Quote Originally Posted by Pete View Post
Once the city has a decent amount of housing and then there is a percentage of people who just refuse to be sheltered (and there are always some), the city can then insist the remaining street population be moved away from existing businesses and neighborhoods. You can't force people to live inside but you can enforce existing laws to keep them from causing damage and risking others.

Most know I live near I-44 & Penn and I walk extensively through my neighborhood virtually every day. I also ran a homeless outreach program in Los Angeles for 7 years so I know a thing or two on this subject and am very compassionate toward people in general and the homeless in particular.

But as a society, we cannot allow the mayhem that is tightly intertwined with a street population to impact businesses and neighborhoods. I say this with all respect, but you simply can't comprehend what comes with these situations. People defecating and urinating all over the place, needles left on the sidewalks and streets, fires that often destroy property (an office building near me recently burned to the ground), groups actually cooking drugs, drug and prostitution traffic, and mountains and mountains of trash. Worse of all, is the unpredictable and sometimes violent behavior of people with serious addiction and/or mental problems. Street addicts are the most desperate people anywhere and will commit all manner of petty crime in pursuit of the next fix.

What the average person doesn't understand is the huge amount of drugs that flow through these camps. Almost all of them have cellphones and they quickly communicate where a new setup is located (they are often chased off and just move to another nearby area), the word gets out and then it starts all over again.

There are houses in my neighborhood now selling for north of $500K. OAK is going up just blocks away. Yet, a nicely remodeled and unoccupied house on my street recently went up for sale and within days, the homeless had broken in, squatted and the police had to be called. I could list dozens more incidents.

This is not remotely acceptable. On either side of me are small children. There is a school just a few blocks away. Kids standing at bus stops just yards from homeless camps.

So, yes, we need to build more housing and get those who desire to be housed in a stable place. But then, it will be time to crack down on the remainder who are openly breaking scores of laws and presenting a real threat to citizens and businesses.
This!!!
If we're going to be honest, 99.9% of us probably wouldn't house a homeless person for one night in our personal homes. Why? Because we are not trained or feel safe to encounter many, many homeless who are not mentally well, who have addiction problems and who are strongly independent. I too, have worked with the homeless for a few years and know, in smart part, the complicated issues with such. While we want to feel good about ourselves say, "we need to be understanding of the homeless and provide housing, etc for them..." we say that while looking through binoculars and keep our distance safe. My sense is we need to help those who truly want our help. But those who refuse such help are creating major health and safety issues for others. To allow homeless to create public health issues or safety issues for the general public is unwise and they must be held accountable in some form.