I had an interesting conversation this morning with a homeless guy. Employed, but not enough to pay rent. Clean and well dressed. Talked with justifiable pride, I think, about the system he has set up. A gym membership to stay clean and healthy. A locker to store his tent and gear during the day.
Talked about how violent the shelter system is.
It’s a deep cruelty that in a land of such abundance we deny basic necessities to people.
@PapyrusBrigade
Abundance cannot be thought of in the entire. It must be thought of in terms of how it is used. 70% of our abundance is owned by 10% of our people. That means 30% of our abundance must be shared by 90% of the people. How abundant is that?
@PapyrusBrigade I became homeless when I became disabled in an accident because it took three years to get approved for disability payments. Then when I did, even though it’s SSDI, it wasn’t enough to rent even a low income apartment because it wasn’t 3 1/2 times the rent. Once I got Medicare I was well enough to get a part-time job, even though then my average income was many dollars an hour more than minimum wage, it’s still wasn’t enough to qualify to rent in low income or affordable housing. I literally had to wait for housing assistance even though I could have paid the rent at the time it was ridiculous I was homeless for years, even with cash benefits and a job.
@PapyrusBrigade too true, in Denver many people prefer the streets to being basically strip searched for drugs every afternoon before being locked into an overcrowded room all night being constantly vigilant to defend yourself against random psychos beating the shit out of you or getting robbed or raped by people the cops refuse to arrest every morning because homeless crimes against other homeless people aren't worth their time.
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