Does anyone ever hear this one? It doesn't make sense to me. Why do we need the option to be homeless? Do you want to be Diogenes or what?

  • ScreamoBMO [they/them,any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Ask them what percentage of homeless they think are choosing to be homeless. If it’s not in the single digits, there’s the misconception you need to address first

    • Nakoichi [they/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      That and that people often think of homeless people as dirty vagrants or people with mental health problems because that's who they notice, nevermind thousands of people living out of their cars but otherwise still participating in society normally.

      • TheLepidopterists [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        When I was a kid we moved around a lot because my mom quit her job constantly. I was in my late twenties before I put together that extended stays with extended family in between apartments were homelessness.

        • wantonviolins [they/them]
          ·
          3 years ago

          I’ve had people tell me I wasn’t homeless (or at least “not REAL homeless”) when I was couch surfing, because for the vast majority of the time there was a roof over my head. Wasn’t my roof. Couldn’t afford a roof of my own. Not sure what that would be if not homeless.

      • zeal0telite [he/him,they/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Another one I see is that they're lazy and don't want to work.

        Some of them literally have jobs. I also don't think being lazy is worthy of homelessness either.

    • axont [she/her, comrade/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I've heard this line of reasoning a few times. The person I'm thinking of is saying it's wrong to force someone choosing homelessness into a home.

      • ScreamoBMO [they/them,any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Definitely varies based on what you’re defining as “homelessness”, too. If someone enjoys couch surfing or living out of an RV, more power to them. Most people who do that, though, have some sort of home address or PO Box to receive mail. There should be considerations made for that and I don’t really see a universal housing project “forcing” them to suddenly own a house.

        Buiuuut I have a feeling that more often than not people are talking about people who have had addiction issues or have “had their chance” at getting housing and “messed it up”. It’s a much deeper misunderstanding of how homelessness and addiction play into each other and exactly how unrepresentative the most visible unhoused people are of the entire group