primorge opened this issue on May 06, 2015 · 384 posts
WandW posted Fri, 08 May 2015 at 6:48 PM
While political discussions are indeed against the TOS, I'd suggest cracking open a history book. I'm not sure what your source is, but homeless people once were not tolerated at all in the US; 'Vagrancy' was the charge, and forced labour was often the penalty.
About a third of current homeless have serious mental illness, but it is extremely hard to institutionalize them these days; 60 years ago they would have been simply locked up in an asylum.
Our church helps run a center for homeless families that houses them and gets the kids to thier school until they can get back on their feet. Our State currently has nearly 2000 families housed in hotels. If a homeless person is arrested in Massachusetts, it's usually for committing an actual crime, although some towns will pick up repeat panhandlers after a warning, if that's illegal in that town (it's not in ours)...
PS Panhandling is an Americanism for Begging...
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The Wisdom of bagginsbill:
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