, we as a community should be able to set standards below which no one should have to live.

If someone is not mentally able to maintain that level we should be able to come up with some supervised living arrangements to help them because, your right, they don't just affect themselves but everyone around them.

I thing my congressman may get an email from today on this subject.

Not with the law as it stands at the moment, however I`d like to think that eventually there will be a law passed which allows all of them in all towns to be `rounded up` and put in a compound, where they can be given food, drink, medical treatment as needed, then allowed out as and when they were able to work and wanted to, otherwise kept in. That way, you`d still have the `homeless` but at least they would be contained in one place and not committing crimes against innocent citizens and tourists (sorry if that sounds harsh)

john8pies wrote: Not with the law as it stands at the moment, however I`d like to think that eventually there will be a law passed which allows all of them in all towns to be `rounded up` and put in a compound, where they can be given food, drink, medical treatment as needed, then allowed out as and when they were able to work and wanted to, otherwise kept in. That way, you`d still have the `homeless` but at least they would be contained in one place and not committing crimes against innocent citizens and tourists (sorry if that sounds harsh) sounds a bit like the notorious camps in CA during WWll to confine people of Japanese extraction. even the homeless have civil rights. we can't arbitrarily deny due process.