r/Eugene Aug 04 '22

Dealing with the Homeless Crisis starter pack META

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326 Upvotes

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54

u/TormentedTopiary Aug 04 '22

If you want to educate yourself about the nature and scope of the issue there is a new book out that examines the structural roots of the homelessness crisis.

It's called Homelessness is a housing problem. and it's a collaboration between an academic and a data journalist.

A quote from the website:

Over the course of the book, the researchers illustrate how absolute rent levels and rental vacancy rates are associated with regional rates of homelessness. Many other common explanations—drug use, mental illness, poverty, or local political context—fail to account for regional variation.

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u/Revolutionary-Boss77 Aug 04 '22 edited Aug 04 '22

Is this mentioning drug abuse too? Because a lot of it has to do with it too.

Why the down votes ? I am not sure why ignoring the problem is better.

If you want to help you need to be aware of the reality . Some of them are on drugs due to childhood trauma and several other reasons

5

u/puppyxguts Aug 04 '22

People who live in homes already do drugs. Yes, even the hard ones, and nobody is trying to shove required treatment down their throats and derailing the conversation from something that's been studied extensively ad a solution.

I do believe that there should be super robust case management, mental health treatment, detox, recovery, needle exchanges programs etc. For people who transition back into housing for sure. These are all things that are severely lacking, but giving someone a place to shelter makes it way way easier to even want to engage with that stuff in the first place. Being homeless means only being able to think 10 minutes ahead and if they want treatment now but a bed isn't open (which it isn't often), then they are on to the next thing to survive.

0

u/Seattleisonfire Aug 04 '22

People who live in homes already do drugs. Yes, even the hard ones, and nobody is trying to shove required treatment down their throats

That's because the housed drug users generally aren't causing problems that impact the rest of society to the extent the vagrants do. Theyre only fucking upmtheir own lives, not other people's. Furthermore, the number of homeless drug users is hugely disproportional to the number of housed drug users.

0

u/puppyxguts Aug 04 '22

Okay and your point of it being disproportional is??? If you also count people who smoke weed and drink alcohol in there I'm sure it's not that disproportionate. Wonder how many housed drunk drivers kill people or start fist fights compared to how many homeless substance users kill folks or start fist fights?

1

u/Revolutionary-Boss77 Aug 05 '22

They poop in their on house instead of outside offices like here. They don’t leave needles outside where people can get poke. Including children with their bare foot in the summer.

1

u/puppyxguts Aug 05 '22

So give unhoused people shelter. Even a Conestoga hut with a portopotty and needle drop in the area. Problem solved.

1

u/Revolutionary-Boss77 Aug 05 '22

They already have a shelter.

1

u/puppyxguts Aug 05 '22

Not every homeless person can fit inside the shelters we currently have.