• something_random_tho@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    4 months ago

    Most homeless people are down on their luck and really need support. Affordable housing, job training and placement programs, food, and medical care can really help these people. I don’t have any problem with this majority of the homeless population.

    A small percentage of homeless are insane, whether due to mental health problems/drugs/some combination. These are the people causing problems. They cannot be left to destroy themselves and society around them. We need mandatory care for these people for them to live with dignity. It is not compassionate to throw them on the streets and ignore them. We need asylums for this subset, like we had until Reagan closed them all.

    • LustyArgonian@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      I agree up until the last part. Collective forced housing (en masse), involuntary institutionalization, or enslavement, all give similar effects and they are negative. I highly recommend a visit to the Glore Psychiatric Museum in St Jo, Missouri, if you want to see what those asylums were actually like. It’s out of a horror film. What you’re requesting is a living nightmare for the very people who can’t advocate well for themselves.

      I think a better solution would be assisted living apartments, giving the person in question the most autonomy possible. Social workers should be required to have body cams. You might like learning more about bioethics when it comes to determining autonomy and consent with medical/neurological conditions - a complicated topic.

      • something_random_tho@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        4 months ago

        We can design a system that offers people dignity and care without rampant abuse. Some combination of public transparency, civil rights group monitoring and criminal penalties for failures in the administration.

        The horrible treatment of people you’re describing is not inherent to asylums. It is a risk that we need to be conscious of and design systems and safeguards to prevent.

        • LustyArgonian@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          4 months ago

          Do you remember the Stanford prison experiment?

          Unfortunately, all group housing has this effect on people. Even young babies in orphanages do worse in group settings compared to one on one care.

          There is something inherently damaging when we put people on an assembly line and remove their individuality and personhood. We can see this over and over again in many different settings.

          I have lived in several states that already just give disabled people apartments and have caregivers check in as needed. This system already exists and works really well. It lets the disabled person pick out a living situation that works with them and their needs. It lets them have a home.

          Disability is very complex and often people have many disabilities. A person with diabetes and food allergies could die living in a group home. Many group homes are not very accessible for certain disabilities. And many disabilities have accomodations that directly contradict each other. For instance, you may need a wide hallway for a wheelchair, but a different resident needs to sit down in the hallway if they feel faint and may block the hallway for a chair. Or a person with a seeing eye dog may conflict with a person who has a severe dog allergy. Both people deserve housing that fits them individually.