Homeless shelters are not for everyone. But they help

By PW Robinson, special for Calmatters

This comment was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

Re: “7 assumed by our investigation of homeless shelters in California“

For those who take a gloomy view of HomelessI can only suggest spending a night or two sleep in alleys, under bridges or freezing beaches, shaking and starving, without bathroom facilities and predators of all kinds.

In a desperate trip of a homeless man, these shelters provide safety and basic life needs. As the achievement of housing is rightly considered by most as a pipeline, these shelters can also provide hope of hope of hopeless.

In every decent shelter, one is treated as a person, often for the first time in many years. They suddenly have the dignity of running water, toilets, showers, food, mail, etc. If they can ever dare to hope again, this is the moment.

Depending on the personal history of the individual’s trauma, sleep close – very close – 100 suffering strangers can be a horrific experience, but it is better for some than freezing and starving and trying to sleep with one eye open. Outside, some people turn to drugs so that they can remain awake and vigilant throughout the night.

Unfortunately, some people cannot be convinced to try to sleep in a room full of strangers. They have been attacked and deceived so times that they have no faith in safety, even as a concept. Others just can’t sleep at night without screaming, which disqualifies them from the life of the shelter.

Are these people “resistant to service” or just suffer?

In order to evaluate the quality of shelter, we need to discard statistics as a housing speed, as shelters do not participate in the creation of housing opportunities. Their residential estimates rely on the forecasts provided by residential authorities, developers and contractors. When new housing units fail to become available, no one can get out of a shelter. This is a damage to the system, not a damage to shelter.

I was equipped with a pipeline to the home and I eventually achieved it. If I had not had a place to sleep safely, send and receive mail, eat, bathe and advocate for myself and get help from cases, I may not be accommodated today, a few years later. So the shelters must work.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.