re: Jeff Landry moves to take over New Orleans homeless services

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That’s not really the question. We lump many societal ills into “homelessness.” It's way more complicated than someone simply not having a place to sleep.

The questions are:

What do we do about the mentally ill when they refuse treatment?

What do we do about drug addicts who refuse treatment?

What do we do about people coming out of incarceration without friends or family to stay with?

What do we do about veterans who have been broken by their service and struggle when they return to society?

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Fair point (although I wish you would also look to the other questions I asked), but can you share your thoughts on the four questions you posed?

I'm particularly interested in your answer to the first two as I get the impression that untreated drug addiction and mental illness are at the root of what most people consider the homeless "problem."

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You seem to think financial is the only way to contribute to a household or have opinions on societal derelicts.

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No, I think that someone who only has housing because another adult provides it for her isn’t in a position to criticize people who don’t have housing because other adults don’t provide it for them.

You’re inserting a lot of emotion and assumptions into my factual, objective statement. You don’t have to justify why it’s diffe(R)ent for some people to benefit from free housing and immoral for others who haven’t been able to secure free housing. It has nothing to do with marriage or chores or anything else.

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I'm particularly interested in your answer to the first two as I get the impression that untreated drug addiction and mental illness are at the root of what most people consider the homeless "problem."

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I will not act as though I have a solution or can come up with a realistic, viable solution at this moment.

I've seen Permanent Supportive Housing be successful. Of course, I have an extremely limited, niche familiarity with homelessness. Basically every homeless person I interact with regularly are coming out of incarceration. There are two individuals that I've gotten to know fairly well. One has mental illness. He was placed in Permanent Supportive Housing. Someone checks on him and ensures he takes his medication. He is able to hold down a job and contribute to society in meaningful ways.

The other homeless person I know is a drug addict in recovery. He has been "traveling" for about 15 years. He is clean and actually converted to Catholicism recently. He's surprisingly and refreshingly wholesome (especially for someone with face tattoos). He stays in shelters in the city. I actually asked him yesterday if he views New Orleans as home and he said he plans to leave when he gets off paper. He has a legal side hustle that he earns some money through. He doesn't panhandle or bother people. I don't think there really is anything to solve for his situation.

You are such a nasty bitch

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This depends on if you think human dignity is conditional or intrinsic.

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It is conditional.

It is also self inflicted.

They abandoned dignity.

I still say that they’re deserving of assistance if in need.

Providing them with a home though…no.

Section 8 is simply a pathogen for criminality.