because they view it as a moral failing instead of an outcome of a system
they view the world as mostly fair in large part because they’ve never really struggled or worked hard and had it amount to nothing despite there best efforts
they view homelessness as the end point of a series of bad decisions the person experiencing it has freely chosen this is why you commonly hear people say the majority of homeless people are drug addicts or antisocial people and choose to be homeless despite insert program name existing
in this world view giving a homeless person free housing is rewarding bad people who makes bad antisocial choices on purpose because they are bad
it can be both. and in reality, it tends to be a product of both things. it can also be a product of mental illness combined with the other two things.
a lot of homeless people’s stories are a combination of bad luck and bad choices and a system that has very limited and narrow pathways out of homelessness.
but it’s true people tend to believe it’s one or the other.
and for some homeless, it is very much one or the other. not all homeless folks are homeless for the same reasons.
the difficulty really lies in how much resources are you going to contribute to certain particular difficult people? there is a significant subset of the homeless population who do not want to become productive citizens and I’m not sure it’s morally correct for us to force them to so so. I mean, are we suppose to jail addicts if they don’t want to anti-addiction treatments and force them into it? or do we allow addicts to decide for themselves when they want to stop being addicts?
most people are really uncomfortable with putting themselves in the shoes of these folks and the complexities involved. they tend to either demonize or anglicize them and fail to be able to imagine the circumstances under which they could be come homeless, especially if they never lived with the shadow of that possibility in their lives.
because they view it as a moral failing instead of an outcome of a system
they view the world as mostly fair in large part because they’ve never really struggled or worked hard and had it amount to nothing despite there best efforts
they view homelessness as the end point of a series of bad decisions the person experiencing it has freely chosen this is why you commonly hear people say the majority of homeless people are drug addicts or antisocial people and choose to be homeless despite insert program name existing
in this world view giving a homeless person free housing is rewarding bad people who makes bad antisocial choices on purpose because they are bad
it can be both. and in reality, it tends to be a product of both things. it can also be a product of mental illness combined with the other two things.
a lot of homeless people’s stories are a combination of bad luck and bad choices and a system that has very limited and narrow pathways out of homelessness.
but it’s true people tend to believe it’s one or the other.
and for some homeless, it is very much one or the other. not all homeless folks are homeless for the same reasons.
the difficulty really lies in how much resources are you going to contribute to certain particular difficult people? there is a significant subset of the homeless population who do not want to become productive citizens and I’m not sure it’s morally correct for us to force them to so so. I mean, are we suppose to jail addicts if they don’t want to anti-addiction treatments and force them into it? or do we allow addicts to decide for themselves when they want to stop being addicts?
most people are really uncomfortable with putting themselves in the shoes of these folks and the complexities involved. they tend to either demonize or anglicize them and fail to be able to imagine the circumstances under which they could be come homeless, especially if they never lived with the shadow of that possibility in their lives.