ysabetwordsmith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-03-28 05:28 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-03-28 05:28 pm
Homelessness
Substance abuse often follows homelessness, not precedes it — new study finds
According to a recent poll from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, 57% of Americans believe that alcoholism and drug addiction directly lead to people losing their housing.
It is true that substance misuse -- and problematic use of substances as prescribed -- can lead to homelessness, because it impairs ability to hold a job and perform other social behaviors that America demands of people. Anyone who can't keep up is abandoned.
In fact, 42% of unhoused Californians reported that they began to use regularly only after they experienced homelessness for the first time.
It's hardly a surprise that people in a miserable condition will seek to relieve their suffering by any means available.
In order to qualify as civilized and functional, a society must meet most needs of most people most of the time. Survival needs (food, water, shelter, clothing, health care, physical safety, etc.) should be guaranteed to the extent that the society possesses those resources. America is downright bad at this. When addressing homelessness, the base is simple: homeless people don't have a stable residence. So you solve that problem by providing a humane residence. This then makes it much easier to address any other problems such as unemployment, substance misuse, mental issues, etc. that often intersect with homelessness.
According to a recent poll from the National Alliance to End Homelessness, 57% of Americans believe that alcoholism and drug addiction directly lead to people losing their housing.
It is true that substance misuse -- and problematic use of substances as prescribed -- can lead to homelessness, because it impairs ability to hold a job and perform other social behaviors that America demands of people. Anyone who can't keep up is abandoned.
In fact, 42% of unhoused Californians reported that they began to use regularly only after they experienced homelessness for the first time.
It's hardly a surprise that people in a miserable condition will seek to relieve their suffering by any means available.
In order to qualify as civilized and functional, a society must meet most needs of most people most of the time. Survival needs (food, water, shelter, clothing, health care, physical safety, etc.) should be guaranteed to the extent that the society possesses those resources. America is downright bad at this. When addressing homelessness, the base is simple: homeless people don't have a stable residence. So you solve that problem by providing a humane residence. This then makes it much easier to address any other problems such as unemployment, substance misuse, mental issues, etc. that often intersect with homelessness.
no subject
In order to apply for a job, you need a postal address, and "third bench from the park gate" doesn't work for that. So you can't get a job and earn enough money to live indoors and take showers. Even getting on the dole depends on certain bureaucratic requirements,like having a birth certificate and a Social Security number, and all you've got is a driver's license that expired three years ago. So there's no way out of being a homeless bum. Except in places where they provide basic accommodations if you manage to keep the place clean and in decent repair for a year or so. And as long as you believe there's no way you'll ever be able to stop being a worthless homeless bum, it's going to be true. Unless local government or some sort of charitable organization SHOW YOU THE WAY OUT, you'll wind up freezing to death because you didn't have enough layers of cardboard to keep you warm. And maybe you'll get some kind of treatment for whatever made you believe you didn't deserve to participate in society.
no subject
Not always the same as stable *shelter*. (Stable shelter helps, but simply having a stable address for those who are actively trying to get out of being homeless is the biggest help for things like job applications.)
A post box can provide a stable *address* even if someone is still living out of their car. It just takes money to maintain. If said person has a trusted friend that can receive mail for them, that would also provide a stable address at little to no cost.
The catch-22 for a lot is, needing that stable address to get a job, and needing a job to get that stable address.
(And of course, in this day and age, the various tech needs, depending on the person: places to charge devices, places to print things like resumes, etc.)
Yes ...
In fact, ID loss is a critical vulnerability of oppressed groups. It is routinely used to harm and manipulate them, and the government colludes by making it so hard to get replacements. So many people, once it's gone, never get it back and functionally cease to exist in the eyes of the law.
>>A post box can provide a stable *address* even if someone is still living out of their car.<<
So an effective intervention, that would not cost much compared to other approaches, would simply be to provide a free post office box to anyone in need. Since it's required to function in society, the basic service should be free to everyone.
>> (And of course, in this day and age, the various tech needs, depending on the person: places to charge devices, places to print things like resumes, etc.) <<
In most areas, the public library serves that function. Employment offices, and sometimes human service offices, may also do that.
Re: Yes ...
Or some sort of mail drop service, yes. Even if "free" is impossible in this day and age (real estate still has taxes, depending on the jurisdiction, even if oneself is otherwise owning the place) at least very low cost on a *sane* sliding scale.
Now, trying to figure out reliable access methods, that's the tricky part.... biometrics are still very squirrely with dirty fingers and faces.
Re: Yes ...
Anything that society requires people to have must be available to everyone, or the society is a failure.
>> Now, trying to figure out reliable access methods, that's the tricky part.... biometrics are still very squirrely with dirty fingers and faces.<<
Biometrics are abusive anyway. Think of all the trouble that a hacked password causes, and then consider biometrics a set of passwords that cannot be changed within a given lifetime.
Re: Yes ...
Try and get local gov'ts to have a parcel set aside as a mail drop for homeless people and let it be tax free.... I'm pretty sure *someone* is going to have to fund it to start with at least.
Re: Yes ...
The simplest would be for the town to pay for boxes at the post office, which are already there. But if you don't want to do that, you could buy a batch of boxes like for an apartment building and put that in your town's human services building, since most towns like to put a bunch of their stuff under the same roof. Or the courthouse, town hall, wherever you've got a wall you're not particularly using.
But even if you can't talk the government into it quickly, any charity could do it. There are businesses that own buildings just so they can rent boxes, like for small business owners. An advantage of this project is that the cost of a box per year is so low that most people who aren't broke can afford it. That's a way for one person to make a huge difference for one other person, rather than just dropping money into a random fund.
no subject
Yes ...