cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/20776810
Stolen from here: https://social.marxist.network/@yogthos/113583918563324620
cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/20776810
Stolen from here: https://social.marxist.network/@yogthos/113583918563324620
Yes because people obviously choose to sleep where it stinks of human reek instead of somewhere it doesn’t…
Unfortunately there are some who do. Still absolutely use a shelter/housing first model, and give money to those struggling (most homeless people are couch surfing or living out of their cars and have jobs and just need a little boost to get back on their feet) because it helps the vast majority.
For some reason through, the same people that advocate for the programs I listed above refuse to accept that there are some people they won’t work for. The ones who are too mentally ill or violent or otherwise too antisocial.
The homeless aren’t a monolith, and often people are talking past each other because they are each picturing people from opposite ends of the spectrum who have essentially nothing in common except their housing situation. The people installing spikes and removing benches are responding to the second group, and then face backlash as if they were responding to the first.
But that response to the second group is not actually helping the second group at all, just displacing. That’s what many of the people responding are pointing out.
My point is you can’t blame these spaces from using displacement as that’s essentially all they can do. There are better places to direct that scorn than the people who essentially “end up” dealing with a very difficult to deal with group.