Homeless Advocates Rally at the Humboldt County Courthouse
Story by Ryan Hutson:
Affordable Homeless Housing Alternatives, a local group that advocates for housing & homeless in the community, held a press conference this morning in front of the Humboldt County Courthouse.
They spoke to the downtown crowd during the morning rush hour, calling attention to homelessness and housing concerns.
The ongoing housing crisis in Humboldt County, as it is described by the group, has been repeatedly brought to the attention of the county Board of Supervisors. Dissatisfied with the amount of progress being made, protesters staged a press conference and rally on the courthouse steps just prior to the Board of Supervisors meeting this morning.
Speakers in support of the proposed tiny house village concept spoke to the crowd about their concerns and potential solutions. With the winter season now getting underway, they believe there may be an increase in the demand for outreach services to the homeless.
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The statistics are shocking.
Bless the people who speak up for the less fortunate!
Perhaps we could study the German “homesteads for the homeless” method. The large corporations bought land, and built the homesteads that promoted self sufficient life style. They started with the homeless veterans, who had organizational skills, and then started to engage other street people, all voluntary, and provided them with the care they needed. No taxpayer expense, big corporations and wealthy donors paid for them. Tom Steyer spent $10 million on political ads that helped no one. He could have financed several homesteads. He could have bought 8 Da Vinci robot machines to do many life saving operations for 8 different hospitals. One of those machines saved my life, taking my cancer prostate out. They save thousands of lives every year. The ads Tom bought saved no ones life, nor did they change anyones views.
I agree there’s a problem, but how will you wade through the people that truly need and would appreciate the help to the one’s that will just take advantage of a nother well intentioned program?
Its simple. You help everyone you can regardless of their motive.
BS
Agreed!
Or don’t.
You know who used to handle this kind of stuff? Churches.
You know who used to handle this kind of stuff? Families. They took care of family.
You are so right.
here you need the help doing your reporting
http://ahha-humco.org/
Aren’t churches empty at night? And supposed to help the needy? Especially in the winter.
Their supposed yes but they don’t where as in Los Angeles the churches do their best to help so do the Cop’s .
Churches do try to help. But shelters require supervision, and at my little church, the little ol’ ladies just are not quite up to the task. We have also run into problems with liability cost increases with our insurance company, an inability to safely handle some of the the mentally ill folks, and damage done to the premises by people who are either high or just don’t care. What does seem to be effective is supporting – physically, monetarily, emotionally – those who are in a better position to provide services. Pooling our resources as a community is a good part of the solution.
Pooling resources to help those in need, sounds like communism.
Sounds like capitalism when it’s voluntarily pooled together.
The Catholic Church’s use to leave there doors unlocked 24/7 until the law in the 80’s told them they had to start locking there doors due to the fact that they were becoming a haven for junkies and prostitutes.
I’m sure the Eureka City Council will take care of this problem.
The ones who did the clean-out of the homeless camp behind the mall?
It’s not on their Agenda.
Are these built using a vocational training method so they have the education to help others build theirs? Are the regulations rolled back so that they can help selves and others build their own? Are the restrictions lifted off the other parks that could otherwise take in the ones with wheels?
The “equality” part throws me off. Is this the new norm of ‘equal’ for all citizens to adjust to? The stealing from the rich to pay for the poor also throws me off, because it doesn’t empower the poor to become more self sufficient. Instead, it creates more poor to become more dependent upon govt handouts.
We need thousands of these little boogers, and even smaller. Some cities are so hell bent on over regulating that they’re confiscating the tiniest ones that can be towed by bicycles.
Where are the policies that assure that the homes will remain free from confiscation, no matter how tiny or how large?
Well said.
Yes since I work 3 jobs so I can eat and have a roof over my head. Guess I am more motivated than the ones who sit and smoke and hang out with friends and want a hand out. I sure see a lot of help wanted signs, so what’s the problem. Go clean your self up and get a job or 2. The main cause of homelessness is have no will to get a job and improve your self. I lived in my car for about a year on the east coast . I got a job and improved myself because I got tired of being cold and starving. So I it can be done
WELL SAID
the main cause in Eureka is mental illness. and then they stop taking their meds and self medicate with meth making the issue even worse. the older guy in the green/black plaid shirt on 4th crying most mornings is very sad to see.
too much free time on their hands and no accountability
A reflection of the alleged representatives.
the product of a mutagen that changes the genes of their parents and then affects their off-spring. Dioxins from the Tee-Pee burners are the mutagen.
Help Wanted! Apply Now!
Application:
Name: John Doe
Address: n/a
Disposition: application rejected
Most current open jobs are in restaurants. Would you want to be served by a waiter who hasn’t had access to a shower in 3 weeks? And do you actually think they ENJOY having no access to warmth, safety, and cleanliness? Would you?
I was once in need. Someone with compassion (a new word for some of you, just Google it) helped me get off the streets. Now I am in a position to give others the opportunity that I was given. It feels good to be human. Try it some time!
oh brother
And dont you think that having no will to get a job and improve your self is a sure sign of mental health issues? These are people who have no true hope that they will make it, regardless of how hard they work, and have plenty of reason to think that way.
They need inpatient drug rehab, mental health care, education, and job placement programs. The cost of not providing it is higher than the cost of providing it.
yet they manage to be motivated to get alcohol, drugs, pills, etc. stop the enabling bs. do not reward bad behaviour period
people who hire people to do a job typically require that the employee have a place to live.
people who sell drugs don’t care if their customers have a place to live.
Just for fun he says, ‘Get a job’.
if you can work 3 jobs, that’s totally great! good for you! now maybe you will get the motivation to go to college so you only have to work one job (maybe one and a half jobs). After you graduate with your bachelor’s degree, you will probably view the homeless problem quite differently from how you view it now.
who said he wasn’t educated??? some of us work multiple jobs for various reasons, such as having some luxuries in life. what is so wrong with that?? work is work is work
Nah, his student loan debt will cripple his future
i’m sick of things being spun with terms like “right to sleep”, get real!!! bad choices are more often than not at the root of “homelessness”. when you own fam damily don’t want you around there’s probably good reason. how about mentioning our responsibilities instead of our “rights”. get over the Victim Privilege attitude
We could start concentration camps for the poor and sick that don’t meet your standards. Have them build iPhones for rich people. Oh wait we already do that. Nevermind. Maybe call them victory camps full of happiness.
no one said build concentration camps, anyway, seems like many homeless have living in concentration camp standards all on their own. how about less freedom and more responsibility?? can’t get a job, we will give you a job. bad choices lead to bad living, bad life
6000 people are evicted from their homes EVERY DAY in amerika. Not all of them are lazy junkies0
well done, Sick-Of-It.
They should put a tiny house village near social services or at the end of town and put Betty c. in charge.
Nobody should freeze, whoever they are.
The one problem i see is high cost of rent. Lower the rent. Back east i rented a 2 bedroom house for 425 a month. Thank the same place here would be like 1300. Big difference.
Sep due to the greedy growers jacking up rent prices……
you mean the greedy landlords. its not like the renters are in charge of jacking up rent.
lol, no. How many growers do you think are landlords?
Yes, but I bet the houses cost much less back there. I have rentals and am happy when I can charge enough to make my mortgage payments.
Important point! The cost of property is WAY out of line with average earnings. It’s a shame that california will not raise minimum wage to $15/hr until 2023. By then it will need to be higher.
My grandfather bought a 3 bedroom house on a 15 year mortgage (30 year is fairly new phenomenon) on a custodians salary.
Inflation and wealth inequality are serious, large-scale issues.
You can thank the folks that tax everyone to death and require every small business to pay ridiculous fees and jump through tons of hoops just to stay afloat. More government and more policies are not the answer. We have regulated and taxed our way out of business.
plus we must fund programs to provide for those who have not contributed
Agree w/Guss.
Rents would increase due to the higher cost of paid labor’s to maintain the rentals.
Domino’s.
The cost to build small houses in California is so high that no one can afford it. I get that they are progressive ideas trying to help, but when we built a small mother in law for my mom (600 ft). The required fire sprinklers were 15,000. Now you have to have solar. I can’t afford solar for my own house. Difficult to lower the rent and pay for the new build
Do you believe they should be allowed to bring and will you accommodated their pets? Do you believe they should be allowed to self-medicate while using the housing they recieve? (Alcohol or drugs) Do you believe that men and women should be allowed to house together if they want too? There are way too many things left out when throwing numbers around.
housing is not a human right. society has enabled the majority of persons who elect to be parasites of our community resources with no recourse and the result is trespassing on public and private lands, stealing shopping carts to transport stolen items to the trespassed site they are squatting on, building fires in no burn day conditions that escape and risk the lives of not only the other squatting trespassers but the first responders as well, human waste and garbage creating unsanitary living conditions and rampant drug use. the sheriff’s office and board of supervisors need to exercise some tough love and clean up Humboldt.
Were not a wealthy country anymore.
Were trillions of dollars in debt.
We are barely scraping by selling bonds.
Time for everyone to pull there own weight, or thin out the herd.
If a migrant can come here and make a good life for themselves, with all of the encumbrances they face. Why these people can’t escapes me.
Go pick up a copy of The County’s annual financial report, then come back and tell us how “trillions of doll hairs in debt” The County is.
The U.S. Inc., and the CA Inc., may say they are in debt. When a corporation is in debt, not only do their poorly-written, amended, and re-writes, and ‘spellcheck’ (biennial/biannual), legal rules have no effect, the corporation is in debt, not the living.
The communication of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living. T.S. Eliot
Hello no one has to reinvent the wheel. Across the country you can see successful programs for the homeless which are making a difference. In Texas they are paying homeless a living wage to pick up garbage. Other cities have step programs which empower individuals to work there way out of the situation. The garbage job allows individuals to pay for housing.
The ongoing ignorant believe that anyone who is homeless is an addict or not deserving a helping hand is unbelievably selfish and heartless. You have 1000s of people homeless because of the fires. If you ever had to depend on the system it can be extremely frustrating. For those of us who grew up paying taxes your damn right we expect and demand a helping hand. It is for the good of all that we problem solve and implement appropriate interventions which prevent social decay.
And for those out there who believe that no one is entitled to a helping hand there will be a time your life that you realize you were wrong. For most of us we worked very hard to bring stability in our lives;however, when our Representatives create chaos by openly discriminating and not allowing economic diversity this is what you have.
No not all counties are like this one. The Work Investment Board is an entity most do not know about and should. Go to their meetings which are open to the public and speak. Go online do your research. Get involved learn the system. We have an increasingly larger population of people here who open their mouths and have no want to improve Humboldt.
My friend Jim Pertersen has an organization in Bellingham WA called HOMES NOW that just got city approval for a village for tents…the budget is under $12,000. Will give safe place to live for around 50 people. Why can something like this not be done here….oh yeah, we’re assholes
the budget for building is $12k?? whats the budget for maintenance and upkeep?? hmmm, 50 people served for 12k= 1,600 served for $384K???
Good for your friend. However, the homeless drug problem is a major problem in Bellingham. We need much more done here. Plus, a tent city is hardly a long-term solution.
All very good ideas ,some have been tried in the past and failed. Why Mental Illness, drugs,my parents or family or neighbors molested me,my parents have been selling drugs all my life it’s all I know. This is just the tip of the Iceberg of problems that plague the local homeless it’s the drifter homeless that dont care that will take tahat program for all it’s got and then move on. They’ve been doing it to the area for 30yrs. Stop the inflow then work on the local problem or you won’t win. That’s how Texas stemmed theres.
The so-called “homeless” issue today pales in comparison to the depression years. They called themselves Hobos and they had a code of ethics.
1. YOU DO YOU.
“Decide your own life, don’t let another person run or rule you.”
2. SHOW SOME RESPECT.
“When in town, always respect the local law and officials, and try to be a gentleman at all times.”
3. DON’T BE AN OPPORTUNIST.
“Don’t take advantage of someone who is in a vulnerable situation, locals or other hobos.”
4. GET A JOB.
“Always try to find work, even if temporary, and always seek out jobs nobody wants. By doing so you not only help a business along, but ensure employment should you return to that town again.”
5. BE A SELF-STARTER.
“When no employment is available, make your own work by using your added talents at crafts.”
6. SET A GOOD EXAMPLE.
“Do not allow yourself to become a stupid drunk and set a bad example for locals’ treatment of other hobos.”
7. BE MINDFUL OF OTHERS.
“When jungling in town, respect handouts, do not wear them out, another hobo will be coming along who will need them as badly, if not worse than you.”
8. DON’T LITTER.
“Always respect nature, do not leave garbage where you are jungling.”
9. LEND A HAND.
“If in a community jungle, always pitch in and help.”
10. PRACTICE GOOD HYGIENE.
“Try to stay clean, and boil up wherever possible.”
11. BE COURTEOUS WHEN YOU’RE RIDING THE RAILS …
“When traveling, ride your train respectfully, take no personal chances, cause no problems with the operating crew or host railroad, act like an extra crew member.”
12. … AND WHEN YOU’RE NOT.
“Do not cause problems in a train yard, another hobo will be coming along who will need passage through that yard.”
13. HELP OUT THE KIDS.
“Help all runaway children, and try to induce them to return home.”
14. SAME GOES FOR HOBOS.
“Help your fellow hobos whenever and wherever needed, you may need their help someday.”
15. LEND YOUR VOICE.
“If present at a hobo court and you have testimony, give it. Whether for or against the accused, your voice counts!”
As mentioned they had their own court system and the rules were enforced to the letter. Today most so-called “homeless” are just street-based drug addicts supported by the vacuous, wallowing in mismanaged empathy.
vacuous wallowing in mismanaged empathy… love it
These people that are rallying for the homeless should open their own homes to them.
Tried to get a group to do that back in 2015 ,5 families did. Three were ripped off so bad they moved the other a vary of experiences with theres. Needless to say they abandoned that idea real quick.
And the Cannabis industry can take credit for a good portion of the migrating homeless since they do not hire local! Its the working class tax payers and non profits that have to pick up the tab. And it is absolutely bullshit that we get outsiders only here for money with a lot of baggage and/or take their money elsewhere. So what taxes do travelers pay? What economic base benefit’s from the hundreds of Europeans, South Americans, and out of state workers? How many of them are on food stamps? I will answer that. Only a fraction of the Growers pay into the system for their employees. 1% maybe. Oh is this unscientific? So is the idea that Cannabis provides economic stability and life is all good. The homeless issue is a complex one with a multitude of factors which take critical thinking and expertise. We should be focusing on hiring competent physicians, public health nurses, social workers, pysch nurses etc… Institute programs which address issues in a scientific manner. Use Models that have successfully been implemented elsewhere. Our county should do their diligence to seek appropriate funding from State, Federal including corporate sponsors.
That’s a give or take . It’s a 50/50 split on RIP off ,meaning weather they be local or else. They like to hire the female out of towners in Hope’s of maybe a kinky side show and what they in up with is getting scammed and robbed. But locals do the same thing.
Drug addiction and/or mental health is a big part of the problem. Ok. So what’s next once a small, sup par accommodation is provided? Mostly the problems that make for people living rough go with them. They fight, take drugs, sell drugs from their rooms, pimp or prostitute, wander around for food and company, steal, party hard, panhandle, etc. Where ever they are housed will a frequent police stop. And programs offered based on government funding sooner or later dry up. Keeping such afloat is costly.
Unless there is a change in the public attitude over both mental illness and drug use, including a williness to impose involutary commitments, the homeless will at least have shelter (if they are willing to conform) but all their issues are all going to remain plus there will demands and complaints about who gets what rooms and vandalism.
https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/daphne-bramham-decriminalization-is-no-silver-bullet-says-portugals-drug-czar
I totally agree. It’s a public health/ mental health problem. I was recently in NYC, and the amount of mental health homeless is way less than here (or say San Francisco) . I saw very few, and I spent a lot of time walking around. Conversely, around eureka or Arcata or San Francisco, they are everywhere. Talking to themselves, peeing in the corners, causing all sorts of problems for society. I am wondering what the difference is between the two cities, policy-wise, public health or mental health wise. Something is going on.
I think, although I’m not sure, we need more mental health institutions. Not more public bathrooms, needle exchange programs etc.
FUNNY you should mention the PEEING and POOPING in PUBLIC.
“Urinating in public is also not allowed — an unfair policy, since Eureka has very few public restrooms, said Nezzie Wade of Affordable Homeless Housing Alternatives.”
https://www.times-standard.com/2018/11/13/advocates-call-for-fixing-eurekas-homelessness-policies/
That’s how the cities/towns differ. The “advocates” for disease weren’t advocating here yet.
Those are the ones you see most of the time. But for every manic drug addict there is a person living in their car or tent and working. Most working people are ashamed of not having housing and don’t like to let people know they’re homeless- they dress and present cleanly. You wouldn’t be able to tell.
We have absolutely no idea just how many homeless people there are. We see the tip of the iceberg.
And yes, we need better help for mental health. And yes sometimes people need to be committed. They still can be if they are a danger to themselves or others but there are very few facilities.
Basically, we need more trailer parks. Cheapest low income housing that could ever be built IF people would get off their high horses over their real estate values and allow them. Tiny houses cost way more to build and are usually not as well designed- that I can see. The parks we have now were mostly built in the 1950’s. No new ones.
In the 1930’s and 40’s trailers were advertised as, you guessed it, “Tiny Houses”!!! Big selling point back then. And trailer parks advertised as tiny house communities. There is no real difference despite the fact some have paid 90K for 350 SqFt on wheels- with no earthly place to put it. The Low Income Housing we build right now is NOT a bargain. And we do end up paying for it.
Your real estate values are going to go down whether there is a park near you OR people are camping and shitting in your bushes. Or camping all over the downtown of the town you live in. We have to make a practical choice. This has nothing to do with false morality.
Your real estate values are going to go down anyway with pot legalization.
If you only own the house you live in it does NOT matter what your house is worth, in fact you are better off if it’s worth less- less taxes. If you sell your home to buy another home and prices are low- that home’s price will be low as well. It’s about percentages.
The exception to all this are real estate investors. Investors, BTW, made up the largest percentage of foreclosed homes after 2007- NOT home owners. Do most of us care if RE investors make less money? Mom and Pops- sure, but in general- not really. We’d rather have a secure roof over our heads. And less shit in our neighborhoods and downtown.
At some point the ever rising housing costs are going to lead to a boiling point. Costs of housing have risen faster than slow boiling frogs at this point. Resentment can become dangerous. In fact I think it already is.
https://m.facebook.com/groups/202428866819159?view=permalink&id=630242324037809
This is my friend in Washington. He did this whole amazing village on a shoestring and with volunteers. It can be done. NO ONE SHOULD BE WITHOUT SAFE SHELTER
no one should be without a job
It hurts us even more that many people have a job and no shelter.
we only have those that came before us to thank/admonish for our current situation. we live in such a privileged society it would only behoove us to spread that weatlh. when everyone in the population is healthy and productive, it makes our society that much stronger. how much money does one corporation or individual need to make? what kind of legacy could be made by simply allowing the less fortunate and ill to have the same access to healthcare education etc without the bureaucracy and limitations? the path to happiness and grace is through empathy love and charity
👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾🏅
If everyone had access to necessary medical care and a good education, there would be no homeless drug addicts… oh, wait… there are plenty of examples of people born wealthy with college degrees who destroyed their lives by drug addiction. Oops, guess that is not a magic solution after all. Fantasy fixes nothing.
Well, what we need to do is look at other cultures/ cities that don’t have the problem we do. Countries with more equality don’t have insane people roaming the streets. For that matter, neither does Mexico. I don’t know the answer, but I have traveled a lot and I know this- there is no other place I have seen that has the same amount of insane people, or drug addled homeless, wandering the streets as this corner of the world.
I have traveled a lot and I know this – there is no other place I have seen that has the same amount of selfish, self consumed, hypocritical, narcissistic, self righteous criminal posers than this corner of the world.
If you can’t catch them with a jar of honey, splash them with a jug of vinegar?
Are you willing to give just half of everything you have to somebody else?
yes guest, agreed. let the so called superior compassionate people put THEIR money where their mouth is
“. . . so-called superior compassionate people . . .”
Let’s not be narrow, nasty, and negative.
hey, you’re free to your opinion, as am I. sorry you find that so cruel
Mollycoddling persons who choose this lifestyle will never work!
Caring for women and children is one thing, and there are definitely old ladies who will nurture stray animals, but, grown men who take drugs and drink and choose to beg instead of work – NO WAY!
Give the homeless a ride in a cop car, well out past the City Limits. Take their photos and tell them that they will be given a job sweeping the JAIL and cleaning the toilets! Give them a lump or two with the nightstick and threaten to clean their clocks if they are seen in town again!
Homeless schmomeless, get lost! We mean it!
If you love the homeless so much, take a couple to YOUR PLACE! Support their worthless asses for a while, then see how you feel about the “Homeless issue”…
If I have to hear this garbage about how “disadvantaged” and “unfair” everything is, I may vomit on a “homeless”…
Some people work all their lives, and THAT’S why they have a home!
And many of the working class have become homeless. The SF Bay Area is full of working class homeless that sleep in their cars due the sky rocketing rents. No one is immune from being homeless. Those who believe that all homeless should be kicked off to the curb need to be Bitch slapped. This way of thinking is jeopardizes our democracy and empowers our government to institute inhumane laws that threaten law biding citizens freedom for feeding the homeless for example.
There used to be low cost housing. It consisted of flop houses, cheap hotels and shacks located on “the other side of the tracks.” Such places were ugly, dangerous and unsanitary but cheap. Almost anyone could pick up the price of a cheap place with odd jobs, day labor, low wages or petty criminality. Tenant rights meant it’s so much harder to be a slum lord.
In the continuing attempt to eliminate “blighted areas” such districts were zoned, fee’d or sued out of existance. At the same time, work became very regulated too. Minimum wage (which by definition will always be inadequate), employee taxes, labor laws and liabilities made casual employment by individuals rare. It’s often said that there is no more cheap housing. Which is mostly true. Yet there are empty houses all over the place. Merrily deteriorating away.
Something is out of whack.
But I bet the most prevalent reason for the existance of homelessness is because it can. There are no more vagrancy laws, tents are cheap and portable, food is handed out. It may not be an easy life but it demands little self restraint, planning or sacrifice. It suits the primary wants of mentally ill people and drug addicts in that such a life interferes least with their goals of freedom from people saying they can’t do what they want.
“Mental illness”? Learned behavior, more like!
If you permit it, it will exist! Just like pot growing, drug dealing, Sinaloa Cartels, and, stupid fuckers speeding in pickups! They are there because they are ALLOWED to be there!
Go down to SF, where they just assessed the Internet Billionaires for money to support the homeless! SF pays an estimated $100,000/year PER HEAD to “care” for these mendicant alcoholic and drug addicted clowns to live in the streets!
I think they should be arrested, put on a bus, and delivered to the back side of the nearest desert! Fuck them!
If you permit it, it will exist. If you are homeless, an alcoholic, a drug addict, or just don’t feel like playing by the rules, then feed yourself, make your own money, and, just stay out of sight and out of town!
If you feed them, they will come, and, if you house them, then, there they will be.
Mollycoddling addicts, criminals, and wastrels is immoral and JUST WRONG!
TOUGH LOVE is the best method. If you don’t work, and lie around drinking and taking drugs, it is NOT “mental illness” and, if you are hungry or homeless, if you can’t seem to find a job – TOUGH SHIT!
All of these guys get General Assistance, and many are “disabled” and get Social Security and Medicare.
I sure as hell don’t get free Medical Care, do you?
If the homeless don’t like being homeless, they should work for something better!
10,000 refugees are marching North through Mexico, looking to work for a better life! I would rather support THEM than the people lying in the street in Eureka!
The “homeless by choice” need no quarters, they are laughing at straight society, and they are given too much. So much in fact, that they would never think of getting a responsible lifestyle.
125,000,000 Filipinos would LOVE to be Americans and suck up the good life! Who needs “homeless by choice” people?
As always, I advocate care and feeding and housing for women and children.
—Let’s screen everybody to find out if they have mental disorders. Let’s diagnose as many people as possible with mental disorders and give them toxic drugs—
Wherever you see organized psychiatry operating, you see it trying to expand its domain and its dominance. The Hippocratic Oath to do no harm? Are you kidding?
The first question to ask is: do these mental disorders have any scientific basis? There are now roughly 300 of them. They multiply like fruit flies.
An open secret has been bleeding out into public consciousness for the past ten years.
THERE ARE NO DEFINITIVE LABORATORY TESTS FOR ANY SO-CALLED MENTAL DISORDER.
[edit] not everyone who is down and out is mentally ill, choices bring about consequences, or at least they should. everyone has something to contribute to society, get in where you fit in and do something to improve the quality of life instead of propping up the concept of the right to be a f-up….
Except Tertiary Syphilis.
The screening tests for Syphilis are not accurate in the tertiary stage. Something to ponder… They need a more expensive test after that.
Mental illness is not a lifestyle choice. There are few happy insane people in the world and many, if not most, mentally ill people find their own thinking to be frightening to themselves. It is no more a choice than a paraplegic chooses to sit in a wheelchair.
The severity of such illnesses varies as does the ability to cope. Sometimes people cope unless stressed, sometimes they never cope. Simply reading news like the stories of the fires can derail some people and they behave irrationally. Imagine if you carried such stressful scenarios in your brain constantly, being unable to put them aside as is normally reasonable. It would be hard to function even in your own self interest, much less cooperate with others.
“There used to be low cost housing. It consisted of flop houses, cheap hotels and shacks located on “the other side of the tracks.” Such places were ugly, dangerous and unsanitary but cheap. Almost anyone could pick up the price of a cheap place with odd jobs, day labor, low wages or petty criminality. Tenant rights meant it’s so much harder to be a slum lord.
In the continuing attempt to eliminate “blighted areas” such districts were zoned, fee’d or sued out of existance. At the same time, work became very regulated too. Minimum wage (which by definition will always be inadequate), employee taxes, labor laws and liabilities made casual employment by individuals rare. It’s often said that there is no more cheap housing. Which is mostly true. Yet there are empty houses all over the place. Merrily deteriorating away.
Something is out of whack.”
-Guest
^^^^
THIS!
We need our “OUR” back.
NWO. Population reduction by 50% in 2050. Exasperat climate change, take away there homes, starve em, the ones that are left and want to revolt? ….. in prison them. Peace on earth is a farce. We would breed our selves out of extinction in 200 years. Reality check Too many people. Not enough to go around. Take a good hard look around you , at the planet and society as a whole. We are fucked.
Not unless we chose to give way just because the problems are hard.
See, Mr Guest, some are actually mentally ill!
[edit]
Just don’t ask me to give him a home!
Too many is too many, and mental illness is just a label! EVERYONE has some level of psychological disorder, but we soldier on, work and maintain.
The homeless are homeless by choice, and their mental health problems are a ruse, a conditioned reflex that they use to get services or a handout…
The lack of empathy visible in this thread is truly awesome.
Being empathic, and being played for a sucker, are vastly different things…
America, it’s full of money, opportunity, and great living! All you have to do is work!
If you need to sit in the gutter, get fucked up, and whine about how unfair it all is, you are just not trying!
Many “homeless” are just bums. Just like in Jamestown, if you don’t work, you don’t eat! (hypothetically)
Sponsoring this lifestyle, under any guise, is purest folly.
Bus these people out to BLM land in Northern Nevada, and set them free. Give them only barest essentials, a pot and some beans and rice. Tents and sleeping bags.
No drugs, no alcohol, minimal healthcare, no excuses. No bullshit.
In six months, they will probably be thriving, have a government, and will be working to improve their lives.
Tough love is the best!
most of the homeless in Eureka are mentally ill, evicted or dumped by family that tried their hardest most of the time. your commenter name is related to light dep and you are a pot troll now dabbling as a homeless troll with little to no knowledge of what you are talking about. you should feel good about yourself.
It’s not just a lack of empathy although that can be an illness in itself… It’s also wanting to blame some thing so as to not have to deal. These are the people who are most afraid to become homeless and I’d bet they are a real major PITA if they ever do become homeless. Lack of social responsibility.
Can’t have a real conversation when people are just reacting rather than wanting to look for a solution to an argument.
OTOH there is a small percentage of people (both homed and not) that No One wants to deal with & for good reasons. So what do we do? Prison or institutions I guess.
My opinions make an equivalent amount of sense with building “tiny houses” in random backyards, and allowing homeless vagrants and miscreants to live in them with their pets and their meth pipes…
Maybe I work for a living, and invest, and live in a house, and always have, and will always do so, and maybe I went to college and studied and built a normal life, but it does not mean I know nothing about mental illness or drug addiction.
If you give someone something, they won’t appreciate it or be grateful. If they earn it, they will develop good habits, and develop pride.
Living in the streets is not normal, acceptable, sanitary or healthy, and it is a terrible drain on public resources. These folks always have a million excuses and reasons why they are so “unfortunate” and decrepit, but they always have cigarettes, alcohol and drugs, and they all have cell phones, medicare cards and public assistance.
The poor in CA are handed everything, and there are more of them every day. Giving them even more is an affront to working people, responsible citizens, homeowners and everyone who takes responsibility for their own life and situation.
If this idea makes someone a troll, then it must be a good thing.