Utah Reduced Chronic Homelessness By 91 Percent; Here's How

[AuntieAnt]

If you provide free housing for everyone who refuses to work, eventually no one will work and the system will collapse. Then what?

Not to contradict you, my dear brother but it just dawned on me that maybe it could work for most of them like the grace of Christ Jesus works for the lost sinner. Maybe instead of promoting entitlement, it would encourage people to have a better outlook on life and feel they are acceptable to the community. That people care about them. I can see how it could inspire people to want to re-enter society and have a "normal" life again. To have a sense of belonging.

The majority of the homeless people I've spoken with have just been swallowed up with some hard knocks in their lives. Divorce, family illness, addictions, loss of job, disaster, abuse, etc. has cracked their world and often their mental stability.

Perhaps along with the housing, there would also be people who volunteer their time to counsel those with depression, grief or addictions, or help the homeless prepare for the job market, or tutor in various areas to help them better their chances for good employment.

Just saying.

 

[AuntieAnt]

Also...........


Just like new Christians need to be discipled, perhaps along with the free housing, the homeless should be taught how to manage their lives, how to develop job skills and find a good job, how to be good stewards of their time and money. Seriously, doesn't that make sense?

As we grow up, we are taught reading, writing, math, driver's ed, sex ed, home ec, gym, etc. But if you don't come from a loving functional family where life skills are the norm, a person is at a tremendous disadvantage and is pretty much fodder for the world.

I mean, Jesus said, "Forgive them, they don't know what they're doing."

There ain't a sane person in this world who would willingly choose to be homeless and have no quality of life rather than have something to live fore, work for and look forward to every morning. If people knew the keys to the mastery of life, they would be living productive, flourishing lives. The homeless have given up because they don't know any other way.

 

[Sirk]

Some people don't want to learn to fish. I have a guy that intervened with because of his alcoholism 2 years ago. He went thru treatment and know all the tools he needs to turn his life around. He calls me every once in awhile drunk out of his mind blaming everyone else for his problems. He knows what to do but won't. What do we do with people like that roaming the streets, drinking and driving, stalking their ex wives and generally endangering others both physically, mentally and financially?

 

[Utah]

Not to contradict you, my dear brother but it just dawned on me that maybe it could work for most of them like the grace of Christ Jesus works for the lost sinner. Maybe instead of promoting entitlement, it would encourage people to have a better outlook on life and feel they are acceptable to the community. That people care about them. I can see how it could inspire people to want to re-enter society and have a "normal" life again. To have a sense of belonging.

The majority of the homeless people I've spoken with have just been swallowed up with some hard knocks in their lives. Divorce, family illness, addictions, loss of job, disaster, abuse, etc. has cracked their world and often their mental stability.

Perhaps along with the housing, there would also be people who volunteer their time to counsel those with depression, grief or addictions, or help the homeless prepare for the job market, or tutor in various areas to help them better their chances for good employment.

Just saying.

A few people would pull up their bootstraps and work in order to repay society for the free gift that was given them, but most peeps would be riding high on Mary Jane and Twinkies.

 

[JosephsDreams]

Utah's got it right. We live in a fallen world. Narrow is the path. Addicts and thief's and their ilk are like that for a reason. An attitude and spiritual reason, mostly. They have victim mentalities. They rationalize why they are in the state they are in: I had a back injury, my husband cheated on me, my family stole all my money, my kids don't talk to me, my last boss fired me because I am a minority, I was born poor so I will always be poor, God is not real, I lost a leg in a car accident so the world owes me, I am addicted to drugs because my dad was also a drug addict, and so on.
I don't mean to imply they don't have serious, real, and sometimes crippling issues. But lets be real, when is enough, enough? Most of them are never going to change.
It is sad, and i wish not was not so, but that is the way it is.
I am not saying I know the answer, outside of Jesus, of course; but I do know what isn't the answer to getting them back to being self supporting, if they ever were, and that is not to enable them to continue the life style they are in by giving them the ways and means to continue on that woeful path.

 

[Dude653]

I don't think everyone who is homeless is lazy or has a victim mentality. As someone else mentioned earlier, there are many people who are one paycheck away from being homeless. Just out of curiosity I Google the average price of an apartment in New York and the average is around $3,000 a month. So it would not surprise me if New York at a high rate of homeless people

 

[KimPetras]

I don't think everyone who is homeless is lazy or has a victim mentality. As someone else mentioned earlier, there are many people who are one paycheck away from being homeless. Just out of curiosity I Google the average price of an apartment in New York and the average is around $3,000 a month. So it would not surprise me if New York at a high rate of homeless people

I think most people know that they aren't all lazy. They just want to run with that perspective because it appeals to their moral high ground.

 

[Mitspa]

I think most people know that they aren't all lazy. They just want to run with that perspective because it appeals to their moral high ground.

You mean those people who are humble enough to actually believe the bible ? If you don't work..you should not eat

 

[KimPetras]

You mean those people who are humble enough to actually believe the bible ? If you don't work..you should not eat

The bible also talks about caring for the needy. If we can care for them while lowering overall costs, win-win. You're right, it does leave a percentage of homeless people who are taking advantage of the system (the ones who can but choose not to work). I'd rather focus on the ones actually trying to work while using less tax payer money.

 

[Mitspa]

The bible also talks about caring for the needy. If we can care for them while lowering overall costs, win-win. You're right, it does leave a percentage of homeless people who are taking advantage of the system (the ones who can but choose not to work). I'd rather focus on the ones actually trying to work while using less tax payer money.

The bible teaches charity that brings glory to Christ and comes when we as believers give to others in the love of God..not when we try to take other peoples money and give it to folks that often just causes them to continue in destructive habits. Christian charity has nothing to do with trying to produce a socialized state.

And yes I believe the society does benefit when we help lift folks up..not promote their own destruction.

 

[JennaLeanne]

You mean those people who are humble enough to actually believe the bible ? If you don't work..you should not eat

Bold statement! Would Jesus say this dya think?

 

[KimPetras]

The bible teaches charity that brings glory to Christ and comes when we as believers give to others in the love of God..not when we try to take other peoples money and give it to folks that often just causes them to continue in destructive habits. Christian charity has nothing to do with trying to produce a socialized state.

And yes I believe the society does benefit when we help lift folks up..not promote their own destruction.

So you're saying only people can reflect the teachings of God in the bible? A government can't make laws that reflect the teachings and values from the bible? If so, I think you and atheist have a lot in common ideologically.

Christian charity means you help people in spite of the choices they have made in their life. A person can do this, a government entity or program can do this. Furthermore, it saves tax payers money!

 

[Sirk]

So you're saying only people can reflect the teachings of God in the bible? A government can't make laws that reflect the teachings and values from the bible? If so, I think you and atheist have a lot in common ideologically.

Christian charity means you help people in spite of the choices they have made in their life. A person can do this, a government entity or program can do this. Furthermore, it saves tax payers money!

But that is assuming that there is only one way to help people. I.e.: giving them something. Sometimes people need a different kind of help and sometimes it is more destructive to enable poverty. Govt goes for the one size fits all fix.

 

[KimPetras]

But that is assuming that there is only one way to help people. I.e.: giving them something. Sometimes people need a different kind of help and sometimes it is more destructive to enable poverty. Govt goes for the one size fits all fix.

I'm pretty open minded. If you have an idea or know of a program that helps homeless people who are trying to better themselves while also lowering the cost on the tax payers, I'm all ears.

I don't think Housing First is a one size fits all program. It does get two birds with one stone however. If there is a plan to get three birds with one stone, as I said, I'm all ears. The third bird being, decipher and restrict the homeless people who are taking advantage of the program.

 

[Sirk]

I'm pretty open minded. If you have an idea or know of a program that helps homeless people who are trying to better themselves while also lowering the cost on the tax payers, I'm all ears.

I don't think Housing First is a one size fits all program. It does get two birds with one stone however. If there is a plan to get three birds with one stone, as I said, I'm all ears. The third bird being, decipher and restrict the homeless people who are taking advantage of the program.

Go to a reservation sometime and look at the beautiful homes built for free for the end user with the plumbing stripped out of them and deer carcass hanging in the living room.

 

[KimPetras]

Go to a reservation sometime and look at the beautiful homes built for free for the end user with the plumbing stripped out of them and deer carcass hanging in the living room.

Are you using that as a model for them to live within the area they are currently living or are you saying to move them to those reservations?

 

[Sirk]

Are you using that as a model for them to live within the area they are currently living or are you saying to move them to those reservations?

I'm saying that it would have been better to build them a mud hut with no plumbing or electrical in some cases.

 

[Mitspa]

So you're saying only people can reflect the teachings of God in the bible? A government can't make laws that reflect the teachings and values from the bible? If so, I think you and atheist have a lot in common ideologically.

Christian charity means you help people in spite of the choices they have made in their life. A person can do this, a government entity or program can do this. Furthermore, it saves tax payers money!

No I said what I said ...not what I didn't say ..and calling something like socialism a Christian principal to promote it, only causes harm to the true principals of our faith. I know what Christian charity is and is not... It is not giving other peoples money away..it is Christians giving from what God has blessed them with or even form their own needs based on the love that Christ has placed in us and for His Glory...it is not socialism.

 

[Sirk]

If you really want to make a difference Kim. Have children, teach them gratitude and the value of hard work. Show them that their value in the world is bigger than them. Teach them straight paths and model faith and personal fortitude. That is where real change in the world will begin. Everything else is a bandaid.

 

[Mitspa]

I'm pretty open minded. If you have an idea or know of a program that helps homeless people who are trying to better themselves while also lowering the cost on the tax payers, I'm all ears.

I don't think Housing First is a one size fits all program. It does get two birds with one stone however. If there is a plan to get three birds with one stone, as I said, I'm all ears. The third bird being, decipher and restrict the homeless people who are taking advantage of the program.

When this girls bites into a issue ..she don't let go until its dead