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I can’t even express how strongly I agree with this. A few thoughts... https://twitter.com/marcformarc/status/1335973446669438976
Congregate shelters were designed not with dignity, humanity, or equity in mind but for the convenience (and cost) to governments and providers. (2/)
It’s remarkable what sorts of hoops some people jump through to try to justify congregate shelters as better and just serves to illustrate the punitive nature of the homeless services system—and our requirements that people bend to our requirements rather than vice versa. (3/)
I was just on a webinar last week where one homeless services provider expressed publicly that one “problem” of moving people to hotels is that now some people are “less motivated” to move on to some types of permanent housing that are similar to what hotels provide. (4/)
Again and again we try to get homeless people to do things we want by forcing their hands by making other options intolerable...rather than by providing better alternatives that people would want to take, without arm twisting. (5/)
To that point, on the same webinar there was concerned expressed that some hospitals were making homeless patients “too comfortable” — by giving them a stretcher and a sandwich! — thus hurting success of street outreach efforts to get people to accept shelter placements. (6/)
Y’all, this needs to stop. If one stops and thinks about it for half a minute it’s obviously so messed up — the system needs to be fundamentally revised. (End)
