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My friends and I were discussing the homeless yesterday at our group

The one thing that frustates me the most is the fact that people don't want to do the cheapest thing possible for the homeless because they don't believe the homeless deserve a safe, secure home for free. Housing them is the cheapest answer to the tax payer, hands down.

I don't know what kind of home they think the homeless would get. It's not a McMansion, or even a 1,200 sq ft home with all the luxuries.

I also don't know why it matters to them if the homeless get something for free. They weren't helping them, so why do they care if someone else does?

I came up with a fairly rough idea of a way to help the homeless, using something that has already been done successfully.

Get a plot of land that no one wants. A real clunker of a parcel that's been on the market forever. That way, it's obvious, no one wants it.

Set up tiny homes that can house 1 person. If you have a family, then a small mobile home. Tiny homes range from 450 sq ft to 900 sq ft. You can put a few on a fairly decent sized parcel.

Make a community garden that they can attend to while going through any rehab and/or therapy they need.

They can live for free while attending the rehab/therapy so they can get themselves stable.

Once they are ready to move from that, they are given donated clothes for job interviews. Now that they have a physical address, they can actually get a job.

Once they have a job, they must save a portion of their income and pay a modest rent. The rest is for them to enjoy things with.

Once they save up enough for their own apartment, they can move out and on with their lives. The time and rent spent during this time becomes a reference for them to get an apartment.

Yes, there will be failures. Yes there will be people who "take advantage". That's life. All well. Who cares?

Giving people a chance is more important than worrying about someone getting something for free, someone taking advantage of a situation, or unable to beat their demons. If you spend your time worried about what other people are getting that you aren't really makes you the bad person.
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Pretzel · 70-79, M
not a bad idea.

I just saw a Mysteries of the Museum episode where a mayor of one of the big cities - not sure but think it was Chicago in the 1890s

Anyway there was a big immigrant population and not enough jobs. People were hungry and it was a mess.

He took some city owned property, paid for gardening tools/seed out of his own pocket and let people grow veggies on the property.

Took some time but they had enough food to eat and sell.

One thing that might be needed in your scenario is mental health counseling - as a requirement. There's a lot of people out there with mental problem on top of everything else.

Before the 1970s a lot of people were put in mental hospitals - they weren't the best - but they were let out and that saw an increase in the homeless population. They were unemployable without medication.
FoxyQueen · 51-55, F
@Pretzel Oh yeah, I said rehab and/or theapy. I'm sure tauma plays a hug part as well to their healing.
Pretzel · 70-79, M
@FoxyQueen yeah, the sad part to me is that there are veterans with PTSD that aren't being cared for (among the other sad stories)

some people want to be free of belongings - but I suspect most of the people out there (some with families) would rather have a roof over theirhead.
Longpatrol · 31-35, M
@Pretzel I'm very disappointed with Trump for that particular aspect as well, for a nation who so values the military, the way he's treated the the VA is startling, and that servicemen who support him do not see the hypocrisy are too many
FoxyQueen · 51-55, F
@Longpatrol Many in the military don't want what they think of as "handouts" and are the core followers of the bootstrap method. Not to mention, many of them refuse to seek therapy because of the negative repercussions from the military for seeking help.

So when they see trump "being tough', it fits right in with their rugged individual syndrome.