Quote:
Originally Posted by Jdawgboy
Here's an idea. The Episcopal Church could go a long way in helping with the homeless situation in that area. Maybe they will have some sort of component as part of their project. Maybe they will have some affordable housing? Then again maybe not. After all isn't helping the poor a central theme of Christianity. I'll be interested in what all will be planned and how much those residential units will go for.
|
Probably fewer that 25% of the visible homeless population downtown has the social development needed to live independently or semi-independently in their own housing or a structured housing scheme. The ARCH has a program that attempts find housing for homeless families and homeless individuals who have the mental and social organization neeeded to succeed in a structured housing program. Foundation Communities works with the ARCH and Caritas to provide some of that housing. Most of the people you see squatting on the sidewalks around the ARCH and the Sally are not socialized to that level. They have drug addiction, untreated mental health issues, mental retardation, and histories of violent and criminal behaviors. Probably most of them do not want treatment for substance abuse or mental health. Most of them have been in the system (either mental health/substance abuse or criminal justice) many times in the past and have come to prefer the relative freedom of homeless living rather than submit to the social norms required to live independently or semi-independently in a housing scheme. Some of these people have families nearby and possibly even homes where they are somewhat welcome. I hate to sound like a heartless person, but I think the only real solution for the majority of the homeless on the streets of downtown Austin is some form of involuntary institutionalization for substance abuse and/or mental health treatment. Others probably just belong in jail and off the streets where they prey on other homeless people and innocent members of the general public. Meanwhile, the city needs to enforce whatever anti-vagrancy laws they have on the books (and deemed enforceable by the court system) to make things safer, cleaner, and less chaotic in that quadrant of downtown. What is happening there now is truly shameful.