The argument that you can't fix homelessness by distributing homes is premised on the idea that "being unhoused" is a symptom of a larger underlying issue that they're alluding to when they use the word "homeless". They're not unhoused because of economic pressure or mental health issues or drug problems, they're homeless, or crazy, or addicts because they're fundamentally unfit to contribute meaningfully to society, and you don't make people fit by giving them houses.
It's nothing more than classist, ableist nonsense.
Every time I was homeless, aside from a few weeks, I was working and contributing more than those ghouls ever did. The shits I took in the park bathroom did more to help people than they will over their entire lives.
"Homeless" is practically a dogwhistle, half the people using it mean "unhoused" and the other half mean "undesirable", and the people who mean "undesirable" would genuinely rather see these people die out in some kind of social darwinist faux-natural selection than lift a finger to help them.
So I and most people I associate with have been or are homeless. Homeless doesn't automatically mean 'indesirable' of course and 'Unhoused' can sound like patronizing liberal language. It describes a vast array of people in a variety of circumstances, it also doesn't cover say, my roommate who's disability literally only covers rent and bills (which are as low as you can get where we live) and still has to fly a sign for every other dime he makes, and can't really get out because seeking employment means losing disability forever so if he can't do it or could only do part time, he loses that support forever. There's also a lot of working poor in even worse living circumstances, what people think of as 'the homeless' is absolutely myriad. Lumpenprole is a good descriptor but Marx was kind of a dick to them. I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, but any single term for the manifold ways you can experience extreme poverty won't be enough to describe anyone's actual situation.
The argument that you can't fix homelessness by distributing homes is premised on the idea that "being unhoused" is a symptom of a larger underlying issue that they're alluding to when they use the word "homeless". They're not unhoused because of economic pressure or mental health issues or drug problems, they're homeless, or crazy, or addicts because they're fundamentally unfit to contribute meaningfully to society, and you don't make people fit by giving them houses.
It's nothing more than classist, ableist nonsense.
Every time I was homeless, aside from a few weeks, I was working and contributing more than those ghouls ever did. The shits I took in the park bathroom did more to help people than they will over their entire lives.
Yes! Thank you, you put into words the exact thing that I was thinking, but couldn't articulate, even to myself.
"Homeless" is practically a dogwhistle, half the people using it mean "unhoused" and the other half mean "undesirable", and the people who mean "undesirable" would genuinely rather see these people die out in some kind of social darwinist faux-natural selection than lift a finger to help them.
So I and most people I associate with have been or are homeless. Homeless doesn't automatically mean 'indesirable' of course and 'Unhoused' can sound like patronizing liberal language. It describes a vast array of people in a variety of circumstances, it also doesn't cover say, my roommate who's disability literally only covers rent and bills (which are as low as you can get where we live) and still has to fly a sign for every other dime he makes, and can't really get out because seeking employment means losing disability forever so if he can't do it or could only do part time, he loses that support forever. There's also a lot of working poor in even worse living circumstances, what people think of as 'the homeless' is absolutely myriad. Lumpenprole is a good descriptor but Marx was kind of a dick to them. I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, but any single term for the manifold ways you can experience extreme poverty won't be enough to describe anyone's actual situation.
Phrenology, but woke
They're useless and all they do is eat.