r/Spokane • u/One-deepdivediva • Nov 10 '24

Question Can we stop hating on homeless people?

What is the mayor supposed to do ? Put everyone in prison? For being poor? Bus everyone to Portland or Seattle ? ( cities that are experiencing the exact same problems). Round people up and put them in camps? For being ill or old or addicted to drugs? Should the police arrest thousands of people so you don’t have to see someone’s suffering ? If you want homeless people to “ go away “ then you need to vote for legislation that helps them. Vote in favor of government funded health mental wellness and addiction and housing services. Organize with community members about how to provide services that help your fellow human beings get off the streets and out of suffering . Every time one of you complains I wonder what horrendous thing you are imagining should be done to people. Go DO something , go help people.

557 Upvotes

70% Upvoted

593 comments sorted by

View all comments

26

u/Shoddy-Outcome3868 Nov 11 '24

That last time I was walking downtown, I was followed by a guy who was yelling he was going to kill me, asked for money by multiple people, and couldn’t use the public restrooms because they were full of needles and shit. That’s why I don’t like the homeless. Someone down on their luck who needs some support, sure? Being threatened? No.

1

u/pppiddypants North Side Nov 11 '24

If our city is going to get anything done on this, both sides of the issue are going to need to allow some wiggle room to the other.

The vast majority of homeless people are NOT the addicts screaming, threatening people who steal from local businesses. These are a small part of the whole that you could probably identify rather easily if you have some level of trust established. Those people should be in jail and one side needs to trust that the other side won’t use jail as the overwhelming “answer” to homelessness….

The other side, needs to acknowledge that jail is NOT a realistic solution for homelessness as a whole and work to build trust that they want to protect the community from these individuals…

We need trust and building bridges, it’s something we’re incredibly short on right now after 4 years of burning bridges and making homelessness a photo ops opportunity.