“Martin v. Boise and Grants Pass v. Johnson have prevented cities from punishing people for sleeping in public spaces when they have nowhere else to go.”
“Martin v. Boise and Grants Pass v. Johnson have prevented cities from punishing people for sleeping in public spaces when they have nowhere else to go.”
I sympathize with your annoyance, but your comment is a thinly veiled attack on the homeless because you’re annoyed with them.
You say, they choose not to for a variety of reasons: But then list all the problems with homeless people rather than the problems with shelters. You also make a point about how they don’t pay taxes. Which might not be true, btw. Some homeless people work. Also, most homeless people paid taxes for decades before becoming homeless. And, many more, are elderly women whose husband’s paid taxes for decades while they raised the kids.
I could go on. The articles actually do talk about the safety and sanitation issues inside the shelters, for example. Which is a major reason people choose not to go. Imagine being packed into beds like sardines with people who suffer from chronic mental illness and aren’t getting appropriate treatment? Would you feel safer in that room, or out in the woods by yourself?
The reasons people choose not to go to a shelter are wide and varied, but the most commonly stated is “I want to be free!” which reads as “I can’t bring my drugs and booze!”
See the article I linked:
“I couldn’t do it,” said Cooper, sitting next to a shopping cart filled with his sleeping bag and other belongings. “Being out here, it’s freedom.”
“I prefer to be outside because that way I can get up and move,” Varner said, while resting in the grass at Sewallcrest Park. “I can sleep in a nice area.”
A KGW survey of 100 people living in tents in Portland found 89% would rather stay in a tent over a shelter.
“I think that shelters are too temporary and there’s too much stimulation. I’m high functioning autistic. I just couldn’t. It’s not something for me. There’s too much going on,” he said.
I read that article. You cherry picked it just now. See my previous comment. I edited it to be more clear.
I provided all the quotes from the actual homeless people in the article.
But cherry-picked.
Emphasis mine.
It would have been very easy for you to link the reasons in your original comment, or even your first reply to me, had that been your intention.
And I get it, homelessness is annoying. But homeless people aren’t the issue. The article goes on to talk about some ways to make shelters more livable for homeless people as well as paths towards permanent housing, both are good solutions. And, if we can empathize with why people are choosing campsites over shelters, maybe we can find a fix instead of complaining like you did here about them trashing things without paying taxes.
Which, I already pointed out, is a bullshit argument to begin with. Be annoyed if you want to be annoyed. But maybe next time just say that instead of going all NIMBY.
Why shouldn’t people have access to their drugs and booze?
Housed people get to keep their drugs and booze.