500,000 plus Americans are homeless

[CherubRam]

500,000 plus Americans are homeless and sleeping in the cold each night. The homeless rate is expected to continually grow and worsen. The price of housing has become unaffordable to many.

In the mean time the wealthy are getting wealthier, paying less tax then the poor.

Today is a great day for the rich.

 

[archer75]

In the end, it's not, because they are drowning further in their addictions. But yes. It looks like a great day for the super-rich.

 

[Hank77]

In the end, it's not, because they are drowning further in their addictions. But yes. It looks like a great day for the super-rich.

Not everyone that is homeless is an addict, please stop with that poppy [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse].

 

[CherubRam]

Where I live the price of housing has doubled in the past year, and rents have gone up hundreds of dollars.

 

[Monksailor]

Fact: Mixed in that HOMELESS number are a humongous amount of undeserving rebellious teenagers. In my and most other states, any 17 yr old who rebels against their parents trying to lovingly motivate them to do their homework, get to bed at a healthy time, and such through non-abusive means such as grounding and such consequences can go live with a friend whose parents are very lenient (absentee parenting) and go to the homeless liaison official at school who will qualify them as homeless; essentially, NO questions asked. Such officials don't care about the reason they ran away. They are not the least bit concerned about helping loving parents recover their rebellious child or saving tax payers their money wasted on real unqualified homeless. In fact, as they qualify them as homeless (while living in the home of a friend) they give them all kinds of support in the form of medical, school supplies and meals, and much more. So allowing the consequences of their unwise actions, as in the prodigal, bring them to their senses is thwarted by the govt. In fact, they are taught by the govt. to rely on the govt for a handout. One reason another of my friend's child (17) ran away was cause he wanted to meet all the boys who wanted to date her so as to discern his intentions and character. She did not want the kind of boy my friend wanted for her and was enraged that he wanted to assure that the young man's intentions were honorable as the guys whose intentions were in the gutter lost interest as soon as they learned they'd have to meet the father. She told him that he was scaring all the boys away but he said that he had met two honorable and respectful young men who were both Christians that she brought home before she ran away to meet him that he approved of but they weren't her type. Anyway, she ran away to live with a party friend while the school's homeless liaison gave her emotional and monetary support as a HOMELESS person.

One of these guys also told me that he went in to speak to the school counselor about this situation and the HS Counselor told him that it is the craze among 17 yr olds to do just what I have been talking about. She said that her 17 yr old (yes, a H S emotional counselor) joined the crowd running away and later he learned that on of the teen-ager Psychs down town had one of their 17 yr olds ALSO run away and sieze this HOMELESS category.

So, without ensuring that of Homeless stats these many, many undeserving 17 yr old rebellious run aways out of homes without any abuse are excluded, we are looking at terribly exaggerated/inflated numbers. Homeless HS liaison NEEDS to further qualify their 17 year olds.

 

[archer75]

Not everyone that is homeless is an addict, please stop with that poppy [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse].

I meant that the rich are drowning in their addictions to solid-gold yachts and money.

 

[Open Heart]

500,000 plus Americans are homeless and sleeping in the cold each night. The homeless rate is expected to continually grow and worsen. The price of housing has become unaffordable to many.

In the mean time the wealthy are getting wealthier, paying less tax then the poor.

Today is a great day for the rich.

I'm glad you brought this up, CherubRab. It has a special place in my heart, especially in the winter months when they die of cold. I used to work with an intercity Chrisitan charity that dealt directly with the homeless. And there have been a few in my family that have dealt with it first hand, even with family help.

There are three common causes of homelessness:

1. Untreated mental illness. This is complicated. Part of it is that without others to help them, the mentally ill simply lose their health insurance or are under insured. Even if insured, society has been closing down long term care facilities, so that when they become VERY sick, they are simply put up for 72 hours, given meds, and then thrown back out onto the streets again where they cannot take care of themselves. Part of it is that we give people who lack good sense the right to decide for themselves whether they should take the meds that would help them becomes functional. When they don't like the side effects, they stop taking the meds, become delusional or hallucinate again or simply become too emotionally dysregulated to be employable, and they end up back on the streets.
2. Addiction: Society is having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that this is a problem where the brain becomes altered. The first drink may be freely chosen, but by the time they are on the streets, no one is choosing anything. As a society, we need to offer these people what help we can, instead of punishing them by throwing them out on the streets, where they end up stealing and prostituting themselves, or worse, throwing them into prison. And we need to admit that our techniques for dealing with addiction are still in the dark ages, and that although we realize that this is a biological problem, we may not have all the answers -- we only know that having them sleep on the sidewalk and die of hypothermia is not a viable option.
3. Economic downturn. This is happening more often since the 2008 Great Recession. Many people who lost their homes simply never regained any. This is the primary reason why homelessness has swelled. A contributing reason has been that although the economy has improved for the rich, there has been no trickle down for the poor. Salaries have not gone up, but prices for staples like bread and milk and eggs have gone way up. Apartments are CRAZY unaffordable. People with degrees are flipping burgers. People flipping burgers have filed for unemployment. People that used to be on unemployment aren't even counted for statistics anymore -- they are the Invisibles in our culture, surviving under cardboard along the rivers edges.

This is the reality for so many, many, many people in our country. And we are supposed to be the richest country in the world. Shame on us. The rich get richer while the poor get poorer.

 

[Open Heart]

Fact: Mixed in that HOMELESS number are a humongous amount of undeserving rebellious teenagers. In my and most other states, any 17 yr old who rebels against their parents trying to lovingly motivate them to do their homework, get to bed at a healthy time,

Sure. But I'd say that's pretty rare. Far, far more often it's the abused teen that runs away, especially from foster care.

"Runaway teens are not bad kids. They are running away from bad situations."
Crisis Hotline Statistics | Online Services | | National Runaway Safeline

 

[CherubRam]

There are the working poor and the lack of equality. This too is a reality of the world we live in. Almost every year we have a person freeze to death in our small town. I simply do not like to see people dying in the streets.

 

[tampasteve]

To bring it back to this forum's actual purpose.......What, as Messianic's should we be concerned about, what would you/we think should be done about this? Not in a general political sense, but as Messianic Believers.

 

[Hank77]

I meant that the rich are drowning in their addictions to solid-gold yachts and money.

Oh, I apologize. I see, I should have known that now that I read it again.
Again I'm sorry.

 

[CherubRam]

To bring it back to this forum's actual purpose.......What, as Messianic's should we be concerned about, what would you/we think should be done about this? Not in a general political sense, but as Messianic Believers.

Is there a reason why we can not discuss a variety of subjects here?

 

[tampasteve]

Is there a reason why we can not discuss a variety of subjects here?

No, certainly not, in the context of the forum they should be in. The overall CF forum has categories for politics, hobbies, etc. So, I would think that if we want to discuss something quite off topic to this forum's very purpose one would relate it to MJ in some way. I mean, isn't that in essence why the forum actually has categories in the first place? Otherwise it would just be one large page of topics.....

 

[CherubRam]

No, certainly not, in the context of the forum they should be in. The overall CF forum has categories for politics, hobbies, etc. So, I would think that if we want to discuss something quite off topic to this forum's very purpose one would relate it to MJ in some way. I mean, isn't that in essence why the forum actually has categories in the first place? Otherwise it would just be one large page of topics.....

I am not allowed to post in most forums, that is why I post a lot of subject here.

 

[tampasteve]

I am not allowed to post in most forums, that is why I post a lot of subject here.

OK, so that is certainly a reason to make the thread or start it as such...but why not relate it back to the forum that this is in? Besides, unless I am mistaken non-christian users can post in the Discussion and Debate forums, no?

 

[tampasteve]

But hey, I am not a moderator, so if they are OK with it then have at it I suppose

 

[CherubRam]

OK, so that is certainly a reason to make the thread or start it as such...but why not relate it back to the forum that this is in? Besides, unless I am mistaken non-christian users can post in the Discussion and Debate forums, no?

Here is what it says in D and D:
(You have insufficient privileges to post here.)

 

[Monksailor]

Something my community does is on a small scale but "the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step", right? We have a church who administers (and participates, also) Hospitality INC (In the Name Of Christ) which I believe other communities around USA also administer. Churches in the community (cross-denominational) group together to host homeless in their church for one week at a time during the winter months. Members of each host church volunteer to provide needed services/products in order to facilitate the program. It is not a 24/7 provision but from about 6pm to 8-9 am. It is not a complete or perfect aid program but it does help.

 

[Ygrene Imref]

To bring it back to this forum's actual purpose.......What, as Messianic's should we be concerned about, what would you/we think should be done about this? Not in a general political sense, but as Messianic Believers.

Figure out what you have in your household, what you actually use, and what you can do without on a monthly basis (not including utilities, rent - but including dining out, entertainment, junk/superfluous food, etc.)

Determine 70% of the cost of what you don't need.

Then, take 40% of this number, and devote it to investing in non-perishable foods and services to be donated to a local church or organization you can trust helps the homeless (not all organizations do this to the standard that is needed especially in the winter months.)

Take the remaining 60%, reserve 50% of that for personal handouts (i.e. "sparing change,") and the other 50% for personal food delivery (i.e. blankets, clothes & toiletries, handing out hot meals as per your local law.*)

-------------------

For example, Let's assume I am a part of a coupled household with no kids. My partner and I spend about $2000 a month on things besides necessities, and about $1000 is spent on absolute luxuries. Therefore,

70% of what I don't need = $700

$280 would go to [Insert Church/Organization here] as a donation specifically to help the homeless.

Out of the remaining $420, I reserve

$210 to hand out as "real" money/legal tender for the month to people I see that may be in need
$210 spend on necessities and "luxuries" for the needy and homeless​

The homeless need "real" money too; don't be scared about them allegedly using it for alcohol or drugs because you honestly have no idea what it is being used for - unless you are actually in the presence when they use the money. And, remember also that these are (for the most part) adults; your job is to plant the seed by showing unconditional fruits of the spirit, not to judge or patronize.


This may seem like a lot of money, but it really isn't. Having 30% of your disposable income left over after you have paid the bills is a luxury the homeless would dream of stressing over. The beauty of these numbers is if you have little to no income, you can still do this. Homeless people appreciate "cents" as much as dollars - especially considering that the face of homelessness has become tantamount to the face of a neighbour. It wasn't right to assume before, but one certainly cannot assume the homeless are derelicts of society. They are now educators, nurses and doctors, engineers, CEOs and business owners, previously [and/or gainfully] employed, and so on.







*It may be illegal to give money, food or goods to the homeless in your particular city in the States. So, it is important to check the local and state laws.

 

[CherubRam]

Thanks for your input, the both of you. I hope there are people who can help.