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What about the homeless?
Almost every day I see atleast 10 homeless people on the street and the thought that comes to my mind is that they are humans like you and me and are spending day after day doing nothing.
What if we could find a way of using this unused man power.... unfortunatly I dont have any ideas yet.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Gary Wood on -
One main challenge they face is the fact that so many job applications ask for contact information. Since they are homeless, they have none and can't get a job and it's a downward spiral. The resources in which to find work are not available to a homeless person.
Another issue is that people demand accountability for their money. People don't want to give money to a homeless person with the concern that money would not go towards food and more towards alcohol or drugs.
I've seen some resourceful homeless people who would do menial tasks like shine shoes for money. So the accountability issue is resolved and they are getting money. Most places with homeless people have a trashy feel to it. But to have my shoes shined by a homeless person actually gave the place a more classy feel to it.
I believe it was in The Lucifer Effect by Philip Zimbardo, where he writes about studies that show a decrease in crime in areas that appear clean and an increase in crime in areas that appear dirty. If a neighborhood appears unkempt, the mentality is that people aren't watching and they can get away with crime.
We aren't aware of what skills a homeless person may possess, but I'm positive all of them could do some cleaning and make their areas appear classier and nicer.
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Permalink Reply by Katherine Morrison on -
HI Emile, I've been thinking about this issue as well, in tandem with a lot of the stuff brought up while researching food security. Here's my idea, shelters+rooftop/community gardens. What if every homeless shelter had a rooftop garden or community garden? Those homeless needing help could be given workshops by volunteers, taught the necessary skills to cultivate food, be given a plot in the community garden, and a starter kit of seeds etc., and then could either grow food for themselves or to sell. The therapeutic value of gardening has been well doc**ented and would greatly benefit those participating, not to mention give them something to do, as well as giving them a skill set that could help them in a job search. This model would also create an influx of locally grown foods as well as encouraging those participating to continue their farming efforts after they get back on their feet. What do you think?
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Permalink Reply by Emile H Jansen on
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I like the idea of roof top gardens, would be pleasing to the eye. I think that every tall building with a flat open roof should have a roof top garden.
Consider the fact that not every city is has the best conditions for a roof top garden, strong winds and heavy rains could cause great damage to the garden and the building it self (heavy garden on the roof of a building).
I also like the farming aspect of your idea. But I am sorry to say that a small garden farm would not be enough to grow food for a small family.
I like the idea of integrateing them into a farming system and I say farming system because they would have to be managed and sponsored.
I did also think of haveing electricity generation houses, a place where you would have gym cycles that turn electric generators. So you would have a management staff over seeing the house, where anyone homeless or not can come in and turn a generator via the gym cycle (with hands or feet) and when they are finished get paid a sum of money, cash, depending on how much electricity they generated.
Katherine Morrison said:HI Emile, I've been thinking about this issue as well, in tandem with a lot of the stuff brought up while researching food security. Here's my idea, shelters+rooftop/community gardens. What if every homeless shelter had a rooftop garden or community garden? Those homeless needing help could be given workshops by volunteers, taught the necessary skills to cultivate food, be given a plot in the community garden, and a starter kit of seeds etc., and then could either grow food for themselves or to sell. The therapeutic value of gardening has been well doc**ented and would greatly benefit those participating, not to mention give them something to do, as well as giving them a skill set that could help them in a job search. This model would also create an influx of locally grown foods as well as encouraging those participating to continue their farming efforts after they get back on their feet. What do you think?
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Permalink Reply by Christian McCrea on -
How about this work the other way around? An enterprising Evoker could approach a homeless person, give them a lot of their clothes, some of their money, and help them in real and material ways? Rather than seeing the destitute as unused man power - who are often psychologically and physically unwell and won't be powering any homeless turbines any time soon - it could be that the inverse is true. The rich are the resource. The poor are the recipients.
Alternatively, my idea is that we could tax wealthy people more than we do and have a substantially better social welfare program in which homeless shelters are not ad-hoc, but coherently organised for a multitude of outcomes - education, health, security. Some rich people may cry foul but really, it could be said that they lack vision to see what a little giving can do for others.
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Permalink Reply by Mattias Jardstedt on -
One thing that they do where I live is to give the homeless people a job which they can perform on the street. For instance, there is a magazine which only homeless people are allowed to sell. This gives them something to do and a way to earn money.
Otherwise, one big problem that I see with the homeless is that they all seems to have given up and do not really believe that there is a way back into the society. This attitude is something that we have to change. I believe that if a person has a strong enough will to change their live, they will find a way to do so.
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Jain on -
When I started to go in depth and learn about the constitution. It got me thinking. Some basic human rights involve food, water, and shelter. Yet some people don't have any of these! They also have the freedom to own property, but unfortunately, everything in the world needs money. Now days, the economy is interfering with all our rights leaving some people to be homeless. People have been starting charity's and donation organizations but it's not helping very much because most of them are for the Haiti earthquake.
I heard about a school that reteaches kids and adults that have been in jail and have learned their lessons. Maybe something like this for homeless people should be done, all you'd have to do is use the money for charity to get them food, uniforms, and maybe rooms that they can share. Teachers can be hired and teach these homeless people based on their level of knowledge. This way, they will have more opportunities to get a job.
They are capable of doing what we do in our every day lives, and they deserve to have clothes, a place to live, food, water, jobs, and so on, just like us.
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Permalink Reply by Ameya Warde on
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Another thing is to consider that a fair amount of the homeless (though certainly not all) are that way because they are mentally ill, but do not have access to help or an institution where in the old days they would have live. Any work with the homeless should also consider how they can help those people as well.
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