Put a pause on trying to bail out a sinking ship with a coffee cup. As long as we have more people entering homelessness than leaving it will only get worse. That means an aggressive program of rental assistance as a financial priority on top of everything else.
Sanctioned encampments will be needed in the short term. There can be nothing associated with them that even hints as being involuntary incarceration. And they can’t be located in bumf*ck; every community should have one.
New players need to be recruited to (at least) supplement the current unhoused gatekeepers and shelter supervisors. There are dozens of local congregations, for instance, who already make at least a token contribution toward assistance, and unite them under a common umbrella.
Law enforcement needs to focus on those who victimize people living on the streets. You’d be amazed at the cooperation law enforcement would get if they focused their energies on solving/preventing the petty crimes and the scams inflicted on the unhoused, who are way more likely to be victims than other groups.
Politicians need to take the lead in directing community energy in directions not blaming the unhoused for their predicament. Make helping the less fortunate a civic duty. Making judgements about people in advance of rendering assistance should be socially unacceptable. (Besides, it doesn’t work)
End the systemic cycle that keeps people homeless. This will be hard.
Lack of access to affordable housing
A universal system for assistance referral.
Criminalized for being homeless
End post incarceration barriers to employment and housing
What I find tragic every single day is the number of people who ignore that fact that unhoused people are our fellow human beings in needof compassion, empathy, help , and possibly medical care.
I am certain that there are any number of practical things tha could be done. For one thing the state legislature could pass a law that says all people who rent property must accept rental assistance. As it stands now, the state allows landlords to chose whether or not to accept Section 8 with the result that the waiting list for the San Diego Housing Commission is something like 20 years. I am positive that were rental assistance more readily available, there would be many fewer people with out homes.
I also think that considering the sheer number of people who need housing, the City must enact an unpopular eminent domain seizure of property and build housing for unhoused human beings. In my neighborhood there are properties with enormous backyards. Some homeowners have build apartment buildings in their yards presumably to make money. I think the City could commandeer these enormous backyards and build aprtment buildings for the people who most need homes.
It would be excellent should the City Council forbid any more luxury housing to be built and instead build apartments for low income people.
Employers need to pay their employees more so they can afford to pay their rent.
Those who oppose the use of a portion of Balboa Park taking refuge in the charter are people who, in my opinion, lack compassion and empathy for fellow human beings. The lack of compassion and empathy is the elephant in the room. Some of those with these hard hearts claim to be Christians who probably think that the Sermon on the Mount is too woke.
I am certain that there are many more practical ideas if we could just embrace compassion and empathy.
So what's your solution?
Here are some thoughts.
Put a pause on trying to bail out a sinking ship with a coffee cup. As long as we have more people entering homelessness than leaving it will only get worse. That means an aggressive program of rental assistance as a financial priority on top of everything else.
Sanctioned encampments will be needed in the short term. There can be nothing associated with them that even hints as being involuntary incarceration. And they can’t be located in bumf*ck; every community should have one.
New players need to be recruited to (at least) supplement the current unhoused gatekeepers and shelter supervisors. There are dozens of local congregations, for instance, who already make at least a token contribution toward assistance, and unite them under a common umbrella.
Law enforcement needs to focus on those who victimize people living on the streets. You’d be amazed at the cooperation law enforcement would get if they focused their energies on solving/preventing the petty crimes and the scams inflicted on the unhoused, who are way more likely to be victims than other groups.
Politicians need to take the lead in directing community energy in directions not blaming the unhoused for their predicament. Make helping the less fortunate a civic duty. Making judgements about people in advance of rendering assistance should be socially unacceptable. (Besides, it doesn’t work)
End the systemic cycle that keeps people homeless. This will be hard.
Lack of access to affordable housing
A universal system for assistance referral.
Criminalized for being homeless
End post incarceration barriers to employment and housing
Some good suggestions. All of this will require more money and resources devoted to this issue in an intelligent manner. Kudos!
What I find tragic every single day is the number of people who ignore that fact that unhoused people are our fellow human beings in needof compassion, empathy, help , and possibly medical care.
I am certain that there are any number of practical things tha could be done. For one thing the state legislature could pass a law that says all people who rent property must accept rental assistance. As it stands now, the state allows landlords to chose whether or not to accept Section 8 with the result that the waiting list for the San Diego Housing Commission is something like 20 years. I am positive that were rental assistance more readily available, there would be many fewer people with out homes.
I also think that considering the sheer number of people who need housing, the City must enact an unpopular eminent domain seizure of property and build housing for unhoused human beings. In my neighborhood there are properties with enormous backyards. Some homeowners have build apartment buildings in their yards presumably to make money. I think the City could commandeer these enormous backyards and build aprtment buildings for the people who most need homes.
It would be excellent should the City Council forbid any more luxury housing to be built and instead build apartments for low income people.
Employers need to pay their employees more so they can afford to pay their rent.
Those who oppose the use of a portion of Balboa Park taking refuge in the charter are people who, in my opinion, lack compassion and empathy for fellow human beings. The lack of compassion and empathy is the elephant in the room. Some of those with these hard hearts claim to be Christians who probably think that the Sermon on the Mount is too woke.
I am certain that there are many more practical ideas if we could just embrace compassion and empathy.