Enslave the homeless

Things have gotten so far out of hand in stumptown that drastic measures are required if this fair town is to ever return to its former quirky "glory:" the homeless problem has gotten so bad that businesses are fleeing and most people avoid going downtown.

I propose enslaving the homeless.

Sure, there are constitutional issues but in the final analysis what other viable options are there for these crazies and drug addicts?

Offering services does nothing; give them a motel room and they trash it.

No, just bite the bullet, label them "disposable" and put them to work in public works projects: they won't be missed.

Tom Morello disagrees

Quote: missedhervee

Things have gotten so far out of hand in stumptown that drastic measures are required if this fair town is to ever return to its former quirky "glory:" the homeless problem has gotten so bad that businesses are fleeing and most people avoid going downtown.

I propose enslaving the homeless.

Sure, there are constitutional issues but in the final analysis what other viable options are there for these crazies and drug addicts?

Offering services does nothing; give them a motel room and they trash it.

No, just bite the bullet, label them "disposable" and put them to work in public works projects: they won't be missed.

The problem is that there is a type of homeless that really isn't their fault at all. The kind who used to be hard working and had steady income and was financially okay, but got injured or sick and therefore lost their jobs and were evicted/foreclosure and out on the streets. (Mama's House had an episode were her previously rich Cousin Cora ended up homeless and poor and in jail after her Husband who was rich until he got sick/injured and couldn't work anymore ended up losing their house. Mama ended up in jail herself with because she ended up being in a group of homeless People on the street and had left her ID in her house. Enslaving this type of homeless People would be a really big problem.

The other type, the plain bum who is able bodied and healthy and can work, but chooses to be a lazy bum who lives on the street, this type wouldn't be a really big problem to enslave.

Quote: missedhervee

Things have gotten so far out of hand in stumptown that drastic measures are required if this fair town is to ever return to its former quirky "glory:" the homeless problem has gotten so bad that businesses are fleeing and most people avoid going downtown.

I propose enslaving the homeless.

Sure, there are constitutional issues but in the final analysis what other viable options are there for these crazies and drug addicts?

Offering services does nothing; give them a motel room and they trash it.

No, just bite the bullet, label them "disposable" and put them to work in public works projects: they won't be missed.

Put them on buses and send them to Gov Abbot in Texas.

I assume he prefers American citizens to illegal immigrants.

Quote: missedhervee

... put them to work in public works projects: they won't be missed.

Guiliani started that in NYC. 'Workfare' required able bodied welfare recipients to work for the city three days a week in order to continue their benefits. They kept the parks and streets a lot cleaner. It got 750,000 people off welfare and working fulltime jobs. Bloomberg continued the program.

de blasio ended the program as soon as he took office.

Quote: Tanko

Guiliani started that in NYC. 'Workfare' required able bodied welfare recipients to work for the city three days a week in order to continue their benefits. They kept the parks and streets a lot cleaner. It got 750,000 people off welfare and working fulltime jobs. Bloomberg continued the program.

de blasio ended the program as soon as he took office.

You can send your NYC homeless to Texas as well. It would be cheaper to support them in Texas even if NYC contributed much of the homeless funds due to lower cost of living.

Quote: rxwine

You can send your NYC homeless to Texas as well. It would be cheaper to support them in Texas ....

Technically, there are no homeless in NYC, where everyone is guaranteed shelter upon request.

Doubt any of them would go to Texas or Beverly Hills for that matter, since the city is providing thousands of luxury hotel rooms for them at an annual cost of $300 million to the taxpayers.

They live better than you.

That's okay. The tazpayers are getting what they voted for.

Biden has been sending three planeloads here per week for the past eight months. Abbott has sent only 30 busloads.

'NYC seeking extra 5,000 hotel rooms to house migrants bused to city'

Quote: missedhervee

Things have gotten so far out of hand in stumptown that drastic measures are required if this fair town is to ever return to its former quirky "glory:" the homeless problem has gotten so bad that businesses are fleeing and most people avoid going downtown.

I propose enslaving the homeless.

Sure, there are constitutional issues but in the final analysis what other viable options are there for these crazies and drug addicts?

Offering services does nothing; give them a motel room and they trash it.

No, just bite the bullet, label them "disposable" and put them to work in public works projects: they won't be missed.

Just take the Texas approach and bus them to Chicago.

Quote: DRich

Just take the Texas approach and bus them to Chicago.

Nah, something drastic needs to be done, something akin to criminalizing homelessness, as we once did with vagrancy.

Round them up and after a due process hearing to verify their homelessness ship them to work camps in the woods to build and maintain trails, plant trees, and for the more ambitious fight wildfires.

Expect resistance, but I suspect with a sense of order and purpose instilled to them some will thrive and work their way back to being a productive member of society.

I was always told by my parents, that back in the day homelessness was never an issue because such people would be forced into mental institutions, but at some point in the 70s (I think) most were shut down -I think by Reagan when he was Governor they always said- (I have no idea how true this is, just what I have always heard). This is not quite "slavery", but it is forcing people into confinement against their will, and its keeping them from public.

But, this kind of program (weather it actually existed or not) seems far more realistic than what you proposed.

Slavery is only legal if a punishment for a crime and if to the government (the one exception to the 13th amendment). But, honestly none of these programs are likely because there is a massive push against government incarceration right now, so unless you are in a very open-minded State, its probably not going to happen (and even then it would probably be Federally challenged).

Unfortunately, there really is no recourse for people who want to be homeless. I know a family who is very wealthy and has some judges (IE I mention that because they have the resources and connections to get their son forced into such a program), and their son still lives under the rail yard because there is nothing that they can do.... Its just a lifestyle, if you have a rich family, and reject help, there is not much to be done. Some people don't want family resources or legal intervention, they just want to do drugs in a tent under the bridge.... I think most people would be shocked at the amount of homeless that have places that they could easily go back to, but don't for a variety of reasons (they don't want to give up the drugs, they feel judged, they are paranoid, or whatever......)

And, police don't really want to mess with them (even in cities that have the political will) because jails won't take them, and issuing a ticket is pointless (they will just never show, and you can't find them or even if you can and the Court issues a warrant, its the same conundrum, jails won't intake a misdemeanor warrant, so they just get fingerprinted and put back in camp, so then what, issue another ticket for them not to show?)