New rules for homeless: No job search, no shower

I think they should be required to search for homes before they search for jobs.

__________________
Time is the distance that you can't return by miles.

I escaped somehow. Let's go

actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter

this isn't siberia, nobody should be forced to work, if they dont want to.
then again, connections is an NGO -- so they can lay down whatever restrictions they want.

__________________

thats what i was going to say. on forms you fill in you usually have to fill in residency. i doubt writing tuesdayslatform 7, 3rd bench from the end, central train station is going to charm them.

It'd make it harder to track them down for the census at any rate. And I think the census is important! I love censes [sp?]. And how can they get a bank account and get unemployment money without a permanent address? When you think about it, drawing social welfare money without having to spend on rent could be quite lucrative. MMMMM more fortified wine!

__________________
Time is the distance that you can't return by miles.

I escaped somehow. Let's go

actualy [sic] I have quite a blessed life if I'm honest. I have many people to love, hate few and have few money problem's [sic].... What more does a person need? Oh yeah and I have some kind of humbleness unlike you of course ^_^ ~ CarefulCarpenter

That sounds a lot better than "The program's working for me. I haven't shot up in a week. Do you have employment near the methedone clinic?".

I find the whole benefit thing weird... they make it hard for you if you dont have a home when looking for a job, and you need a job when you have ahome to pay bills. Its just fucked.

No wonder people giv eup and go on the streets.

i think if you need a place to maintain yourself, in the meantime,
you should prove you're trying to do something to make it better.
mental illness or not. i'm not talking strictly job stuff. just proof of what you're capable of.

another thing,
i don't dig on the methadone thing
yet some people do better when on it


in·di·vid·u·als

__________________
[ o ]==#

Yesterday was history
Tomorrow is a mystery
Today is a gift - that's why it's called the present
- Babatunde Olatunji (and Kung Fu Panda)

I think expecting those who are in shelters to look for work who are able to enter employment is a good idea. But shelters should give their residents lots of support with any problems they have and help with training, jobseeking and welfare.
Not everybody has qualifications and those lacking should be given the option to take courses such as basic literacy and numeracy, GCSE's and vocational training. Also shelters should teach residents life skills such as budgeting as those who have been homeless once are at greater risk of becoming so again. They should also help show them what welfare they are entitled to and how to go about claiming it.
Shelters should help arrange affordable long term accomodation for their residents in hope that they will get out of the homelessness trap.

I agree with rocker_stalker. If people aren't chronically ill, or addicted, they should be expected to work. I always felt a lot more sympathetic towards the homeless before a) I got a shitty job I hated working for the government (and heck, if I have to do a crappy job I hate to survive, why should I then give the earnings of it to someone who can't be bothered) and b) I spent months living in Brazil where there are desperately poor people and children growing up on the pavement and begging for water because they have got no other option. I think that homeless shelters should be enabling people to get out of their situation and rejoin society, not just supporting it. It is an excellent idea that they could provide training for qualifications and life skills classes, stuff most of us take for granted, but some people never get taught. But these courses should be done with an endpoint in sight- those who can work should be working.

I work in a transitional housing "unit." The home I work in most of the time is rural as well, so there are certainly differences...but people use the the house address as their address on job forms until they save up enough money to get a place of their own. And you betcha they are required to find jobs, especially if they are not mentally ill enough to warrant SSI.

I don't know of any non-profit organization that can afford to continually dump people into housing. Often times, homeless people need A LOT of money to get into a home. It's vital that they are someplace that they can save money so they can do that. Our residents also sign a financial agreement and turn 75% of their income over to us, which we hold for them so that their money will be saved for the duration of their stay.

I would say that shelters giving residents help with things like training, etc. is kind of a given. That is why people are assigned caseworkers--so that one person can know what the hell is going on with their case and deal with problems that arise. Even people that use overnight shelters in inner-cities often have caseworkers.

We have had residents that do not want to work--and they generally end up having to leave. We, as an organization, throw resources at people in our shelters. Clothing, food, and other needs are taken care of. We write out thousands of dollars in vouchers a year, and we provide transportation for all our residents that need it. It costs a lot of money, and if people are not going to work and try to achieve basic goals, I have very little sympathy left for them. Especially because we always have a waiting list to get into the house...if someone is going to refuse to work, I think it's better to use the resources on someone who will utilize them to help themselves.

Some of our residents I do feel for though, as there are some people who are not legally "mentally ill," but are absolutely not able to take care of themselves. It's really sad to see them leave, because...well, I guess the reason is obvious.

Isn't welfare something that's supposed to be a last resort?
If you CAN'T work you get welfare, if you WON'T work you're shit out of luck.
Statements like these kind of piss me off, since I'm one of the people who CAN'T work, and the people that WON'T work are fucking things up.
Because of people like that they have to constantly change the rules of the welfare system, which will ultimately lead to people who CAN'T work being required to do so anyway.
It has already happened with the disability system here, and the welfare system is next.

I completely agree.
Forcing people to work is fine and dandy, but they need help.
Companies also have to change, they need to be willing/stimulated to hire homeless people.
Maybe give them a tax break if they do?

This isn't about forcing people to do what they don't want to do. That is wrong on so many levels. It often becomes just that though. That's what I feel is meant when some talk about 'the system'. It would seem that system is meant to punish and to keep people homeless. It supports the status quo. There is nothing you can do about it either. Apathy is a right.

So basically you're saying that if someone (who is able to) doesn't want to work, they should just get welfare because the system shouldn't force them?
I'm sorry, but I think there's something horribly wrong with that.
I think we can expect people that are able to work to do just that.
If you can work but need help finding a job, you should be able to get the help you need.
If you can't work you're entitled to either welfare or disability money.

No, I'm not basically saying anything of the sort. But lets say I have a back injury. If someone (who is able) could fix it then I could return to work. Since I refuse to allow them to fix it I want to be disabled, am I wrong? And of course I'm preventing them from making more than a few dollars in the process. No? Of course that isn't the case but who wants to be a self-mutilating lab rat and part of a plot to defraud the government?

If someone has an injury that is fixable but you refuse to, I don't think they should get welfare or disability.
They're just refusing to work and are using the injury as an excuse.
And sorry for misunderstanding you, but this:
and this:
in my still slightly wine-numb brain sounded like you thought not wanting to work was okay.

The injury is repairable though repairing it would cause further degradation of function and lead to more surgeries. Not an excuse, a reason. But work is good, no matter how much money is spent on pain drugs or how corrupt the system gets or how many people die. No?

i agree, the title of this thread made me think all homeless people were going to be required to find work without giving them a place to live. i think it is fair for them to find a job and get to live in a place like that.