[tomder55]

... than let them be temporarily sheltered in a church

wcbstv.com - NYC Churches Ordered Not To Shelter Homeless

It never fails... it's only a short time before the bureaucrats lose sight of their purpose and start making regulations and passing laws that in effect outlaw competition .

A homeless person might want to avoid an official "government homeless shelter" for a number of reasons (because they suck and are dangerous places ?),and instead sleep on the street or temporarily take shelter in a church or facility run by some faith based organization that only has the capitol and manpower to operate once a week or when weather conditions deteriorate ?

This reminds me of the restrictions placed on private food pantries that are shut down because they don't meet local restaurant regulations. Much better to let the hungry dumpster dive than eat a home made casserole made in a private kitchen I suppose.:confused:

[frangipanis]

Just happened to see this. Difficult to imagine what it must be like living on the streets in freezing weather conditions... numbing thought. Not nice shutting them out of churches, eh.

[liz28]

I remember last year there were this homeless couple living on the streets in Long Island and they were being interview by a news caster and they stated they have been living on the streets for a few years. The lady interviewing them ask why don't they go into a shelter but they stated they rather lived in the streets.

This night there was a deep freeze in affect but they stated they lived through many deep freezing and was afraid. Sadly, the next day the guy died because of the weather and it was sad.

So yes I don't think anyone should be out cold. Yesterday I just went to the store and I was cold so I can't image someone living outsif in this weather.

One of my friends resue animals, mostly cats, that live on the streets. I feel sorry for them too because many of them died too. People shouldn't throw out their animals when there are plenty of shelters. The upside of that is that many of them are full and they can only hold them for a certain amount of time. I am glad that NY is offering help to people who can't afford their animals because of the economy to help people keep their animals by providing food and giving referrals to vets that lower their fees, some by more than half. At least this can help lower the amounts of homeless animals.

[twinkiedooter]

Being homeless whether you live in a car (a luxury, believe me if you are homeless) or on foot is an extremely hard life. To deny a homeless person shelter in the cold is worse than inhumane - it's tatamount to premeditated murder in my eyes. Just let one politician have to spend the night outside in a below zero or windchill at 10 degrees and see if they don't decide to open up churches for shelter.

This country will have an overabundance of homeless people this winter due to the foreclosures amongst other reasons. I have no idea how these people will somehow get back on their feet in this economy, let alone try and have at least one meal a day. To be eligible for food stamps you have to have a permanent addresss (unless they have changed this requirement) and you are not allowed to purchase "fast food" or pre-cooked food with the food stamps either. No, you have to buy the food and go home and cook it on your imaginary stove should you miraculously qualify for food stamps. So, just how is a homeless person going to cook their food? They can't. They will have to eat cold soup, cold lunchmeat sandwiches, cold anything.

I had a friend who lived in a car for 3 months in the winter many years ago. She at least had the luxury of a vehicle for some sort of shelter. She could not get food stamps as she did not have a permanent address or landlord or utility bills to prove she lived in a for real place. She somehow qualified for public housing as she had a child under age 16 and got a bare 2 bedroom apartment. She slept on the floor until she found a bed at the side of the road. Since she did have a permanent address she could start collecting food stamps. She got a $300 car borrowing the money for it. She got a job and then purchased furniture at Goodwill, $25 couch and $15 love seat. She somehow was able to get her life back on track and live like she used to before she lost her job and her home. It was not easy. She told me that she had spent the night in her car when the temperature was near zero and could not keep the engine running for the heater as she did not have enough gasoline to do this.

I cann't imagine what horror stories we are going to be reading about this winter about the homless dying due to exposure. It's supposed to be a long, cold winter with a lot of snow.

[NeedKarma]

Being homeless is a choice! If they would work and get a job instead of relying on handouts then they could support themselves.

[startover22]

NK.. you can't be serious. Or can you? Sheesh, I can't even tell anymore.

I work in a restaurant, we have extra rice at the end of the night... also some other things, I do not take them to the shelters, I just put it all in separate boxes and hand it out when we have it. I don't do it as often as I should, so thanks for the reminder.

Being cold sucks. I put our extra winter clothes from years before in my car and if I see someone who may benefit from it, then I grab something and hand it to them with a sweet smile and a kind heart.

If my boss knew how many people I feed in a week, I could be fired.
Your comment NK, is mine for people like this...
This guy comes in and he does at least once a week, sometimes he doesn't have money, so he pays me the next time he comes in. Sometimes he says he doesn't know when he will have any money. This guy on Friday had the gull to request me to give him free food, and a soda cup... he hadn't paid me back for Monday, nor did he make an attempt to bring it up... and he was bossing me like I was his maid or I SHOULD do it for him. YOu know he is always clean, and always pretty good, but he is bossy, and he hit a nerve with me on Friday. So he is so OK to go and get a job, but instead he talks his talk and gets his way... many people I know have dealt with this guy and they tried to warn me. So I have been conned;)
OH well, I am to concentrate on the people who really need my help now, right.
Put your old jackets and blankies you don't use in your car, when you are riding around and aware that you have something to help someone, then you will be amazed on how many you see that need you and your help.


(edit::::) I need to add that I have more good experiences with the homeless than bad. They ask if they can do anything to earn the money or the food I give.) I just wanted to let you know that it isn't all bad;)

[Skell]

Sadly common sense doesn't seem to play a role in many political decisions. This is a perfect example.

NK, is your comment tongue in cheek or serious? Its hard to tell?

In a more simple world that comment may hold true. But sadly in the world we live in it is far from that easy for many people.

[NeedKarma]

NK, is your comment tongue in cheek or serious? Its hard to tell??

Just repeating what the righties say when it comes time to help our fellow downtrodden man. I forgot to mention "socialism' since it's the talking point of the day.

[inthebox]

I put our extra winter clothes from years before in my car and if I see someone who may benefit from it, then i grab something and hand it to them with a sweet smile and a kind heart.

If my boss knew how many people I feed in a week, I could be fired.


OH well, I am to concentrate on the people who really need my help now, right.
Put your old jackets and blankies you dont use in your car, when you are riding around and aware that you have something to help someone, then you will be amazed on how many you see that need you and your help.

Start:


Your awesome! :)
Great idea.



Tom:


Why would the state interfere with the church regarding this humanitarian mission?
What ever happened to that separation thingamajig?

[tomder55]

NK you have not seen me argue against private initiatives to aid the homeless ; nor have you seen me say that "get a job" is their solution .You have never seen me argue against a government provided "safety net" .

So your comments do not apply ;except the one about socialism .
I have illustrated in this posting the weakness of relying on the nanny state .The homeless in NY in this instance are far better served by private initiative than the government.

[twinkiedooter]

Being homeless is a choice! If they would work and get a job instead of relying on handouts then they could support themselves.

Now I am totally convinced you don't have a conscience about certain things. If you think being homeless is a choice, boy are you dead wrong there buddy. No one wants to lose their job, be unable to pay mortgage or rent, have their electricity and water turned off for nonpayment. No one consciously chooses to have these unfortunate things happen to them. No one wants to be homeless, believe me.

Put yourself in their shoes for a moment. What would happen to you should you not have a job and steady income and be able to pay your rent/mortgage payment and buy food and electricity for your family (should you have a family that is). You would ask your friends/families to help you out. What if you had no family to let you stay at their home until you got back on your feet financially? What if your friends said no thank you, I can't help you or let you stay at my home. What would you do? You would go homeless, that's what through no fault of your own.

Jobs are getting scarcer and scarcer to find in this country and if the homeless person could get a job - don't you think they'd jump at the chance to get a job? Of course they would. You need to remember "there but for the grace of God, it could be me homeless".

Starty - I am so glad you have a conscience and are helping as much as you can. I am sure you sleep better at night because of your caring for your fellow man. My hat's off to you.

[NeedKarma]

Now I am totally convinced you don't have a conscience about certain things.

You fail at comprehension.

[tomder55]

I understand that NK was being sarcastic when he wrote that and it doesn't reflect his own opinion.

[speechlesstx]

Just repeating what the righties say when it comes time to help our fellow downtrodden man. I forgot to mention "socialism' since it's the talking point of the day.

You mean just repeating what is sometimes said by people of all walks. Those nasty "righties" are probably in the churches that NYC shut down. If they did that in our extremely conservative city the homeless would have nowhere to sleep because virtually all of the beds, meals and clothing for the homeless are provided by nasty "righties" through church and parachurch ministries such as Citychurch, Faith City Ministries and the Salvation Army. While the left talks a good talk and works to get government to take care of everyone those mean old "righties" are out there helping with their own time and money.

[frangipanis]

One side emphasises the need for a robust and competitive economy to make life better for the majority - the trickle down effect, while the other believes it's the responsibility of the governments to more evenly distribute the benefits of economic wealth. In other words, not just leave it up to individuals and institutions to take care of those in need who genuinely can't do more to help themselves.

Both have good intentions. Based on personal experience, I favour a balance of both - difficult though it is to get that right. Had it not been the fact I live in what's considered a welfare state, my family home may have been lost at a few critical, yet relatively short moments of need. At the same time, I can't stand being dependent on the government so naturally worked towards freeing myself of a lot of it's unwanted side-effects... although I couldn't have achieved that without a lot of support from family, friends, a postiive work environment and a partner who genuinely cares about me, so I know I've been very lucky.

Because I know what it can be like to fear losing your home, I have no hesitation agreeing to pay additional taxes to help reduce the level of poverty in our country. I only wish we could do more. I certainly wouldn't be happy knowing people were needlessly freezing in the streets if something could have been done to prevent that. Politics gets pushed aside at that point, and you simply open a few doors and give them a blanket.

[N0help4u]

Yeah it is crazy. I work in a University cafeteria and we throw away tons of butter because they put out a bowl of about 4 lbs every morning for bagels and they have to throw it away every 3 hrs.
Yet they forgot to refrigerate some for two days when it was delivered and they put that in the cooler.
We are no longer allowed to take food home because they don't want to be liable if we get sick but it would be just as easy to get sick eating it there the way they leave food out sometimes and follow the rules other times.
Also the utility companies are allowed to shut our utilities off in the middle of winter now. They say with a doctors excuse they aren't allowed, BUT the excuse must say that you need electric or gas for your medical problem. So if you freeze, cramp up, get frostbite easily or have arthritis that is not good enough.
You have to be on a machine like dialysis or oxygen or you have to have meds that have to be refrigerated.

The wastefulness drives me crazy and people only worry about being sued rather than helping as speechless said the righties are the ones helping while the lefties are busy making up new laws to stop them.

[twinkiedooter]

You fail at comprehension.

You fail at being scarcastic.

[frangipanis]

The fact you often need to have a near death experience to get help is beyond me. It's the same here... you have to be so down trodden you can't feed yourself before you're considered deserving of help... at which point you're too weak to ask for help.

[twinkiedooter]

Being homeless is a choice! If they would work and get a job instead of relying on handouts then they could support themselves.

This certainly didn't sound scarcastic to me (and to other members here also).

[N0help4u]

Yeah it is a choice to be out there freezing and nowhere to live.
Most homeless have mental problems that prevent them from working. Many homeless are former soldiers suffering from post tramatic stress and nobody wants them because of it.
Then too, take a person that had a good job and a roof over their head and they were living on a thousand dollars a month.
Then they get laid off and can't afford their rent and their phone.
Can't find a job and find themselves homeless.
Now they are homeless and do not have a place to bath or even change clothes and clean up, no phone, no address, no friends, no family.
HOW are they suppose to get a job when they have no way to get to a job to apply and no phone and no address to put on the application?