Homeless Los Angeles man builds wooden house on Hollywood Boulevard sidewalk - "A homeless man in Los Angeles has built a small wooden house with wheels on busy Hollywood Boulevard amid frustrations with the city asking him to take down his tent. The man, who goes by “Q,” told Fox Los Angeles he constructed a house on wheels using wood tossed away from construction sites and help from friends."
Man accused of murdering Const. Shaelyn Yang was wanted on warrant, documents show - "The man accused of stabbing Const. Shaelyn Yang to death in Burnaby, B.C., this week was wanted on a warrant for a previous assault charge... Yang, who was a member of the Burnaby RCMP's mental health and homeless outreach team, and a bylaw officer had approached a man camped out at Broadview Park on Tuesday to inform him he would have to leave. "They weren't there to remove him at the time, they were just there to notify him of that""
Suspect charged with first-degree murder in fatal stabbing of B.C. RCMP officer - The Globe and Mail - "Constable Yang, 31, was part of the force’s mental health and homeless outreach team, and had been paired with a municipal parks employee on Tuesday morning to check on a man in a tent at Broadview Park"
Man charged in Burnaby RCMP officer's death was wanted for assault - "Mayors from cities including Burnaby have complained publicly about the so-called "catch and release" justice system — criticism that has drawn a sharp rebuke from B.C.'s Crown Prosecution Service. Dhaliwal said he sees a lot as a delivery driver. "Burnaby's getting pretty [bad] right now. It's scary. It's not good. Especially if the police can get hurt and get killed, then regular people like me got no chance.""
According to the pro-homeless people, it's her fault because they should just have left him alone. The defund the police people are not going to be happy either (then again, they hate the police, so they may secretly cheer her death)
Meme - "Vancouver elected a right of centre Asian dude to become mayor. This is how some in the NDP are responding. What a fucking imbecile"
Vvonne Hanson @YVR_Hanson: "Vancouverites are really so terrified of homeless people that they will elect a fascist government just to avoid having to look at them. Wild."
Vancouver rejects left-wing activists profiting off the homeless - "Vancouver overwhelmingly elected the pro-police A Better City party to power. Every ABC candidate won their seat, giving the party control over the mayor’s office, city council, school board and park board. The party’s election is a rebuke to the city’s soft-on-crime status quo and a challenge to the homeless industrial complex. Surging crime was on everyone’s mind — over the past several years, assaults, stabbings, thefts and vandalism have plagued downtown Vancouver, particularly Chinatown. Rather than invest in public safety, the city enabled public drug abuse while converting hotels into woefully substandard supportive housing. In the leadup to the election, the city’s radical activists and progressive politicians denied or minimized the crime wave. Evidently, this did not sit well with voters. Now ABC has vowed to reinstate order while improving affordable housing. However, success here requires tackling the “homeless industrial complex” — the ecosystem of bureaucrats, NGOs and corporations that claim to aid the marginalized, but actually do little beyond profiting off the perpetuation of homelessness, poverty and addiction... when governments outsource the construction and maintenance of supportive housing to the private sector, corporations can fleece taxpayers by providing substandard housing at inflated costs... attempts to reign in costs or improve efficiency are often portrayed as anti-homeless. The end result resembles for-profit prison systems, where service providers are incentivized to preserve social ills and, lobbying accordingly, create a black hole of waste and misery... Residents themselves deserve some blame for these conditions, due to their neglect and vandalism of their accommodations (i.e. setting fires, smearing showers with feces). However, it also seems that these SROs are being neglected by property owners and managers... Ramsay resigned from BC Housing this September after a damning Ernst and Young Review found that millions of dollars in contracts had been awarded without clear documentation of decision-making processes. Ramsay’s public resignation letter did not address corruption allegations and instead blamed public safety advocates — apparently, Ramsay had been robbed of the confidence to do his job because he was disturbed by encampment evictions and public anger at homeless crime, which, according to him, was the real problem. Incidentally, Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart, who championed heavy investment into SROs until his defeat last Saturday, is married to Atira board member Jeanette Ashe... In 1971, economist William Arthur Niskanen theorized that bureaucrats, being self-interested like anyone else, tend to maximize their own budgets rather than provide maximally effective services. Larger budgets mean greater job security and potential salary growth. A large body of academic literature has since explored this problem. Bureaucracies that administer programs for the homeless seem particularly vulnerable to this phenomenon, because the effectiveness of these programs are difficult to measure, and because criticism of such programs invite indignant pushback... This critique can also be applied to addictions services that refuse to nudge people towards rehab and instead enable addicts through over-permissive “harm reduction.” By fostering dependency, these NGOs guarantee and grow demand for their services."
‘It’s a Miracle’: Helsinki’s Radical Solution to Homelessness - "It is important that they are tenants: each has a contract, pays rent and (if they need to) applies for housing benefit. That, after all, is all part of having a home – and part of a housing policy that has now made Finland the only EU country where homelessness is falling... Housing First’s early goal was to create 2,500 new homes. It has created 3,500. Since its launch in 2008, the number of long-term homeless people in Finland has fallen by more than 35 percent. Rough sleeping has been all but eradicated in Helsinki, where only one 50-bed night shelter remains, and where winter temperatures can plunge to -20C... But Housing First is not just about housing. “Services have been crucial,” says Helsinki’s mayor, Jan Vapaavuori, who was housing minister when the original scheme was launched. “Many long-term homeless people have addictions, mental health issues, medical conditions that need ongoing care. The support has to be there.”... Hardly any of the tenants come straight from the street, Haapa says, and those who do can take time to adjust to living indoors. But after a three-month trial, tenants’ contracts are permanent – they can’t be moved unless they break the rules (Rukkila does not allow drug or alcohol use; some other Housing First units do) or fail to pay the rent... Housing First costs money, of course: Finland has spent €250m creating new homes and hiring 300 extra support workers. But a recent study showed the savings in emergency healthcare, social services and the justice system totalled as much as €15,000 a year for every homeless person in properly supported housing... But if Housing First is working in Helsinki, where half the country’s homeless people live, it is also because it is part of a much broader housing policy. More pilot schemes serve little real purpose, says Kaakinen: “We know what works. You can have all sorts of projects, but if you don’t have the actual homes … A sufficient supply of social housing is just crucial.” And there, the Finnish capital is fortunate. Helsinki owns 60,000 social housing units; one in seven residents live in city-owned housing. It also owns 70 percent of the land within the city limits, runs its own construction company, and has a current target of building 7,000 more new homes – of all categories – a year. In each new district, the city maintains a strict housing mix to limit social segregation: 25 percent social housing, 30 percent subsidised purchase, and 45 percent private sector. Helsinki also insists on no visible external differences between private and public housing stock, and sets no maximum income ceiling on its social housing tenants. It has invested heavily, too, in homelessness prevention, setting up special teams to advise and help tenants in danger of losing their homes and halving the number of evictions from city-owned and social housing from 2008 to 2016."
Is giving out free money the best way to help homeless people? - "The people who received cash transfers moved into stable housing faster and saved enough money to maintain financial security over the year of follow-up. They decreased spending on drugs, tobacco, and alcohol by 39 percent on average, and increased spending on food, clothes, and rent... Enabling 50 people to move into housing faster saved the shelter system $8,100 per person over the year, for a total savings of $405,000. That’s more than the value of the cash transfers, which means the transfers pay for themselves... “The research shows that if you give people a larger sum of cash upfront, it triggers long-term thinking,” as opposed to just keeping people in survival mode, Williams explained. “You can’t think about maybe registering for a course to advance your life when you don’t have enough money to put food on the table. The big lump sum at the front end gives people a lot more agency.”... Not everyone was eligible for a cash transfer, however. The study only enrolled participants who’d been homeless for under two years, with the idea that early intervention most effectively reduces the risk of people incurring trauma as a result of living without a home. And people with severe mental health or substance use issues were screened out of the initiative. Williams said this was not out of a belief that there are “deserving poor” and “undeserving poor” — a woefully persistent frame on poverty — but out of a desire to avoid creating a risk of harm and to ensure the highest likelihood of success."
Of course, people who champion giving money to the poor and/or homeless ignore all the caveats of the studies and insist everyone would benefit from getting money, even when the researchers themselves admit that not everyone would benefit from the intervention. Good luck excluding people because "stigma"
The Meme Policeman - Posts | Facebook - "a private non-profit group called Foundations For Social Change did. They have an initiative called the New Leaf project...
Days of Homelessness- the cash group rapidly declined in the first month, while the no-cash group increased. Not particularly surprising, since they just received $7,500. But after a year, both groups declined substantially, more than halving their levels of homelessness, and ended up at almost identical levels (~25%). This study could just as easily be spun to say, after 1 year, homelessness was unchanged regardless of cash transfers.
Money Management- the study touts that after a month, the cash group had an additional $4K in savings. Not surprising after getting $7.5K! It also highlights that the cash recipients retained $1K even after 12 months, so they didn’t blow it all. But what they DON’T mention, is that the non-cash group ended up with more money in savings after a year than the cash group! Amazingly, this wasn’t even mentioned. This finding could be spun as saying, the cash group ended up with less savings after a year than the no-cash group.
Food Security- the cash group’s “food security” shot up in the first month, more than doubling. Again, not surprising. But then it fell and remained mostly flat for the rest of the year. Meanwhile, the non-cash group steadily increased over the year. Both groups had substantially higher food security by the end of the year, although the cash group remained higher. This is perhaps the study’s strongest finding, but still unremarkable.
Monthly spending- the cash group spent more money on every category, again not surprising since they had more cash to spend. But what’s misleading about highlighting the 39% drop in drug and alcohol spending, is the NON-CASH group spent less on drugs and alcohol! $117/month vs $130. This could be spun to say “cash group spends 11% more on drugs and alcohol.”
Overall, the study didn’t show anything remarkable, except that the non-cash group also dramatically improved in most metrics. Whether or not money was given, these homeless people improved substantially. Which is likely due to them carefully screening for those most likely to succeed anyway. But this tells us little about how large cash payments would work for the broader homeless population, particularly the unsheltered homeless. The overwhelming percentage of unsheltered homeless suffer from mental illness and/or addiction. Even the LA Times admitted that 76% of those living outside on their streets suffered from serious health issues, and 67% had mental illness and/or addiction."
Portland considers "mandatory rest spaces" for the homeless on private property
Homeless man spent two years sheltering in Calgary airport: 'I’d buy a Starbucks and blend in' - "The Calgarian said he tired of the daily drudgery of finding a spot to sleep in shelters and abandoned buildings, and during a visit to the airport was impressed by an acquaintance’s ingenuity in using one of the washrooms to his living advantage. A trick to remaining undetected was never getting to know airport-based employees too well... He’d also spend some nights sleeping elsewhere, such as a downtown hostel, and working by day well away from the airport... the obvious high security offered by the airport’s environs — a far cry from the dangers of the street. “It’s clean, it’s tidy, you don’t have to worry about things going missing”"
Michael Shellenberger on Twitter - "People say high rent causes homelessness but Ben, who has been homeless in San Francisco for 7 years, says the “vast majority” are homeless due to addiction. Just 6-7% are from SF. Ben says he "boosts" (shoplifts) and breaks into cars to pay for his $60/day heroin habit."
Michael Shellenberger on Twitter - "People say lack of housing forces local residents into the streets, but James says he came from Texas to San Francisco for the drugs, the non-enforcement of anti-camping laws, and the $820/month in welfare & food stamps. James says he sold fentanyl, 2 weeks ago, to a 15-year-old."
Michael Shellenberger on Twitter - "Progressives say it's wrong to require the homeless to sleep in shelters, but nearly every homeless person @lwoodhouse and I interview has been a victim of violence. James in Fresno said he has been assaulted, shot at, and witnessed a rape. He says most homeless are armed."
Michael Shellenberger on Twitter - "Just listen to this damning testimony from a former Housing First worker He was explicitly told not to address addiction, even though it was what was causing their homelessness Gov. @GavinNewsom himself defends this pessimistic & deadly addiction maintenance approach"
EXCLUSIVE: Seattle's homeless say the city is providing them drug paraphernalia instead of treatment and housing - "In August 2020, the Seattle City Council voted to defund the city’s Navigation Team, a joint venture of Seattle Police, social workers and Waste Management, which provided services to Seattle’s massive homeless population... Since the defunding, encampments and crime grew exponentially across the city. Many Seattle parks are now occupied by homeless encampments. Neighbors have reported spiking crime and almost no police response, due to the overall defunding of the police department... I can’t understand what they think they’re accomplishing other than continuing to pursue an agenda of affordable housing or bust. Problem is, the homeless appear to be their pawns"
LEVY: Tent city homeless used as pawns in affordable housing fight | Toronto Sun - "The world has indeed gone mad when activists — allegedly trying to fight for the safety of the homeless — encourage them not to accept shelter and remain in tents in parks."
26 arrested after violence erupts as police clear out homeless encampment in Toronto park - "Supporters of the encampment residents created a barricade with wooden pallets, chanting “we will not give up the fight,” but officers knocked that down as they worked their way through the area... Joey Mauger was among the encampment residents who didn’t want to leave the park. “Me and my friends, we don’t bother anybody,” he said from behind the orange fence set up around the encampment earlier in the day. “We like it here, we don’t want to go and we don’t know where we’re going to go.” Mauger said he and his partner had been living at the park for six months. He said he was previously put up in a hotel by the city but left because he didn’t feel safe due to random check-ins"
Some people do indeed choose to camp in parks rather than accept shelter
It’s not cruel to clear park encampments - The Globe and Mail - "having groups of people living for months on end in public parks is not good, either for them or for the public. The parks have been getting heavy use during the pandemic, especially now that the warm weather is here. The camps are unhealthy and unsafe: Fires often break out among the tents, putting everyone at risk... Whenever authorities try to remove the camps, advocates for the homeless call them callous and uncaring... Listening to the rhetoric, you might think that police had stormed in to arrest the camp dwellers and haul them away. What actually took place is that officials approached them to say that the camp was being closed and ask whether they would accept an offer of safer housing in a shelter or hotel. Fourteen of the roughly two dozen occupants agreed. The fences were set up to let city officials do their work without interference from the protesters who have disrupted attempts to remove other encampments. The last thing authorities wanted was a dangerous shoving match, or worse. The tactic appeared to work... Toronto’s approach to the camps from the start has been patient and cautious. For many months the city left the camps more or less alone. When it did act, it acted with care. Far from rousting the residents, it sent officials in again and again to offer them housing. The city says they have conducted more than 20,000 such visits. As a result, says a city release, “almost 1,730 people staying in encampments have been referred to safe inside spaces since April 2020.” The city hasn’t stopped there. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Toronto has seen what Mayor John Tory calls an “unprecedented wave of action” not just to shelter but to house the homeless, nearly doubling its spending. It has opened almost 250 new affordable and supportive housing units and built 100 units of rapidly constructed modular housing. To help shelter residents get into more secure accommodation, the city assigns each of them a housing worker. In the past year, according to city figures, close to 6,000 have moved into a permanent home. Meanwhile, the city has improved conditions in the shelter system itself, expanding capacity, improving infection controls and stepping up testing. More than half of the shelter population has at least a first dose of vaccine. So it’s misleading to argue that the encampments must be allowed to stay because the residents have no other option but to live in a tent. There are alternatives now"
Of course if there's a fire or some kid gets pricked by a needle, the authorities will be blamed
Adam Zivo: Toronto homeless camp eviction a win for the city’s working class - "the City of Toronto evicted a major homeless encampment in Alexandra Park, a low-income neighbourhood in the downtown core. Pro-encampment voices have mobilized to spin the eviction as an attack on Toronto’s poor, but the opposite is true — this eviction will benefit low-income residents in the neighbourhood who, owing to the behaviour of predatory encampment dwellers, have been denied access to greenspace and social services. Scadding Court Community Centre (SCCC) is located adjacent to Alexandra Park and provides crucial social services to the neighbourhood’s low-income residents. “There’s violence associated with the encampment — 100 per cent. We see it every day,” says Herman Ellis Jr., SCCC’s executive director... Ellis detailed how encampment-related issues — such as drug dealing, physical fights, sexual assaults, nudity, public defecation and gun threats — have kept the park off-limits to other residents. As a result, Ellis states that it is “very clear” that nearby residents, who disproportionately live in poverty, no longer have local greenspace that they can safely enjoy. The problem is particularly bad for families as well as residents with mobility issues, such as the elderly and disabled. “There are a lot of folks living in poverty who don’t have a place to cool off,” Ellis says, noting that parks are a respite for low-income residents who find their own homes uncomfortable. The encampment, which had approximately 30 residents, was the main reason why the community centre had to cancel its in-person summer children’s programming, which primarily services low-income families, for a second year in a row. The park is no longer safe for children. Its play structure and splash pad have not been used all year due to fear of children coming into contact with needles. SCCC considered running outdoor programming in Ryerson field, which is adjacent to Alexandra Park. This was nixed owing to several gun calls within the encampment over recent months. The standard practice during a gun call is to shepherd children to the community centre for safety. However, as Alexandra Park is between the field and SCCC, children would have had to run towards gun violence, rather than away, to reach refuge. Consequently, local children will have only virtual programming this summer while children in wealthier neighbourhoods enjoy the outdoors. Studies have shown that virtual programming is far less effective for low-income households, owing to technology deficits and limited home space. Meanwhile, the neighbourhood has become infested with rats which have feasted on the encampment’s waste. Combatting the rats is difficult as they hide in the park’s overgrown grass, which, owing to safety concerns, is no longer safe for workers to cut. According to Ellis, neighbours consistently complain about the rat problem to SCCC. The community garden, which many low-income citizens previously relied on for food support, is now closed as a result of the infestation. SCCC is investigating whether high volumes of rat droppings have made the garden’s produce unfit for human consumption... Toronto’s largest homeless encampments each host, at most, a couple dozen people — yet thousands of low-income citizens have been deprived of access to public space, as well as associated services, while being subject to threats and harassment. The eviction of these encampments is not a war against the poor — it is a victory for them. It is not about gentrification and bourgeois fragility, but rather about vulnerable citizens having the right to safely exist within their own neighbourhoods. Of course, you’ll never hear about that from pro-encampment voices, who often inhabit neighbourhoods where crime is rarely anything more than an abstraction. Blinded by their privilege, activists instead romanticize and enable encampment dwellers — it’s easy when other, often poorer people pay the price. The notion that encampment evictions are a war on the poor is also patronizing — as if all poor people are synonymous with encampment dwellers; as if the working poor, just trying to get on with life with some peace, don’t exist. Apparently, only the rich have the right or desire to enjoy public spaces... The City of Toronto has been offering free hotel rooms, food, showers, harm reduction and social services to evicted dwellers. Smaller, nonviolent encampments have mostly been left at peace (and rightfully so). The city has done this despite vilification from journalists who, with bleeding hearts and great naivete, cry for the rights of criminals while erasing low-income folks who simply want to live their lives without worrying about guns, needles, feces, verbal harassment and physical assault."
Since many homeless people refuse free shelter, how will giving them housing help?
Eviction of Trinity Bellwoods homeless encampment was a victory for community safety - "Torontonians routinely share stories of encampment residents behaving aggressively to passersby — testimonials of verbal harassment and threats of physical assault are abundant... Many of them refused free hotel rooms, citing “health” concerns to CBC reporters. An alternative explanation for their refusal emerges when one considers that: (a) following eviction, a City of Toronto news release indicated that thousands of used needles had been discovered at the Trinity Bellwoods site (for only a few dozen people, no less); and (b) hotels, unlike encampments, set rules on what counts as safe and acceptable behaviour... As the city had given advance warning of the eviction (coupled with yet more offers of safe rehousing), Toronto’s pro-encampment activists gathered by the hundreds to obstruct it. Shepherded by an ad hoc group known as the Encampment Safety Network (ESN), these activists formed human chains around the encampment’s structures. Clashes with police resulted in several arrests and three people being charged, one for allegedly assaulting an officer. This isn’t the first time this has happened. When the city tried to clear another encampment in May, this one located in Lamport Stadium Park in Toronto’s Liberty Village neighbourhood, the ESN successfully used these tactics there, too, limiting the eviction to only a small part of the park and leaving three officers injured. ESN boasted about its success in an Instagram post and advocated replicating it at Trinity Bellwoods... Meanwhile, the ESN and its supporters, ignoring their own role in necessitating an outsized security presence, have been pushing the narrative that the eviction is proof of an over-militarized police state. In an impressive feat of projection, epitomized by the Twitter feed of Lorraine Lam (ESN’s primary spokesperson), they have fabricated a narrative that these evictions are violent and that they constitute human rights abuses, and that responsibility for any harm lies with the police... consistent with previous outreach attempts, evicted campers were being offered “safe, indoor space, with access to meals, showers and laundry, harm reduction, physical and mental health supports, and a housing worker.” As of now, over half of the evicted residents have accepted those supports... It is important to consider that not all encampments are the same. There is nothing really objectionable to encampments that harmoniously coexist with their surrounding communities"
Housing Codes, Homelessness, and Affordable Housing - "Much of the housing that low-income people can find is substandard in that it doesn’t meet modern fire and other safety codes. Because it doesn’t meet housing codes, it is often shut down and taken off the market. This well-intentioned policy has the unfortunate effect of reducing the supply of housing for low-income people, forcing them into worse alternatives such as remaining in abusive situations, staying in temporary shelters, living under bridges, forming illegal campsites, sleeping in doorways, etc.
Faced with this array of choices, many homeless people would prefer the risks of living in housing that isn’t up to code than the risks of living on the streets or other unsafe situations, but when risky, sub-standard places are shut down, some people choose to live on the streets.
While other programs are working to reduce homelessness in other ways, this paper suggests that reducing the stringency of many housing codes would also help reduce homelessness and increase the supply of affordable housing."
People respond to incentives, despite what liberals think
WARMINGTON: Some homeless prefer city parks over a luxury hotel suite | Toronto Sun - "“It’s not safe in a hotel,” a squatter known as Dreddz explained Friday. “I am never going to a hotel.”... The city has invested millions of dollars into helping the homeless, which includes getting them off the street and into temporary hotel shelters while they try to find them more permanent abodes. There are dozens of services offered to assist and Toronto puts forward endless care for the needy through volunteering and fundraising. Even in these camping areas where inhabitants are supposedly roughing it, six pizzas were delivered as well as a crate of water and even supplies from a rented moving truck, including couches, chairs and new mattresses for a more comfortable night’s sleep. There are some 30 tents pitched there now. Meanwhile, all the complaining amongst the occupants about how hard it is for people staying at The Novotel has not gained much sympathy from the working class who could only ever dream of staying in such a posh location. A simple “thank you” the City of Toronto and its taxpayers would probably go over better... No matter how it goes, it can’t be forgotten that those city parks and playgrounds are for families and not hardcore drug use, vagrancy and camping."
Even with winter coming, homeless people living in park encampments want to stay | The Star - "Like many of them, Saxida is steadfast in his refusal to go into the city’s shelter system. “I have the right to choose and I choose to stay,” he said, explaining he feels safer in the park, even with winter coming. Saxida, who is 50 years old, said his 81-year-old father, Antonio, died earlier this year of COVID-19 after contracting the coronavirus in his nursing home. Saxida said he knows the dangers of congregate settings in the midst of a deadly pandemic and that’s why he prefers his tent. “I don’t want to end up like my Dad.”... Several speakers mentioned the city’s opening of the Better Living Centre for a 100-person respite centre this winter. The city recently posted photos of the space on Twitter, showing drab, plexiglass cubicles with a single, thin mattress. Speakers said the space looked like a “dystopian prison” and there were reports that the lights stayed on 24 hours a day, the showers had only cold water and there was constant surveillance from security cameras."
Some homeless advocates claim that shelters are unsafe. Even if we pretend that this has nothing to do with other shelter residents (why else have CCTV?), it's safe to say some of the homeless like the freedom of the streets
According to some homeless advocates, only the homeless have the right to use parks, and other people don't have the right to parks without needles
Gov. Gavin Newsom proposes court-ordered mental health treatment for homeless people - "California’s governor unveiled a plan Thursday to create mental health courts in every county, allowing treatment for more homeless people with severe mental health and addiction disorders but also compelling some of them into care, a move that many advocates of homeless people oppose as a violation of civil rights. Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a press conference that he has no intention of rounding people up and locking them away. Instead, he said his plan would offer a way for people to get court-ordered psychiatric treatment, medication and housing, preferably before they are arrested. Under the plan, which requires approval by the Legislature, all counties would have to set up a mental health branch in civil court and provide comprehensive and community-based treatment to those suffering from debilitating psychosis. People need not be homeless to be evaluated by a court. But if approved, they would be obligated to accept the care or risk criminal charges, if those are pending, and if not, they would be subject to being held in psychiatric programs involuntarily or lengthier conservatorships in which the court appoints a person to make health decisions for someone who cannot... Nearly a quarter of California’s estimated 161,000 unhoused residents have a severe mental illness, according to a 2020 count of homeless people required by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Nationally, the figure was just over 20% of an estimated 580,000 unhoused residents... The governor said under his proposal, people would have a say in their treatment plan and have a public defender to represent them. Most importantly, the proposal allows a broader array of people, including family member or first responder, to refer the person for help, he said. Care could last up to 24 months."
It's also unjust to imprison the mentally ill, so the only solution is to allow the mentally ill to terrorise people
Neighbours in Yonge and Eglinton area at odds over new homeless shelters | The Star - "Some owners of property and businesses in the area want the hotel site closed down or for it to cater to a different clientele, such as single women with children or a facility for refugees... Local tensions have heightened after the stabbing of a city worker who was on her shift last week at the Broadway site. A resident of the building was charged with assault with a weapon and other offences. And this week a 25-year-old man identified as a resident of the shelter was arrested by Toronto police and faces multiple firearms charges after a modified pellet gun containing ammunition was located in the area, according to investigators. There have been other incidents at the site including the overdose death of a client and a fire... Much of the division over the shelters is playing out on the private, 4,000-member strong Facebook group called Community Safety — Midtown Toronto, which launched about three weeks ago. That’s where some community members are complaining that the shelters have brought unwanted crime including break-ins, bike thefts and drug dealing, along with litter, discarded dirty needles, public urination and other problems. But critics of the Facebook group who have reached out to the Star, including Rankin who was recently kicked out of the forum, say many of the comments from members are often toxic, elitist, closed-minded, “NIMBY” (not in my backyard)-driven and hostile... Ward, the administrator of the Facebook group, says she deletes comments from the forum if they are personal attacks or rude. She says she has kicked out members if they are “calling us NIMBYs” or being a troll... One member, who, for fear of being harassed, asked she be identified only by her first name — Jenny — said she decided this week to “step away” from the “bad energy on both sides” of the online discussion. “It was making me miserable,” she says, adding that her husband recommended she take a breather from the group after noticing a change in her demeanour. Several of the online comments complain about the city signing a lease extension on the hotel without telling the community."
Apparently the homeless are not a good enough demographic for virtue signalling
