As the Smithfield shelter closure potentially pushes more to the street, advocates work to create a protective policy for unhoused people
Weekslong wait times for shelter, worries about being jailed for sleeping on the streets, the uncertainty of not knowing where to find your next meal or...
www.post-gazette.com
With the linked article, the local paper (we only have one) encourages us to be concerned about the changing circumstances of the local homeless community. One downtown shelter is closing down and the nearest alternative is a few blocks away. Incredibly one who is interviewed says that if things get any worse in Pittsburgh he might have to go elsewhere. Can we afford to lose that valuable asset?
There used to be an expression in common usage - "The Deserving Poor." The unfortunate implication is that there is another community to be addressed - the UNdeserving poor. Putting it succinctly, the undeserving poor are those for whom their wretched circumstance are thought to be caused by their own fault.
Consider which column the following people would be listed:
- Widows and orphans,
- the physically handicapped,
- crazy bastards,
- the mentally incompetent,
- substance abusers,
- people bankrupted by medical bills,
- people bankrupted by college loans to major in Ethnic or Gender Studies, and finally,
- people who are temporarily "down on their luck" (lost job, lost apartment, lost car, etc.),
- those who simply refuse to work, or to adopt Middle Class Values.
As taxpayers, what do "we" owe these people, especially considering that 99% of them live in urban areas and are simply off the radar screen of anyone living outside The City?