Homelessness: What would I do?

The following is a bullet-point list of possible solutions to the never ending homeless problem here in the U.S. As I said the other day, some of this you may agree with, some of it you may not. I’m just posting this to hopefully inspire others to think of solutions instead of wasting time hammering “THE SYSTEM” for not doing enough when mainstream media spotlights the situation.

• If we can make it an offense in certain areas for feeding wild animals lest we break up the natural ecosystem, I say we extend this same law to include the homeless. By this I mean the creation of a “No Pocket Change” benevolence law. Those within the homeless demographic who are unwilling to work for a living now have a reason to work. While there are those that will raise the issue that low-skill jobs don’t pay enough, my contention here is that positive income is POSITIVE INCOME. In other words, like everyone else in society, you have to start from somewhere. Pocket change benevolence robs the homeless of seeing the benefit of working for a living (don’t worry, I am keeping the mentally-challenged in mind in this post. I’ll address that a little later).
• Let the people decide to where their tax dollars should go to address homelessness in their city. If I am not mistaken, in most cases non-profits get to compete for government programs which provides them the financial assistance they require for their organization. The problem here is that as taxpayers, we are pretty much left out of this process. Open up any newspaper and you will see how this process is prone to under the table dealings that corrupt the process for legitimate organizations. I say, include a list of organizations that have a long and successful history on the ballot every election cycle where citizens can choose which organizations will get tax dollars. I would also include a brief description of each organization in the election guide booklet this is mailed to citizens. In addition, I would require that these local organizations would submit their financial records and other pertinent information to something like Charity Navigator where the general public could keep track of the effectiveness of these organizations.
• (Tighten the net) Create a centralized database that keep track of all the homeless in the city. Currently if a homeless person has been arrested, like anyone else they are fingerprinted and photographed for police records. I say, homeless shelters should be given this same ability to track these individuals. Let’s say that homeless person has been through a recovery program on the other side of town via a non-profit organization. Other programs will be able to chart a well-informed course for recovery for this individual. If a homeless person has a history of quiting jobs, these non-profits would be able to adopt a more aggressive plan of action for this individual instead of allowing him/her to bounce all over the system with no action plan.
• Send the homeless back to their place of origin. Over the years I have heard of cities that have purchased one-way bus tickets for homeless individuals to anywhere they wish in the US. While this may temporarily clear up the homeless situation in a particular town or city, all it does is spread the problem elsewhere. I say when possible (after all, you are counting on their word for the most part here), they should go back to their city or town of origin. Why should cities like Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles, etc. deal with the societal problems of another city (here is an example of it in action)? By sending these people back to their place of origin, you at least increase the chances of family involvement. Weather or not that be a good thing in some cases is something to be dealt with by that town/city’s own homeless plan.
• For the truly mentally-challenged: I would use the same solution that I discussed in my second point. The major difference here is that tax-payers would have to have the understanding that this will be a very long investment of their dollars. You are dealing with a segment of our society who oftentimes does not have the mental ability to make important life decisions on their own. With no family support, these individuals will require much longer treatment that oftentimes can be very costly. My hope here is that by sending folks back to their place of origin, the cost would become more fesable to The alternative to this solution would be prison where they would not get the care that they need.

The points above only reflect a snapshot of my thoughts on this issue. From time to time in the future, I may elaborate on some of these points while thinking about other possibilities.

Like some of you, I have grown tired of the characterizations of all homeless people by certain individuals in our society as a bunch of folks who do not posses the ability or sense to take advantage of the help around them. People like Chris Gardner are just one of MANY examples of folks of all races who, despite the challenges were able to pull themselves out of homelessness thanks in part to generosity of others. What has been missing in many of the various discussions on homelessness is the fact that there is a significant number people living on the street by their own choosing who are not “mentally challenged”. For these people, we cannot allow them to live off the generosity of hard working taxpayers. To do so would only continue to exasperate the situation.

Other “What would I do?” postings:

Are they taking over or did we give them the keys?

Why the private sector should take the lead in rebuilding New Orleans

Other related information:

Video: Homeless Handout

Homeless students prove hard to find, hard to help

Nevada: Feeding homeless outlawed

Homeless, Felons help fill poultry jobs

Causes of Homelessness: Mental Illness

National Alliance to End Homelessness