No Fixed Address

I have so many questions regarding the homeless. Why do we tiptoe around the subject? Why are there so many more now than when I was a kid? Does that mean that drug problems are just worse now? Why is that it is not inherently against the law to be homeless, but many other laws tend to throw the problem under the proverbial bus like it being unlawful to sleep in public areas and being shewed away from bust intersections? If this is really the case, I'm pretty sure I have broken the law too as not long ago after a heavy meal I fell asleep in my F-150 in the Lowes parking lot. Some of these folks make a nuisance of themselves, but some don't, it's a bit like high school. This could go along with the idea that one bad apple might just spoil the whole bunch, maybe the Osmonds didn't know what they were talking about after all.

First and foremost, let me state for the record that while writing this I had in mind that the homeless are human too. Their hair may be matted from not showering in months, yet the good Lord made all of us in his likeness. We are unaware of what brought them to their current circumstances, luckily this blog is more about how to get them out than to berate them. Less than three miles from my house there is a homeless man that lives under the overpass where 81st street meets highway 169 in Tulsa County. He keeps his area tidy, he never begs for money, and I assume he still has some money of his own because I see him eating, drinking from clean water bottles, he owns a nice sleeping bag for winter, and he even owns a cell phone. To me he isn't hurting anything, and if the only public property he is utilizes is that overpass to keep the rain off his head while he is sleeping, I'd say that's fine. It has to be there whether he is under it or not. Can I get an Amen? Can you smell the cake I'm baking? In other words, if they are not making a nuisance of themselves just live and let live.

Govenor Kevin Stitt here in Oklahoma recently started to enforce Statue 64OS, which states that nobody is allowed to loiter on state owned property and was being enforced by his office via the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. Once the homeless have been asked to move on they are essentially given the choice between a rehab facility or jail. There are a few problems with this logic, not all of these folks are drug addicts. While some are, they are surely not going to be able to stay in those kinds of institutions very long without some kind of insurance support. Those that might opt to go to jail just to be able to sleep somewhere than the ground for a few days and to get a hot meal also are essentially in the same boat. Within this problem lies no long-term solution, just a short-term fiasco. The long and short of it is that 90% of these people just ended up right back where they started out less than a week after it began. And I know because I drive through these same places every day on my way back and forth from work. As near as I can tell this DIDN"T solve the problem. At that point it just became about nothing more than geography. If the homeless in this town are rounded up with no permanent place for them to land that's just a waste of the state's resources. The OHP would be better off writing speeding tickets on Interstate 44. At least that would bring IN revenue.

However, it has come to my attention recently that the THA or Tulsa Housing Authority are erecting low-cost housing apartments on land in the downtown area that has been allotted by the Choctaw Tribe. The original building was condemned by the city and the homeless in that area were using those empty apartments to squat in anyway. However, because the facility lacked running water and electricity at that time they served as little more than a place for squalor to go and die. We should recognize as Americans and humanitarians that this is nothing more than a third-world problem in a first-world setting. That's a crying shame! But this newly built apartment complex is essentially a match made in heaven. In essence what was once illegal activity hidden from the city the same piece of land will now be used in the same way, except for a way for those same people to get back on their feet. People who are legitimately disabled (for whatever reason) will have their rent paid for by the city. Don't ask me who will make that determination because I have no idea. Those that are able bodied will have their apartments paid for by working part-time for the complex, but NOBODY will be allowed to stay if they are doing drugs. Sounds more than fair to me. These people are going to be displaced and "underfoot" no matter what actions we take, we might as well give them a legal place to flop that keeps them off street corners where they are likely to be hit by a car and possibly perpetuating the local drug trade.

And let me say this on behalf of our veterans, SHAME on the US government for not doing more to help them. Any man who has literally spilled his own blood to ensure our freedom should be treated with a bit more respect. Those men who have trouble fitting back into society after returning home from war should be set up for life. And remember, just because you didn't lose your life working for the military in the middle east doesn't mean you didn't lose your sanity. And we should keep in mind that life without sanity isn't worth much.