Build Mini-Towns of Hope; Smarter Way to Solve Homelessness

Yesterday one of my friends had their windshield smashed by a person who then stole a bag out of their truck. It happened in an area of town where there are a lot of homeless persons.

I read an article which told the story of a homeless man in Albuquerque who is continually harassed, ticketed for begging for food, and led into the courtroom for it, and the officer not show up. There is the well founded notion that city governments all over the nation spend a lot of money in an effort to get homeless people to move on to the next town. Never do they solve the problems facing our homeless citizens. Instead they only make a costly effort to shift the burden of responsibility for them.

No Sleeping!

This problem of homelessness is costly indeed. The reasons for the homelessness are as varied as the resulting costs to society. Like my friend's smashed windshield. It is covered by insurance, so all people who pay for auto insurance bare the costs of a broken glass when perhaps a person who is homeless becomes desperate. Let's not ignore the costs of arresting, prosecuting and jailing homeless persons, and doing so with laws designed to make it hard on a homeless person so that they move along to the next town. Let's add in the costs of physical barriers designed to deny a homeless person a place to sit, or sleep. The lack of water, or of bathroom facilities in urban and metropolitan areas causes further hardships on homeless persons. So sometimes in desperation a person might take action they would otherwise not have taken to fulfill these basic needs, like pissing on the street in public. Then they get arrested, thrown in jail and further costing society.

No Sitting!

Then because of a lack of food, drug addiction or any other number of reasons (like hungry children) copper wires and other metals are liberated from functioning public and private equipment so that it can be sold at the recyclers. This is a problem that is increasing, and it is a dangerous problem to boot. Some of the damaged equipment is standby equipment only meant to be activated in case of an emergency. If it fails, people's safety is put at risk.

Our civilization has been handling this problem in the wrong way. It stands to reason that we have handled it in the wrong way too! After all we only recently emerged as an intellectual species. It takes time to figure things out. Just like back in our primitive past, Humans thought it was okay to enslave other Humans. Then through time and learning we found that it was not okay to enslave. So our species began to shun slavery in mass. That is what we have to do now with the barbaric methods our civilization has used to deal with problems homeless persons face. We have to abandon those primitive methods in favor of smarter, and more humane methods.

Homeless not allowed!

I would like to see all the money that is spent on things like the effort to get homeless people to move on to the next town, arresting, throwing in jail, replacing copper and other metals from damaged equipment, and all the other costs caused by the problems homeless people face used in a better way.

Use that money to set up small sudo-towns. Make them state managed mini towns. Towns in which a person who has this problem of no where to live can freely come and go. No signs of forced occupation or ejection. Make the mini-town safe and secure for our citizens who might need that. Cause the mini-town to be able to keep our people from freezing to death in the winter, or burning to death in the summer. Provide a section for animal husbandry, and the growing of food plants. This would provide for the education of our people for self sufficiency and the provisions for the mini-town. Provide for the acquisition of education and skills for our people in need too! Provide for all the things that would fulfil the basic needs of a Human, plus a little extra boost in order to help solve the problems that prevents their successful integration into society.

The Mini-Towns would not have to be fancy. Everything in them should be utilitarian in nature. I think all the money used to shift responsibility, hurrass and otherwise make our brother and sister citizen's life a living hell, and the replacing of all that copper and aluminium, should do nicely to help our homeless people solve the problems facing them with the option of the Mini-Town.

Here is an idea for the Mini-Town. Make a roster people can sign up on for work. Then give a tax break to local businesses that hire temps from the Mini-Town so long as they pay a living wage and does the other socially responsible things an employer would do in an enlightened progressive society for their employees. Then the person who uses the facilities of the Mini-Town can transition back into society. Many times a temp job becomes a permanent job. Many times valuable skills are gained through a temp job.

Also I would like to see the entire thing be totally green! Solar/wind powered and maintained by persons who live there, and are trained there for green technology. Then one day that person who used the facilities of the Mini-Town could endeavour to secure permanent employment in the booming green energy industry.

I think that would be a far better way, and vastly more humane way to help our people who are homeless solve the problems facing them. Do you see how this is turned around? Homeless persons are not a problem to be dealt with by the state! Rather, the problems facing homeless persons are problems that must be dealt with by the state. The people of the state. All of them!

The state and private persons spend state and private monies to shift the responsibility we have for our brothers and sisters to other places, and to repair damages caused by our homeless brothers and sisters as they attempt to solve their day to day problems. Let's make a place they will go of their own accord, and become whole again. Let's help our brothers and sisters solve the problems facing them. Let us help our brothers and sisters. It is time for a better way. An enlightened way. It is time to lay away our primitive methods in favor of methods that work.

Build Mini-Towns of Hope for our homeless people. Help our people to solve the problems facing them.