I have not seen many homeless people in my little town here. I have seen a lady sitting on a step one morning busily spooning her breakfast from a soup can. I just happened to have come from the hospital and picked up a muffin. I handed it to her and said, "Try this."
I do know that we have some homeless teenagers who attend a local church school. The homeless always seem to be among us.
According to a recent NPR report there are about 130,000 homeless in California at any one time AND that constitutes HALF of all of the homeless in the USA. Why do I think this number is under reported?'
I think it is pretty tough to keep an accurate census of a fairly fluid population. The homeless like warm places. Freezing to death in the winter happens if some poor out of his mind person hides in a dumpster.
This population consists of drunks, druggies, unemployed, families who cannot afford to pay rent but are working. Housing consists of tents, cars, vans, RV's none of them in good condition.
There is a used needle problem, there is a garbage problem.There is prostitution/violence problem. There is a mental health problem, there are legal problems, there are businesses and restaurants losing customers who have to run the gauntlet of homeless. These people need health care. These people need a place to clean up, they need a place to wash their clothes, they need a place to shop and they need jobs and houses. We must begin to treat our homeless like an asset. Eventually the effort will pay off.
I have read that one of the large cities is paying people to police the area, pick up junk. This should be in conjunction with regular trash pickup by the garbage company.
If a needle exchange is not being done, it should be. Needle exchanges make sure that if a user trades in a used needle, they get a safe place to inject with a new single use needle. This may cut down on opioid over dose. These centers could also have Narcan available.
If daily meals are provided, perhaps the cost of entry could be a bag of trash. Once the trash is under control, the price of admission could be an empty recycle can or bottle.
I propose that a bank be established. The clients deposit what money they have and the bank gives them scrip to be spent within the homeless community. Does not buy liquor or beer. This may cut down on theft.
In conjunction with finance, the homeless need a physical address for mailing purposes. I suggest a satellite post office, contracted out to a local provider. The homeless should be given priority for jobs in these facilities.
There needs to be mental health and basic health services offered. Homeless children need to be inoculated.
Housing: Eugene has started a homeless housing project building something called Conestoga's. The plot size for each shelter is roughly 8 x 12 feet, window on one end, door on the other. The building consists of a length of corrugated metal bent over in a half circle. There is room for a bed. It remains to be seen how well this works. One would hope that other amenities are made available such as bathing/ washer dryer etc.
I have wondered why the Japanese capsule hotel concept could not be adapted. Single very simple capsules, and larger capsules for a couple or a small group of capsules for families.
Storage is a problem. I saw a program that highlighted a huge warehouse full of 100 gallon locking garbage cans. This allowed the homeless to store their stuff and not have to drag it around in a stolen shopping cart. My additional suggestion would to stack these garbage cans on scaffolding to fill up the volume.
These warehouse should be located next to a shelter, preferably a huge warehouse with stacks of people capsules. Body heat alone would keep the place toasty. LED lighting would be good.
I would pay the homeless to plant and maintain a garden in empty land conveniently located next to the shelters. They would make a pepetual stew to feed folks.
In cities that have bus transportation, I would make ticket to ride for the homeless who need to get to jobs.
I would encourage a second hand boutique concern be established to help clothe the homeless. These stores would have the ability to clean, repair and press garments. Again these places should give priority to hiring the homeless.
Additionally, I would encourage that the homeless be given a sense of ownership. Think about selling shares to the homeless member, there would be a cooperative formed with the end goal of the entire enterprise becoming unnecessary.
There needs to be police and a court system within the community. Again adapt as needed. Volunteers need for some of these positions but the homeless probably make pretty good cops, lawyers and judges.
The homeless need to be considered a third world problem and the current third world problems that are being treated successfully need to be adopted in America.
Perhaps Habitat for Humanity has some ideas. Something to think about.
I do know that we have some homeless teenagers who attend a local church school. The homeless always seem to be among us.
According to a recent NPR report there are about 130,000 homeless in California at any one time AND that constitutes HALF of all of the homeless in the USA. Why do I think this number is under reported?'
I think it is pretty tough to keep an accurate census of a fairly fluid population. The homeless like warm places. Freezing to death in the winter happens if some poor out of his mind person hides in a dumpster.
This population consists of drunks, druggies, unemployed, families who cannot afford to pay rent but are working. Housing consists of tents, cars, vans, RV's none of them in good condition.
There is a used needle problem, there is a garbage problem.There is prostitution/violence problem. There is a mental health problem, there are legal problems, there are businesses and restaurants losing customers who have to run the gauntlet of homeless. These people need health care. These people need a place to clean up, they need a place to wash their clothes, they need a place to shop and they need jobs and houses. We must begin to treat our homeless like an asset. Eventually the effort will pay off.
I have read that one of the large cities is paying people to police the area, pick up junk. This should be in conjunction with regular trash pickup by the garbage company.
If a needle exchange is not being done, it should be. Needle exchanges make sure that if a user trades in a used needle, they get a safe place to inject with a new single use needle. This may cut down on opioid over dose. These centers could also have Narcan available.
If daily meals are provided, perhaps the cost of entry could be a bag of trash. Once the trash is under control, the price of admission could be an empty recycle can or bottle.
I propose that a bank be established. The clients deposit what money they have and the bank gives them scrip to be spent within the homeless community. Does not buy liquor or beer. This may cut down on theft.
In conjunction with finance, the homeless need a physical address for mailing purposes. I suggest a satellite post office, contracted out to a local provider. The homeless should be given priority for jobs in these facilities.
There needs to be mental health and basic health services offered. Homeless children need to be inoculated.
Housing: Eugene has started a homeless housing project building something called Conestoga's. The plot size for each shelter is roughly 8 x 12 feet, window on one end, door on the other. The building consists of a length of corrugated metal bent over in a half circle. There is room for a bed. It remains to be seen how well this works. One would hope that other amenities are made available such as bathing/ washer dryer etc.
I have wondered why the Japanese capsule hotel concept could not be adapted. Single very simple capsules, and larger capsules for a couple or a small group of capsules for families.
Storage is a problem. I saw a program that highlighted a huge warehouse full of 100 gallon locking garbage cans. This allowed the homeless to store their stuff and not have to drag it around in a stolen shopping cart. My additional suggestion would to stack these garbage cans on scaffolding to fill up the volume.
These warehouse should be located next to a shelter, preferably a huge warehouse with stacks of people capsules. Body heat alone would keep the place toasty. LED lighting would be good.
I would pay the homeless to plant and maintain a garden in empty land conveniently located next to the shelters. They would make a pepetual stew to feed folks.
In cities that have bus transportation, I would make ticket to ride for the homeless who need to get to jobs.
I would encourage a second hand boutique concern be established to help clothe the homeless. These stores would have the ability to clean, repair and press garments. Again these places should give priority to hiring the homeless.
Additionally, I would encourage that the homeless be given a sense of ownership. Think about selling shares to the homeless member, there would be a cooperative formed with the end goal of the entire enterprise becoming unnecessary.
There needs to be police and a court system within the community. Again adapt as needed. Volunteers need for some of these positions but the homeless probably make pretty good cops, lawyers and judges.
The homeless need to be considered a third world problem and the current third world problems that are being treated successfully need to be adopted in America.
Perhaps Habitat for Humanity has some ideas. Something to think about.
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