On The Homeless

So, in the Persistence By The Homeless awards, Seattle takes the prize.

Centuries of white guilt, I guess, coming home to roost.

TWO DOLLARS!

Was that ... The Smell?

There's one guy at the Ralph's on Sunset I always see who has apparently been trying to gather money to go to Redondo Beach for about a year now.

The worst thing I've ever seen was when I was in the Valley and at a stoplight in front of me was a Jaguar. There was a guy on the median holding a sign, asking for money. The driver of the Jaguar held out some change and as the guy approached, he tossed the change out into the street and drove off, laughing, as the homeless guy scrambled for the change. I've never wanted to run someone off the road so badly.

(xpost)

San Francisco/Tenerloin/Market St: Fucking pandemic, out of control, but these are the real deal - crazy, drug addicted street people. Market St is their Mecca.

Berkeley: Annoying psychedelic relics with funny signs like "Spare Change for Weed?" Haight St. is like this, too.

Oakland: Mind-numbing poverty, but pandhandlers are often polite (usually) and quite deferential - lots of "Excuse me, sir, can I trouble you for a moment of your time?" etc.

Santa Cruz: The fucking worst! Dread-head stoner Crass punks with pitbulls and face tattoos that make comments - "Sorry I don't fucking shop at the Gap, bro!" There should be a camp somewhere... round 'em up!

I've seen it! It's called "bedsheets and blankets."

If people are too persistent, I degenerate quickly from "no" to "F*ck Off". I realize the homeless are people too and often not treated with dignity, but I just don't care anymore. To all the non-aggressive homeless out there, too bad there are so many assholes that ruin it for you.

That's worse than money. The money I can see because that's like the gateway to everything else ... but the cigarettes. Ugh. I usually will give out like 1 a day to a random person if I'm feeling generous but it's likefuck, cigarettes cost a lot of money, you know? Because you see me smoking are we like friends or something? I saw you eating a sandwich but didn't ask you for a bite. I also don't say sorry in this situation either, but rather "no thanks" and is in "no thanks I don't want to pay for your smoking addiction dick."

OTOH, i have rights too. and i DON'T like being threatened or hustled by folks.

Ah, the anguish...

idk if there is anywhere that fully implements this though, like providing housing or paying rent for anybody even if they aren't in traditional 'in need' groups

Thats the deal in denmark iirc. There should totally be a right to housing as well as healthcare.

idk about denmark, doesn't that denote things like rent controls, social housing provision, security of tenancy etc not just a carte blanche 'here is a house for u'?

so even in the more enlightened european countries there is still a coterie of drug dependents, lumpens etc without homes because they fall within the gaps of social provision

There is a right to housing in ireland

It's just that nobody wants to live there

ha strong zing but, ime, untrue

OK, qualify that, the Irish don't want to live there

Problem solved:

https://medium.com/architecting-a-life/fee8f3ee97a0

1. I will come back tomorrow and give you $100 in cash.
2. I will come back tomorrow and give you three JavaScript books, (beginner-advanced-expert) and a super cheap basic laptop. I will then come an hour early from work each day—when he feels prepared—and teach him to code.
― polyphonic, Wednesday, August 21, 2013 12:54 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

fuck naïve techies and their "simple solutions" to enormously complex social problems. i sometimes meet people like this at parties and it takes great inner strength not to bitchslap them.

also in US at least a huge chunk of the homeless are mentally ill

Homeless guy once asked me to buy him some KFC. I was heading in the opposite direction & was in a hurry but I said I would give him the money for it. He got really offended and said he didn't want money, just something to eat. I was like dude that's cool I believe you but I need to get back to work, you can use money to buy food. He didn't appreciate the life hack I had offered him and took neither it nor the money, just swore at me and walked off.

I mean he would prob have exchanged that chicken for smack anyway

i see the same roster of homeless guys quite regularly in my area. there is one who asks for a quid "for the doner kebab fund" and it works pretty well on people who haven't heard it before, he's good humoured or whatever. there's another guy who asks really rapidly if you have any money and says "thanks anyway" and moves on, i figure his technique is based on covering more miles and asking more people.

then there's this one guy who has a bloody arm always, it's v weird, dunno if he self-harms, and he says he's crashed his motorbike and needs money to get to hospital. seen him loads of times and seen people falling for it. never intervened.

I get approached by the bike guy every couple of weeks.

xps, i guess it's possible that KFC refused to serve him, maybe, and he wanted someone to get the chicken for him.

finger lickin hood

there was a colonel of truth in his story it seems.

I get approached by the bike guy every couple of weeks.

bethnal green? i've seen him all over the place, once really near my flat but more often whitechapel or shoreditch.

Theobald's Road, the Strand, Camden...he gets about.

Jesus, he prob does alright from it. There is something kinda morbid about him.

i am filled with hatred rn

― the spectacular cow (Lamp), Wednesday, August 21, 2013 8:29 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

somehow misread this as 'i am filled with ham rn'

I’ve made friends with the homeless people in my area and their character is amazing. I’ve had a cast applied for my broken arm by a former nurse who is homeless, been given beer, smokes and pot. Ultimately character is what counts imo not life circumstance

lol

:(

I saw an interesting talk recently about these programmes that involve homeless people in the creation and/or production of operas. Streetwise in London has been going on since 2000; the Opéra de Montréal project started just a couple of years ago and just presented a new opera about two weeks ago (I didn't see it):

http://www.streetwiseopera.org/about-us
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/lopera-de-montreal-collaborates-with-formerly-homeless-to-craft-opera/article33351804/

So many rough sleepers in London right now: I walked the canal from St John’s Wood to King’s Cross around 8am and under half of the underpasses, there were men rolled up in sleeping bags and dirty uncovered duvets. A few days ago, walking from Dalston to Angel on another stretch of the canal, people were sleeping in little tents on grass verges.

The government here makes me sick.

After spending the last 8 years in various reaching out to the homeless, my advice (possibly obvious) would be never give them money. I’ve seen them clear 70 dollars a day, spend 10 bucks a pop on heroin or meth (or cheaper)

Most homeless people I know around here get food all day, that would benefit them vs the cash. Also a lot of homeless people live in shelters or even drift and crash on friends couches. A good 8-10 hours of their day may be spent panning, usually early to late afternoon or evening.

Ime most homeless people are not worth trying to befriend,
I’ve had a guy I knew 8 years scream at me while in the throes of crack. Some are sweethearts, names withheld because i respect their anonymity.

Often the police let them off with drug possession, the kinds of things the cops give them a court date for involve stealing money from parking metres, vending machines or fights with other street people or cops.

Without going too deep into how many of these people are victims of sexual abuse (especially women who are often approached to be picked up or alcohol is given to them to try to get them to come back to some assholes place) - - -
Local resources like Work BC will offer anyone a job if they spend 4 weeks or so cleaning up their clothes and act. The act is the harder part, clothes and food and free transit passes are all provided by Work BC. The reason my friend doesn’t work in her words is “I can’t work around other people” and “I would get dope sick”. Attempts to offer to take her to the hospital, 12 step or an alternative rehab centre are met with indifference. First thing and last thing on a lot of these folks minds is scoring and doing drugs.

How can you blame them? I would want to be out my gourd if I was on the street too. Also most homeless people in specific areas know every other street person, often sharing the same dealer.

Anyway, here’s some homeless slang to finish up:

Side: meth
“Got any side?”
Red zone: police kicking you off a block or radius for crimes
“I was redzoned for stealing from a parking metre”
Goof: pedo or human trash person
Binner: bottle or can collector

Etc

wow great tips ross, thanks for "redzoning" me on giving to the homeless.
and you say they could all get jobs but aren't willing? damn, sounds like these homeless are a bunch of "goofs"

No need for the snark

My post was intended to be thoughtful

Not to one up anyone

You can give if you like. Sometimes I still give money. Your world

big news from the Ninth Circuit Court:

Cities may not prosecute homeless people for sleeping outside if they have no access to shelter, appeals court rules

we should give them some homes . i think there are plenty empty ones around .

san francisco, one of the richest cities on earth, cannot afford to provide for its homeless, but can afford to roll rocks onto the sidewalk where they sleep.

this country's contempt for the poor *it creates* is staggering. https://t.co/OpIyguozwy

— p.e. moskowitz (@_pem_pem) September 29, 2019

exterminationist rhetoric against the homeless is obviously a deliberate 2020 strategy for the GOP. Dems should start discussing hate crime protection for the unhoused. Austin's already seen at least two anti-homeless vigilante attacks this year and more will likely follow. https://t.co/q4rwmv1pxI

— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) October 2, 2019

they always find money for alcohol tobacco and drugs so i wonder why?!

bye, thanks for playing

poor people all have smartphones and 40" televisions yada yada yada

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