Quote:
Originally Posted by DownInFlames
...The hard (but ultimate) solution is dealing with the homeless situation that isn't going to go away any time soon. Most of these guys seem able-bodied so they can work. ...
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There are solutions, but all of them involve some degree of forceful treatment/confinement, which no politician will ever have the guts to implement.
I have been volunteering twice a year at Feed-the-Hungry for the past ten years. The program serves dinner to approximately 500 to 700 homeless people every Sunday. Normally, I do a "host" station at the entrance, responsible for taking people to their tables. I can tell you, a few look just like normal people down on their luck. But most of them don't look like they could be rehabilitated at all, ever. More than half of the people coming in are either drunk or intoxicated. About half are aboriginal people. They eat, go across the street to the Rouleau Park and do drugs right there after a meal. Police stops once or twice and asks them to leave; I've never seen anyone arrested though. How/where do they get the money for booze and drugs? Selling sex I doubt it; who would pay to have sex with them??? Many of them have cell phones. How do they pay the bills? Is panhandling pay to do all of that?
There are some really well-meant Calgary initiatives to end homelessness, like Resolve Campaign building apartments for people in transition. But it will only help those who want to be helped and get back on their feet (that small portion that does look normal). How do you deal with that drug-addicted majority without the use of some force? Impossible.