Quote:Based on data from the 2018 PiT count, ASU [addiction, substance abuse and homelessness] was the most commonly reported reason for housing loss, with 25.1% of all respondents identifying ASU as a reason for housing loss. As a reason for recent housing loss, ASU was most common among adult males and individuals without dependants.
Wow who could have guessed that I am not just making up bullshit. It's simply reality.
Most homeless are addicted to something and a significant amount of them also suffer from psychiatric issues. Beating addiction and improving their psychiatric health is perhaps the single most important thing that is required. The first step - as defined by the American Psychological Association - is to admit one has a problem. It also takes the public to admit there is a problem. It is only when you begin to shatter the chains of addiction or when you provide dedicated, focused psychiatric care that you can begin to lift people out of this sort of life.
An addict with an affordable apartment is still an addict. They need housing, but it needs to be transitional housing combined with a serious desire to want to quit and improve. You need to put these people into programs that can help them detox but also relearn life skills most of us don't even think about. You provide those in need shelter, first. Then you begin to work out a strategy to improve - so long as they have the desire to do so. As they taper themselves off of drugs and then begin to develop a more normal routine, you put these people into transitional housing. Then social housing, followed by affordable housing and so on. It would be hoped that by the time they may enter an affordable housing program, they have broken the cycle of additive habits and/or petty criminal activity. Maybe at this point they have also obtained a job or are working on improving their skill sets. You give these people back their dignity and desire to live a normal life once again, whilst continuing to work on preventing any further relapse as well as an improvement to their health.
It's not all homeless but it's a damn good percentage of them. We have to provide them the methods and support to get them off drugs as well as stabilize their mental health. We also have to provide them with housing. But we also need to provide them with education for even the most trivial things we take for granted. If someone has been on the street for 1, 5, 10 or 20+ years, then they're going to need to relearn typical skills and habits most people don't think about such as planning a budget, developing a daily routine and how to maintain legitimate employment. If all you do is give them a room to sleep in, then they aren't going to get better.
Also lol at the suggestion that it's homelessness itself that sometimes causes chemical detachment. Okay, technically, that happens I guess? But it's not exactly ones first priority if they were to wake up tomorrow, no longer have a home and have no family willing to help. Those on the street are sometimes there for unfortunate reasons, but the majority of time they're out there because they have burned every bridge for possible assistance (friends, family etc) while also having likely no potential way to keep working due to addiction having consumed their entire life.