Reply #31: Um.... [View All]

While the population that I described doesn't enjoy the hassles that go along with living on the street, they have even more of a problem with the responsibilities that go along with being integrated into society. This is what I mean by choosing homelessness. Understand, if you offered them a free apartment with no obligations and no expectations other than a place to pick up their check they would gladly take it. But as soon as you link it to even the most basic accountability (not playing the radio in their new apartment loud at 2:00 am, actually paying the rent on the 1st of the month out of the SSI checks we registered them for, not smoking during voc rehab classes, not telling the landlord to f*** himself when he asks them not to beat on the soda machine in the lobby), they would walk away from the apartment and the responsibilities that went with it while grumbling about how the man was trying to keep them down. Yes, I am saying categorically that these people will choose "begging for food, miniscule help, and living in uunwelcoming, unsanitary conditions" OVER THE OTHER OPTION. These people are not mentally ill, unless you consider having a bad attitude towards authority and responsibility a psychosis. That is why we chose to work with those with a diagnosed mental illness. By and large, these guys wanted out and were motivated to do so if someone would take them by the hand and navigate them through the system.

I think what you call insensitive is actually an ugly reality that I learned through (much) hard experience. If you want to see it for yourself, be my guest (although the real experience will take a little more than passing out turkey dinners on Thanksgiving Day to make yourself feel good). It takes some arrogance to pass judgement on someone who's bringing news from the trenches because the reality they describe doesn't fit into your romanticized cartoon of how things probably are.

By the way, it's "vocational" rehab, not "vocal" rehab. You'd think an expert on homelessness would know that.