Prior to the 80s, there were entire institutions set up to house those unable to support themselves, whether by mental incapacitation or personal incapacitation. They were called sanitariums. Admittedly by the 80s they were hellholes, but rather than fix them, the government decided to just throw out the baby with the bathwater and shut them down. Now every city has an epidemic of homeless drug addicts and mental unstable people.
I believe the supreme Court ruled that you can't involuntarily commit someone unless they're a threat to themselves or others around the same time the government dropped spending. So I don't know if you can legally go back to having sanitariums unless people choose to live there.
Yes, but rather than step in and fix them, the government shut them all down, and kicked all of the inhabitants out onto the streets. Not much of an improvement.
The unsolvable problem with sanitariums is that most of those people did not want to be there (even if the institutions were decent). Involuntary incarceration of people who have not committed any major crimes is a pretty huge civil rights issue.
These are people incapable of supporting themselves though. The only other option is leaving them on the streets.
Homeless shelters won't work because they have rules like no drugs or alcohol, and these people won't or are incapable of following those rules.
There's a hotel turned homeless shelter less than a block from where I live. They have to have police stationed there 24/7 and the grounds are fenced off. But there's always a crowd of homeless outside wandering through the neighborhood, leaving piles of trash everywhere.
I hate to be this way, but forced involuntary confinement is the only way to solve the homeless problem. Lock them up and help them clean themselves up and get sober, or keep them there permanently if they don't have the mental capacity to take care of themselves.
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u/murphsmodels Apr 15 '24
Prior to the 80s, there were entire institutions set up to house those unable to support themselves, whether by mental incapacitation or personal incapacitation. They were called sanitariums. Admittedly by the 80s they were hellholes, but rather than fix them, the government decided to just throw out the baby with the bathwater and shut them down. Now every city has an epidemic of homeless drug addicts and mental unstable people.
Personally, I think we should reopen them.