I think this is a "yes, and" situation
by ravenium (2024-03-01 00:19:01)

In reply to: The analogy I use is an iceberg  posted by AquinasDomer

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You cannot just throw housing at something and hope it gets better. Here in Portland, such a person burned down his apartment and almost killed several people.

I have a friend in Section 8 housing. He's seen time and time again where someone is just dropped into an apt without any sort of support system. They get lonely, their friends want to come over, they use, they fall back into it.

Sure, they'll need housing, but first they need something to force them to get on track. It cannot happen in a vacuum.

As far as West Virginia, I'd say it's because it's a less concentrated population. You can get a shack for a buck and nobody sees you suffer. Alcoholism is a terrible thing, but it doesn't make you pursue a life of crime quite like meth does.

I get that the "service resistant" homeless are not the majority, but try telling that to someone who has been chased with a knife or threatened for trying to get by on the sidewalk. I think it is a grave mistake to lump them in with the conventional homeless.



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