Re:More Cities Are Making It Illegal to Hand Out Food to the...
by dragonwriter on Thursday October 23, 2014 @06:32PM
(#8501113)
> The homeless are less likely to congregate in safe areas where organizations dedicated to help them are located.
The areas where organizations dedicated to help the homeless are located are almost never, to even a first approximation, "safe areas". They are quite often in nearly the worst parts of the city they are in to start with, and often made less safe by the congregation of the homeless there.
> They're more likely to sleep in an alley somewhere instead of, at worst, gathering near a shelter, or at best, getting a bed in a shelter where they are safest and most secure.
Many homeless avoid shelters because their experience is that crimes against their person and meagre property are more common in shelters than otherwise. Its probably reasonable to say that in shelters there is less danger from the elements, but it is far less clear that they are "safest and most secure" considering the totality of the circumstances.
The areas where organizations dedicated to help the homeless are located are almost never, to even a first approximation, "safe areas". They are quite often in nearly the worst parts of the city they are in to start with, and often made less safe by the congregation of the homeless there.
> They're more likely to sleep in an alley somewhere instead of, at worst, gathering near a shelter, or at best, getting a bed in a shelter where they are safest and most secure.
Many homeless avoid shelters because their experience is that crimes against their person and meagre property are more common in shelters than otherwise. Its probably reasonable to say that in shelters there is less danger from the elements, but it is far less clear that they are "safest and most secure" considering the totality of the circumstances.