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Interesting new study on giving money to homeless people

Paradoxical said:
I thought you posted that the human rights commission said so?

WTF are you blabbering about now?
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freedom is your #1 war cry yet you want to impose strict rules...

HYROCRITE
 
ataraxia said:
I see nothing in there about restaurants and home delivery.



I don't know- we were talking about homeless shelter and food for the homeless, and you started talking about restaurant delivery. So you lost me there, I apologize. Steer me straight. What did I miss there?
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How is free food and housing delivered?
 
ataraxia said:
“ You've heard this refrain before -- giving money to homeless people is not the best way to help them because it might be squandered, or spent on harmful habits. But a new Canadian study makes a powerful case to the contrary....

Researchers gave 50 recently homeless people a lump sum of 7,500 Canadian dollars (nearly $5,700). They followed the cash recipients' life over 12-18 months and compared their outcomes to that of a control group who didn't receive the payment.

The preliminary findings, which will be peer-reviewed next year, show that those who received cash were able to find stable housing faster, on average. By comparison, those who didn't receive cash lagged about 12 months behind in securing more permanent housing.

People who received cash were able to access the food they needed to live faster. Nearly 70% did after one month, and maintained greater food security throughout the year.

The recipients spent more on food, clothing and rent, while there was a 39% decrease in spending on goods like alcohol, cigarettes or illicit drugs...

...Participants were screened for a low risk of mental health challenges and substance abuse....

"People very much know what they need, but we often don't equip them with the intervention or the services that really empowers them with choice and dignity to move forward on their own terms," Williams said.

Direct cash transfers are not "a silver bullet for homelessness in general," and the program focused on "a higher functioning subset of the homeless population," Williams said, but she believes the research shows that providing meaningful support to folks who have recently become homeless decreases the likelihood they will become entrenched in the experience....

The study shows there are advantages for the taxpayer, too.

According to the research, reducing the number of nights spent in shelters by the 50 study participants who received cash saved approximately 8,100 Canadian dollars per person per year, or about 405,000 Canadian dollars over one year for all 50 participants.

"There's a common misconception that the cost of doing nothing is free or cheap and it absolutely is not," Williams said...

Innovative solutions to the issue are even more pressing right now. Berg thinks the research confirms what is true for many people experiencing homelessness: money can solve it.

"There are certainly people who are homeless who have deeper, more severe problems," Berg explained, "but for many people, it's simply a matter of -- they ran out of money, lost a job, fell on hard times, became homeless. Once they're homeless, it's very difficult to get enough money saved up in order to find a place to live."

"People can be relied on, if they get the money upfront, to take care of the problem themselves," Berg added.”
www.cnn.com

Researchers gave thousands of dollars to homeless people. The results defied stereotypes. | CNN

You’ve heard this refrain before – giving money to homeless people is not the best way to help them because it might be squandered, or spent on harmful habits. But a new Canadian study makes a powerful case to the contrary.
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com
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Yeah I think they probably rigged the result. Every few years liberal researchers want to “challenge accepted wisdom” and so they come up with some BS.
It’s like years ago when people were trumpeting a Salt Lake City program to give homeless people apartments with no conditions, it was big news for weeks an no one has talked about it in years because it turns out giving homeless people free sh!t only encourages more homelessness
 
EMNofSeattle said:
Yeah I think they probably rigged the result. Every few years liberal researchers want to “challenge accepted wisdom” and so they come up with some BS.
It’s like years ago when people were trumpeting a Salt Lake City program to give homeless people apartments with no conditions, it was big news for weeks an no one has talked about it in years because it turns out giving homeless people free sh!t only encourages more homelessness
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In Los Angeles here because hotels weren't renting the far left wing leaders demanded that they be given to the homeless and of course they (we) would pay. So, they wound giving really nice rooms to homeless people.

The result? MILLIONS of dollars in damages. Heroin needles, blood in the rooms on the floors and bedding, filthy conditions. So bad that city workers refused to even go in because they got physically and emotionally sick.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
I think that the best approach is to first deal with the majority (not a cherry picked minority) of people camping in public places (aka homeless). Those people happen to be mentally “challenged” and/or drug addicted.
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What if you have a working, feasible plan for the 'minority' and still cant figure out how to fix the others?

THe mentally ill are a huge challenge...they still have rights, they dont always (often) dont want help. To involuntarily institutionalize some is incredibly expensive and...not sure what that solves...our streets would be cleaner, but what about them?

Should the minority not get the help they need, that actually proves successful, just becuase we cant help the majority?

It sounds like another issue I heard recently...if the special needs kids cant be adequately schooled online/virtually, then that's not equal with the other kids and none should be able to learn online/virtually. And supposedly some or all states have regulations that say the special needs kids must have some specified level of education equal to the mainstream kids.
 
Lursa said:
What if you have a working, feasible plan for the 'minority' and still cant figure out how to fix the others?

THe mentally ill are a huge challenge...they still have rights, they dont always (often) dont want help. To involuntarily institutionalize some is incredibly expensive and...not sure what that solves...our streets would be cleaner, but what about them?

Should the minority not get the help they need, that actually proves successful, just becuase we cant help the majority?

It sounds like another issue I heard recently...if the special needs kids cant be adequately schooled online/virtually, then that's not equal with the other kids and none should be able to learn online/virtually. And supposedly some or all states have regulations that say the special needs kids must have some specified level of education equal to the mainstream kids.
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OK, let’s say we implement this program and offer folks a choice: pay your rent or get $5,700 from the taxpayers upon eviction. What would likely happen?
 
Paradoxical said:
Then why are there homeless ad hungry people?

We have food and shelter, right?
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No, not when you hit hard times. And yes, it can happen to the best of us.

Man, you sound like you have not seen how the world can work.
 
ataraxia said:
No, not when you hit hard times. And yes, it can happen to the best of us.

Man, you sound like you have not seen how the world can work.
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You mean You have absolutely nobody that will let You stay with them if you lose your job?
 
EMNofSeattle said:
You mean You have absolutely nobody that will let You stay with them if you lose your job?
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This is not about me. It’s about public policy.

That has never been enough historically.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
OK, let’s say we implement this program and offer folks a choice: pay your rent or get $5,700 from the taxpayers upon eviction. What would likely happen?
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I'm not sure I understand the question, so why dont you answer mine before asking me more?
 
ataraxia said:
“ You've heard this refrain before -- giving money to homeless people is not the best way to help them because it might be squandered, or spent on harmful habits. But a new Canadian study makes a powerful case to the contrary....
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Lol.

Regardless of how much merit such statements may have - or not have - , I can't believe anyone who makes these claims is referring to sums of cash like $7,500...

As good as this study may be, I don't think it address the intention behind statements like "giving money to homeless people is not the best way to help them because it might be squandered, or spent on harmful habits".
 
ataraxia said:
It's not THAT small. Only 25% of homeless people have serious mental health issues, which means 75% don't. About 38% of homeless people are dependent on alcohol and 26% abuse other drugs. That still leaves room for a very large number of them which can still be helped.

Besides, either they can be helped through this program, or they should be helped through some programs to get their mental health/substance abuse problems under control. This benefits them, and the rest of society as well.

In neither case does a liberterian approach of "let them suffer until they stop being lazy and learn to work harder" seem to be a good solution.
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People with serious mental health issues should be provided health care, not left on their own or have to sleep in the streets. That is undignified.
 
Juks said:
People with serious mental health issues should be provided health care, not left on their own or have to sleep in the streets. That is undignified.
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a small portion of the homeless with whom i have interacted refused to seek shelter
some did not like to have to obey the rules imposed to stay at the shelter
others felt confined within a shelter and preferred living in a tent
and some of the homeless did not like feeling they were being preyed upon by the "inmates" who ran things at the shelter because there was inadequate security
 
Essentially the study says that when you give people a relatively large sum of money they can rent a room faster and feed themselves better. No duh. It took an entire study to figure that out? Send me a $1000 and I'll eat better too over the next couple months. But it still doesn't solve the problems once that initial handout runs down.
 
Juks said:
People with serious mental health issues should be provided health care, not left on their own or have to sleep in the streets. That is undignified.
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My wife works with the homeless. Most of the mentally ill and drug abusers won't go to treatment, and no one can make them. Only if they end up in court on some petty criminal charge can the judge say jail or treatment. You'd be surprised how many prefer living on the streets, for their own warped reasons.
 
Waddy said:
Essentially the study says that when you give people a relatively large sum of money they can rent a room faster and feed themselves better. No duh. It took an entire study to figure that out? Send me a $1000 and I'll eat better too over the next couple months. But it still doesn't solve the problems once that initial handout runs down.
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It appears (unsurprisingly) you didn't read the study.
 
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