• kittenbridgeasteroid@discuss.tchncs.de
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          1 year ago

          You’re more than welcome to look up statistics. ~60% of the chronicly homeless have life long mental health issues, and ~80% have substance abuse issues.

          Pretty much every city/state has resources to help the homeless, but the homeless have to be willing to accept the help. Most shelters are drug free, so addicts don’t want to stay there and they won’t accept people whose mental illness makes them violent.

          You can’t force a person to take their medicine or stop doing drugs unless you want to start building more prisons.

          Again, I was never saying that all homelessness is a choice, but a lot of people choose not to accept the help that’s available.

          Source: My wife has her masters in the field and used to work with these populations as an addiction counselor, in Texas, so I know that resources exist at a state level even in a state that clearly hates it’s citizens.