comment: >
  
  Something tells me rich people still would never be prosecuted or fined for this lol
context: $750 fine for being homeless is hilarious. >
  
  I am sure that will stop it.
  I am losing my job, my income, my house, my family but I will stop all that because I might get fined $750.
  Just insane. Do these people not understand they are homeless because they don't have $750 to their name? >
  
  They don't want to fix homelessness. The cruelty is the point. In some places it's illegal to sleep in your car. In some places it's illegal to have 4 roommates. >
  
  They want to move them out of the towns and into the countryside, where they cannot be seen, so are easier to ignore.
  Maybe some would say eradicate, but we are not at Soylent Green levels yet. >
  
  No, city dwellers in general don't want a bunch of homeless people around either.  It's an insanely complex issue that nobody seems to want to address.
  I've never met a homeless advocate who wanted the homeless people to live on their street, on their sidewalk or in their alley. >
  
  I think people focus, rightfully, on where homeless people will sleep. I just wish there was A LOT more focus on why people are homeless in the first place. I would argue that a country with a homeless problem like ours is a failure, outright.
  You don't get as many homeless people as we have without real inequality problems and a complete lack of willingness to assist those who fall on hard times. If every job paid a living wage, people would fall into the homelessness trap far less often. Yes, some would still, but many become homeless due to economic factors outside of their control. And once you're homeless, it's fucking HARD to end that cycle. >
  
  It's complex but people seem to shy away from the drugs as the #1 cause.  Hands down drugs is responsible and it doesn't matter how much you earn you can use enough drugs to throw it all away.
  I spend quite a bit of time doing community based drug and alcohol outreach and hands down fentanyl and meth are the #1 offender for why people are homeless and "a living wage" isn't even a nearby second.
  I don't necessarily disagree with you, like yeah, people who get treated like animals act like animals, so things like a living wage and a social safety net definitely help people not feel like they need drugs to treat some inadequacy in the first place.
  Really though, at this point drug and alcohol treatment centers instead of jail and prison is the way to go, which is why this new law is so misguided.  Sober people up in a safe and understanding way and there's a lot of possibilities.
  But when people are higher than a kite saying things like "of they just need a job with a living wage" is kinda just silly >
  
  I don't disagree, but I generally avoid pointing to drugs for the very thing we agree on: The economic conditions that people are forced to work under makes the drug use problems FAR worse than they would be if financial security was the norm. 
  Drugs are and always have been an escape. Shit, I smoke weed damn near every day because if I didn't, I wouldn't be able to handle life, straight up. I'm getting better and smoking a lot less than I used to, but I'm also very fortunate to have never lost my house or job. 
  I absolutely agree with your point about drug and alcohol treatment centers being an answer to the homelessness issue, rather than jail time. 
  I would make the argument that a multi-pronged approach is necessary to tackle homelessness. Namely, we need public housing, drug and alcohol treatment centers (as well as decriminalization of drugs), and we need to ensure a decent living for every citizen who works full time. Throw in Universal healthcare too, since medical debt is the number one cause of bankruptcy in the US.
  As a side tangent, one other reason I avoid the drug part of the conversation is because my experience with bringing that up has always been that right-wingers use drugs as a thin veil for their racism, and I don't like hearing racists talk. I'm not accusing you of that, it's just a knee-jerk reaction due to living in the midwest and being surrounded by republicans most of the time. >
  
  Housing imo is usually the number one thing that needs to be fixed, as its the hardest of the basic necessities for survival to maintain. The problem always resorts to that fixing a housong problem always will have pushback to it, regardless of political stance because as long as housing is considered an asset which appreciates in value overtime, there will always be people who will fight against it. People who are specifically hired to fix homelessness have less of an incentive to actually fix the problem, as they are out of the job if its done (similar to how road workers fix roads with temporary methods, because if a road is fixed and no longer breaks, thats less income) >
  
  Sounds like we should embrace a society where profit isn't the primary motivating factor for anything to get done, eh? >
  
  Fill our prisons laws >
  
  Laws like this are a direct result of Private prisons. For profit incarceration of the most vulnerable. >
  
  I really think this doesn't go far enough. Additional fines if you're longterm unemployed, have a longterm ilness or are disabled /s >
  
  Just bring back debtors prison. >
  
  Gross. Somehow, not surprised. >
  
  Why didn't we think of this earlier?! Make it illegal to be poor, and we would have eradicated poverty! >
  
  Just like how they outlawed rape in Texas and abortions declined!/s >
  
  When you talk to random people on reddit about homelessness you realize that unfortunately when many people say the "homelessness problem", they don't mean that there are homeless people, they mean that they have to see homeless people.
  Many people seem perfectly happy with out of sight out of mind when it comes to the homeless. >
  
  Typical conversation with a liberal (I'm a socdem) about homelessness:
  Liberal: "the homelessness epidemic is inhumane. We must help these people."
  Me: "yes, I agree with you 100%. Let's start a fundraiser to convert that old building into a homeless shelter or low income housing, so that-"
  Liberal: "ewwwww no, I don't want homeless people here. The property value of my family's house will go down and I don't wanna see a bunch of tweakers at night."
  Me: ".......... alright, I'll just do it myself. Sorry for bothering you." >
  
  Honest question, do you own a home yourself? >
  
  I'll answer your question if you tell me why you're asking. Seems like bait/a trap to me. >
  
  Dude’s gonna pull the “WhY aReN’t YoU hOuSiNg ThEm??!!111 >
  
  I own a home (well the bank does, but y'know), and I'd fully endorse using a nearby house as a shelter for people experiencing homelessness. Would it potentially lower property values? Maybe, but I don't really care. Would it potentially mean more petty crime in the area? Also maybe yes, but there are things that could be done to counter that, and the whole point is lifting people out of poverty so that crime isn't something they feel they need to resort to. So yeah, bring on the residential shelters! >
  
  "We must solve homelessness by criminalizing it."
  "We must stop abortion by outlawing it."
  "You can't stop gun violence by outlawing guns!" >
  
  Disgusting, inhumane and incredibly immoral. How is walking the earth and poverty a crime? >
  
  
  How is walking the earth and poverty a crime?
  
  What's even funnier is that these people claim to be Christians, followers of a man who famously had "no place to lay his head" and traveled around mooching off of his followers. >
  
  Matthews 25:41-45 >
  
  The pillars of democracy are: robust public education, independent journalism, human rights, equality and justice. Promote the pillars of democracy in your house and amongst your friends. Talk about them, talk about how to re-establish them, how to amplify them. Get involved in every democratic process in your community too. Defend democracy good people - it is under direct attack. Rise up and defend democracy and the United States itself from this fascist Republican attack. >
  
  How is the law not fair here? It is equally illegal for both the rich and poor to sleep under a bridge!
  /s