A new B.C.-based study undercuts the persistent stereotype that homeless people can't be trusted with cash, according to the lead researcher who says it also highlights a different way to respond to the crisis.
I glanced over the actual study yesterday. Iirc, there was a control group of 65 who were studied on top of the other 50 who received the lump sum of cash. Both groups spent roughly similar amounts of stimulants such as alcohol and other drugs, despite the group receiving financial help obviously having access to more money. I think it makes more sense to think of the homeless’ spending on stimulants as just another need they have developed due to different circumstances on their lives. Would their finances be easier to manage if they didn’t have that spending? Sure, but very, very few people are going to be capable of overcoming an addiction on the short term when they structurally live under shit circumstances. Help them reach a minimum standard of living, then it’ll be easier for them to successfully go through therapy.
TL;DR: Just give homeless people money, they tend to understand their own circumstances well enough to know how they should spend it.
I absolutely agree. But I do think it’s interesting how there’s almost never any discussion of drug use and alcoholism among housed people, as though that’s not a social problem in itself. And imagine how much more severe the consequences are of people going to work fucked up, driving their cars, selling drugs in their dorms and getting kicked out of college, raising a family while trashed on xanax, and so on.
But when this happens, it’s an even more individualized matter than it is with homeless people. When we look at homeless folks, we individualize the blame and socialize the consequences (it’s the homeless person’s fault they’re homeless, but that’s fucking up our city etc). Somehow, we never consider the social repercussions of housed people with addictions, especially if they have an addiction to alcohol. Alcoholism can get pretty far in an “average” person’s life before anyone really steps in and sees it as a serious problem. Same with prescribed drugs, because they have some psychiatrists signature on them. Millions of people drink when they get home from work. But if we see a homebum with a 40, we first make a snap diagnosis, then widen our judgement to everyone whose ever been evicted or had to sleep in their car.
All I’m saying is that half the problem is ingrained social stigma, when they’re really not much different from the rest of us.
I think it’s be obvious that if you give a homeless person ten bucks, that’s not going to help them get out of homelessness, so of course it’s going to be spent on among their next day or so more tolerable in the form of mind altering substances.
Enough money to actually help and it starts getting spent on things that will improve their outlook on life.
I glanced over the actual study yesterday. Iirc, there was a control group of 65 who were studied on top of the other 50 who received the lump sum of cash. Both groups spent roughly similar amounts of stimulants such as alcohol and other drugs, despite the group receiving financial help obviously having access to more money. I think it makes more sense to think of the homeless’ spending on stimulants as just another need they have developed due to different circumstances on their lives. Would their finances be easier to manage if they didn’t have that spending? Sure, but very, very few people are going to be capable of overcoming an addiction on the short term when they structurally live under shit circumstances. Help them reach a minimum standard of living, then it’ll be easier for them to successfully go through therapy.
TL;DR: Just give homeless people money, they tend to understand their own circumstances well enough to know how they should spend it.
I absolutely agree. But I do think it’s interesting how there’s almost never any discussion of drug use and alcoholism among housed people, as though that’s not a social problem in itself. And imagine how much more severe the consequences are of people going to work fucked up, driving their cars, selling drugs in their dorms and getting kicked out of college, raising a family while trashed on xanax, and so on.
But when this happens, it’s an even more individualized matter than it is with homeless people. When we look at homeless folks, we individualize the blame and socialize the consequences (it’s the homeless person’s fault they’re homeless, but that’s fucking up our city etc). Somehow, we never consider the social repercussions of housed people with addictions, especially if they have an addiction to alcohol. Alcoholism can get pretty far in an “average” person’s life before anyone really steps in and sees it as a serious problem. Same with prescribed drugs, because they have some psychiatrists signature on them. Millions of people drink when they get home from work. But if we see a homebum with a 40, we first make a snap diagnosis, then widen our judgement to everyone whose ever been evicted or had to sleep in their car.
All I’m saying is that half the problem is ingrained social stigma, when they’re really not much different from the rest of us.
I think it’s be obvious that if you give a homeless person ten bucks, that’s not going to help them get out of homelessness, so of course it’s going to be spent on among their next day or so more tolerable in the form of mind altering substances.
Enough money to actually help and it starts getting spent on things that will improve their outlook on life.