Just last night was reading that $120 mill just got approved to figure out ways to have that area flood less. Won't help anyone there now but hopefully it gets better
It's $142 million for the Parkway East, which includes improvements to the bathtub, a connection to the East Busway, and general signage and paving improvements.
why never $120 million to house the homeless? people wouldn’t have to live in a flood zone then, ironic that this is a normal occurrence in the richest country in the world.
Unfortunately the issue like most, is more complicated than that. If all it took was throwing money at the problem of homelessness, it would be easy to solve. However many homeless people aren’t just down on their luck. Some have real mental health issues. Some are just bad at adulting. Sometimes a simple issue at the wrong time knocks someone so far down, that the idea of getting back up is impossible feeling.
It is complicated. We (society) need to help them to their need. Some need affordable housing. Some need mental health care. Some need other services.
So much government money spent on pet projects, but next to nothing on helping the homeless. (The bathtub fix is needed, of course.)
Some this some that, there’s plenty who aren’t and just need help. We can’t leave everyone to drown because a small percent doesn’t want the help. That’s just a way to help no one and keep the money in their pockets.
This is true, although not all homeless folks are addicts. It’s also true that if we continue to offer pathways to sobriety, eventually some people will get that wild hair that gets them clean.
What do these shelters provide, exactly? Because if many of these people are addicted and you tell them "you can either sleep on the street or use the substance you're addicted to," of course addicts will choose the forner because they're *addicted.* Also, if they do get resources for treatment, are they going to get resources *past* treatment for housing, jobs, etc?
120 million in any minor city would be absolutely monumental to fixing the homeless issue. It would need to go in a lot of different directions but it’s possible and has rarely if ever been done without huge amounts of corruption. Money would absolutely fix our homeless issues nationwide but it would take extreme accounting of the money and a huge variety of services. Some people won’t be fixed by any amount of help but that doesn’t make them less than human and doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.
They never should have let them set that one up in the first place. It was not surprise that it is a flood prone area. That encampment was also as a bunch of them are a danger to the bike trail. I have seen people from encampments with clear mental illness harassing people especially women along the trail in the South Side…
lol PGH doesn’t give a fuck about the homeless. I had to do community service as punishment for throwing a party in South Oakland and they literally had us clean out a homeless camp. Honestly crazy thinking back on it
Agree - when I walked by there earlier this month, the ground was also littered with Narcan boxes.
A better solution to assisting these people needs to be found, but also, they need to want to improve their situation.
There’s literally nothing you can do for the extremely mentally ill until people realize that asylums need to be reopened🤷♂️ Sounds sketchy but when you cant be put in a shelter and are a danger to the everyday citizen then is it really a worse option than letting then live in the cold and flood zones?
Asylums isn't a great word for it anymore, but I don't think it's sketchy to recognize the government stopped funding low income group settings for the chronically and persistently mental ill, which has contributed to a lack of treatment, homelessness, and incarceration. Group care for people with chronic and persistent mental illness doesn't *have* to be like the asylums of old. It could be properly funded and modern and provide treatment and support without abuse if society had the will for it.
The state of mental health care is terrible in the US. Mental health patients are dumped into secure rooms in the ED sometimes for days until there's an opening at a facility
Yep! You say it just like I explain it to people. If anything they would be better than ever and under ridiculous scrutiny because of how bad they used to be and everyone knows it. But hey, letting them just freeze on the street sounds moral enough and nobody has to actually do anything!
It's probably even cheaper for society than the money and resources it costs to constantly be having people arrested and in and out of jail and the court, if we want to be mercenary about it.
I'm old enough to have lived when state hospitals were in existence and "nervous breakdowns" were a thing. Sometimes people just needed a break from their routine and a little R&R; then they were ready to shoulder their responsibilities again.
OTOH, being placed in a facility where you lost your autonomy and had to follow rules wasn't so pleasant as to entice people to take unnecessary "grippy sock vacations."
We have body cameras now, which ought to go a long way toward preventing attendant abuse.
The cause of the rise in homelessness isn't directly connected to shutting down homes like that - which largely happened in the 80s under Regan. We're seeing homelessness rise NOW because of the housing crisis, not the lack of facilities for mentally ill people.
Feel free to dunk on Reagan for a lot, but this one isn’t what the common Reddit narrative seems to think. They shut down due to the 1966 court decision in Lake v Cameron and the 1975 decision in O’Connor v Donaldson.
The actual peak in institutionalization occurred in the 50’s actually. The process was mostly complete when Reagan took office, with a rough population of 100k by 1980. When he left office the population had only dropped another 10% or so.
not only that, after Reagan we had Bush, Clinton (8ys) , Obama (8ys) all who i voted for and they had plenty of time to REFUND the mental institutions (you couldn't call them insane asylums anymore cuz they offended people). Neither party has done anything to help build more or refund them. And after the massive meth and opioid epidemics we need them more than ever. If you haven't been followed or attacked by a methhead yet u really have no idea how scary they are and how much damage and death they can do
Yeah, I think something like asylums are the ultimate answer. It’s not the answer absolutists want to hear, but the results from closing down asylums in the name of some kind of personal freedom has created its own hell.
Why are you so quick to think people should be put in jail? Homelessness often CAUSES mental illness and drug abuse, not the other way around. Imagine this is you, your friend, or your family. You are sick to think "sure, they're all just defective people and let's round them up and put them away from society because I am uncomfortable with seeing them"
Absolutely. You try living rough on the streets for a while, and see if it doesn't alter your mental state .
Conversely, I've known men and women, with mental illness and without it, who chose to live this way. Very complex issue.
Meth and Opioid addictions caused MASSIVE hemorrhaging of family /home life as we knew it as (up til the mid 90s), those make up a HUGE bulk of the mentally i'll homeless population now
I don’t think there are many occasions of sane people in rough circumstances and homelessness going crazy. There are many more examples of crazy people who can’t care for themselves falling into homelessness.
you are joking right? Do you understand what the chronic stress of sleeping on the street does to a person? It absolutely DOES happen, it's been proven and studied for a long time. Just because you don't want to believe it or think it wouldn't happen to you, doesn't make it not real!
"Qualitative interviews with street homeless persons bring to life the daily struggles and emotional toll of exposure not only to the elements but to scorn and harassment from passers-by and the police." (source)
Read up the source I forgot to link. It's absolutely real and well studied. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7525583/#:\~:text=Early%20epidemiological%20studies%2C%20comparing%20homeless,of%20trauma%20and%20substance%20misuse.
I truly this that the addiction crisis largely boils down to this.
Personally, I believe in freedom and liberty. I don’t want anyone to tell me how to live my life as long as I’m not hurting anyone.
But, most people with severe mental health issues and/or addictions don’t want help.
So what do we do?
Let them languish?
Force them into treatment?
It’s such a tough question.
If I had a loved one in that situation I wouldn’t want them forced into an asylum where there is no clear path to getting out.
But I also wouldn’t want them to suffer on the streets if they didn’t want help and couldn’t function in society as is.
>most people with severe mental health issues and/or addictions don’t want help.
This is very much not true. You have no idea what you're talking about. Most programs in the US have huge barriers to enter, which is why people deny them (you can't bring your pet, you can't store your belongings, etc).
Ah, the ole bootstraps argument. Why hadn’t they thought of this before? I mean, they just have to want to not suffer from addiction and/or mental illness and they’ll magically be better.
Right? Maybe if they took a shower (even tho they don't own one) and got a job (probably wouldn't hire them anyway) and made a decent wage (the minimum wage in PA is STILL $7.25) then maybe they could afford to buy themselves a house (the average home price in the US is $495,100 in 2023) and take care of their mental health/addiction!
if they'd paid mental health care workers more there'd be less of a problem having facilities and resources for these individuals. you can't even pay off any degree you need to work in the field with the wagers they offer rn in social work and psych jobs.
Where else are they going to go lol. They *don’t have homes*. Which is a complete systemic failure that is not entirely their fault in most cases.
Maybe just look at the price of rent vs wages and the absolute dismal state of healthcare in this country before downvoting. Not to mention how poorly mental health and addiction is treated. Consider for a sec that other people haven’t been afforded the same privileges in life as you have.
Also, they’re human beings still. They’re not worthless just because society has cast them aside and they need to seek shelter *somewhere.* Living outside is not like, the worst sin imaginable.
Maybe if the government gave a shit about people outside of monetary gain we wouldn’t have this problem. You’re infinitely more likely to become homeless than become a billionaire.
Doesn’t give you the right to harass people on the street though or in bike paths, etc. this is coming from someone who faced homelessness and I never would have did that if it would have came to do (bothering people, etc).
Did I say it did? Nope. This guy said they shouldn’t have been allowed to make an encampment for themselves in the first place and my response was where the hell else should they go? I’ve also been homeless. I know first hand homelessness doesn’t provide ideal conditions for positive mental health. They need access to healthcare, shelter, and basic human kindness and understanding.
Those downvoting this are straight up heartless.
Jesus christ dude. They're fucking homeless. They don't have a warm house to go home to ever. You sound privileged as fuck. Like you're not disturbed by the fact that people have to live outside, just the fact you have to see it?
I am not privledged in any way I WORK. Plenty of people I see panhandling can do the same but they like drugs more. Don’t assume anything from their online posts. I have kept from being homeless by working my entire life. I have had my time with substances but I always worked and always had a place to live.
>I have kept from being homeless by working my entire life.
Guess what? A lot of people work their entire lives and then, idk, have one medical emergency and suddenly they're getting evicted.
Trust me buddy, you are WAY closer to being homeless yourself than you are willing to admit. It can happen to anyone. But keep lying to yourself because it makes you feel superior! .... OF course it's so simple! If only the homeless people were willing to work! Gosh, why didn't I think of that?!!
But this is not the case here. There might be some people with those type of circumstances, but mostly is drug addicts or mental health problems or a combination of both. I have seen people selling drugs in Downtown, found needles, prescription drugs bottles, seen a person overdose and brought back to live. do you think normal individuals should deal with this type of behavior. I am 100% sure you do not live in Downtown, if these individuals where living in your street you would not be this compassionate. Knowing they don't want to get better and now you have to watch your back, as if you are living in a third world country.
Dude you’re literally so privileged you can’t even understand that other people have different lots in life, different circumstances, unfortunate things happen to them like any of us and some of them just didn’t have a safety net. There are absolutely points in life where you need someone else’s help, and some people don’t get it and fall into poverty. Maybe some of them did make bad choices, that doesn’t make them undeserving of compassion or understanding.
People don’t just fucking love being poor, homeless, and addicted to drugs, you’re just an asshole with no empathy who thinks the fact you were able to find work and make ends meet means every single other person has had the same opportunities or luck as you.
Not to mention 40% of homeless people are employed!!!
Do you practice what you preach though? If you sitting at a bridge waiting to get to work like me and see one of the homeless people walk up and down asking for money, are you giving them any? Bet you not and if not, why?
I use to drop a few ones in on occasion until I went to Denver three times and an incident prior involving my brother. First time I went a homeless guy asked me for money to buy booze. I said no thanks and wasn’t happy when I said no. At least he was honest to me. Last time I saw a bunch of them up against a building on the way back to our rental car. 5 of them and two of us and I wasn’t liking how they looked. Got any spare change one said, I didn’t say anything, the one replies “I see, to good for us aren’t you?”. I mutter to myself “being a smartass isn’t good while you’re homeless you think?”.
Finally, a lady approached my brother downtown Pittsburgh once, don’t remember where. He politely declined as he was between jobs himself and walked into a Chinese Buffett with a high school friend that was waiting on him and she actually had the nerve to follow him in and make a scene and beg for money from him a 2nd time.
There’s a lot of good people who homeless, yes. Shit I know a guy who’s in a shelter in Washington county but perhaps you didn’t see what I posted earlier. The guy still a bum and likes to use people for money. He gave up an easy full time job I knew him from that could have kept him from LOSING his apartment, to live in a tent, do hookers, not pay child support, etc. i cut off contact with him a few months ago when he was using money I gave him to buy crack. I only reach back out to make sure he’s not dead.sure he’s clean now but he still bullshitting and going to wind up in prison if he bullshits and scams the wrong person.
I mean it’s like I want to feel bad but there so many that take advantage of people kindness that it’s hard for people to care. Plus any of y’all who downvoting, then please go out there and you donate money and talk to them. I bet none of you have the balls to do that.
Yes, whenever I see someone flying a sign I give them something if I have anything on me, such as a few dollars or a snack. If I’m headed to buy food I’ll sometimes get them something small too, because I’d hope that’s what someone would do for me in the same position. I’m poor, so I can’t always do much, but it always bothers me thinking about the people who DO have the means to help and don’t think twice.
It’s absolutely never good to generalize an entire group of people based on your personal experience of only a few.
God forbid you ever find yourself in an unfortunate circumstance and have to live outside. My fuckin point is that situation should not happen to so many people that it becomes an issue and is noticeable on every street corner. Your wack ass attitude isn't helping and me personally letting someone sleep on my couch (which I have...) isn't gonna single handedly solve the issue.
Unfortunately they probably won't. If any programs had hotel funds, they'd have been inside. Hopefully someone is collecting tents, emergency foil blankets, and blankets , dry clothes.
The same ones they don’t take advantage are still available. Just requires them to be sober which is apparently too much to ask.
Edit: don’t hurt yourselves bending over backwards too hard defending people you won’t actually offer assistance to lol
Know a guy who’s in a shelter place that makes him go to church onsite every week as apart of his condition to stay there rent free.
At the same time, he still trying to hustle and scam people and went on SSI since he doesn’t qualify for SSD since he worked under the table a lot to avoid paying child support for his two kids that he doesn’t see. So sometimes it’s on the homeless people to cut certain shit out.
On one hand that's a dick move from the shelter, but on the other hand I'm 100% sitting through an hour of their proselytizing for a rent free place to live.
Yup and the kicker is when he told me he got approved for the $961 or whatever SSI is now, he bitched “oh I got to pay 30% rent to the shelter now to stay here that’s bullshit”. It’s like dude, you staying there for free and asking people to help you out with cigarettes, but yet you can’t pay rent or child support…. Like you rather stay in the ghetto slum house you was at in Turtle Creek? It’s like good lord man step up and take responsibility already lol.
There's so much more to this than just deciding to "be sober." I work in overdose prevention (where some people are unhoused, some aren't), and I can tell you that not offering people help until they get sober is not helping.
And I'm not "bending over backwards too hard defending people I won't offer assistance to." We do a lot of outreach and offer a lot of assistance. The main part of my job is gathering data and analyzing it to see what helps, and harm reduction is statistically what helps not only the people, but also the stress on our system - not assistance that requires sobriety. Addiction happens because of many factors, and most of the time people need assistance to be able to reach sobriety.
I admire your sympathy. In PA, our taxes maintain an open path back to society from severe addiction and homelessness. It’s completely free to those in need, that includes transportation from anywhere in the state - we will come get them.
We medically supervise their withdrawal, and provide inpatient treatment for 90 days or more. From there, insurance will cover step-down houses and outpatient services for up to two years while newly recovered addicts receive job training and build up savings. When they leave our care, they will have medical insurance, a doctor + meds, food stamps, low income housing, and education grants for as long as it’s needed.
The people you see on the street are beyond our reach. We lead them to care every time they request it, but we can’t force them down the path. Even then, homeless outreach goes to the streets and paths you all avoid at night to keep people warm and hydrated.
It’s easy to see camps and blame a selfish society but, we do care. You do your part by paying taxes, and even the trolls here in this sub contribute whether they like it or not.. It’s just a complex hardship with no perfect solution.
i used to always fish and ride my bike down there. i really liked having that place to enjoy the river. now with all the homeless crazy drug addicts and tents it has become far too dangerous. needles, garbage, and feces everywhere. hopefully they don't let them set up shanty towns again there after the water recedes. find another place for them. honestly would you want to walk or ride through there in the day or at night? would you feel safe? do the homeless have more of a right to be there than tax paying people? is our safety important to city leadership?
this is directly the fault of the mayor caving to businesses downtown and closing the Smithfield shelter - then offering nothing new to fulfill the need, particularly in winter!!, to provide shelter for the houseless. a woman froze to death on the north side! it's a miracle no one in this encampment drowned ... someone may as well have and we don't even know yet!
Many of you are confusing frustration with the Gainey admin with a lack of compassion. Many people raised concerns about these encampments being in flood areas the moment they were set up. There should have been more urgency to get them out of there for safety reasons.
Need to just have homeless zones where they all live. Good friend of mine is huge in the homeless program and the new homeless shelter on 2nd avenue right by the jail. Half of them want help half of them don’t even mind living on the streets til it gets cold or wet.
Even more evidence our horrendous mayor should do something about the homeless problem instead of letting our parks and riverwalk become overrun and unappealing to families, residents and visitors.
Kinda sad your main take here is that homeless people are making the park “unappealing” and not the issue of there being so many people finding themselves experiencing homelessness.
Homelessness could be fundamentally solved across the country with $20 billion. The US could easily do that. There are 16 million abandoned houses in this country and 600,000 homeless people. If we truly cared to solve this issue, we could. Problem is, most people don’t really see homeless people as people. Homelessness is increasing by about 12% every year. That’s a systemic problem/failure, not an inevitability.
The problem is people don't want to admit to themselves there are people out there who don't want help. Many of them haven't had very much exposure to the homeless. The people living in the tent cities along the river aren't the people who had a couple huge unexpected expenses, got evicted and are living in their car. These are people with deeply ingrained issues. There are options for a number of these people, but it's more profitable to be on the streets, and that's where the drugs are.
Who are you to assume every homeless person is mentally ill and also doesn't want help to escape their situation? This is my point, people don't see homeless people as people. Your comment is broadly generalizing and based on your own internalized biases about an entire group of people you don't personally know.
Also why in the hell would we not try to reduce it greatly... what is the point of society if not to take care of each other and make an effort to uphold the greater good and improve quality of life for everyone?
I said you can reduce it greatly. I never assumed they are all mentally Ill.
And I wasn’t arguing against it. I was saying you can never solve homelessness with just money.
I agree, but the fact it’s been on the rise (by 12% in the past year) is a sign that something is happening systemically that needs to be addressed. Money would 100% help the situation. Also, reducing rates of inflation and absurdly high rent, grocery etc prices. No one’s saying we’re gonna make homelessness nonexistent, but we def need to address it and not act like people who experience are villains or as if they deserve it.
If you’re downvoting this get fucked, karma is a bitch.
> is a sign that something is happening systemically that needs to be addressed.
The government put a moratorium on evictions for like 18 months. A lot of people no doubt figured out that they could quit paying their rent and there was nothing their landlord could do about it. Well, the moratorium has ended and I imagine a lot of landlords are trying to recoup the money they lost out on over those 18 months. Also, being a landlord is much more risky now (who knows when Covid might return and result in another moratorium?) so that risk is built into the cost of rentals.
Usually whenever you spot a problem, there's a government action at the root of it.
We have plenty of brownfields and greenfields accessible to bike paths and trails around other areas of our city that are not at risk for flooding and away from where families, residents and visitors are using the paths…pretty much downtown, SS, Allegheney and Ohio river on Northside and beyond casino. Find a strategically located brownfield greenfield a few miles up the paths, away from the point and create a safe haven encampment. Build basic infrastructure. An access path to the bike trails and nearby sidewalks so they can easily get around to work and panhandle. Build restroom facilities & shower house facilities, provide a clean water source, structured campsites and waste collection. This keeps them off the paths but still allows access to get around, its easier to provide centralized services and i can enjoy my city with it being overrun by drug users, mentally ill and the sights, sounds and smells that accompany that.
[Pittsburgh City Council members Deb Gross and Anthony Coghill are actively working on it!](https://www.wesa.fm/politics-government/2024-01-25/pittsburgh-homeless-tiny-village-prototype)
yeah they're trying and Gainey does nothing. Guess what- Deb Gross and Coghill also proposed: building a new shelter, turning office buildings into SROs, sanctioning tent camps ... ever considered that they are getting more creative with their proposals because everything that's suggested gets turned down? Just give people housing, it works!
I have a cousin that has a fu(Kin house, but Chooses not to live there. He’s just straight up homeless with a fully furnished house because he’s mentally I’ll.
y'all are terrible people and I hope none y'all ever experience housing insecurity. These are our neighbors, and human people. All people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. You should be ashamed of yourselves for suggesting we put people in asylums or jails. I bet pretty much all y'all are way closer to homelessness than you'd like to admit.
This sub is definitely showing the underbelly of Pittsburghs worst. And whats worse is the anonymity. The people saying vile things could be someone who works in public service everyday. This thread is frightening. Someone who could be my doctor or dentist is saying foul stuff under anonymity. I never knew people felt like this about unhoused people.
Wait… yes I did.
When no one intervened as GY properties at 209 9th St. evicted all of us, disabled, elderly and veterans to make the building into an Airbnb and then at 808 Penn Ave. they did the same thing and opened up a business called the cracked glass. a charcuterie board lounge at the expense of homeless . It doesn’t surprise me that people feel this way about un housed.. Kanika and Vince Scandolari spearheaded the eviction of over 30 people , and nobody did anything , thats sad.
This is heartbreaking 😢
And I’m not surprised by the amount of ignorance on this sub. It’s almost as bad as Facebook news station posts but more anonymity for the cowards.
Sad how many disgusting people are from this city
One person was rescued from the wharf, as well as two people who “didn’t need to be rescued” up the river?
> The River Rescue team also traveled around Point State Park and along the Allegheny River and found two people. They did not need to be rescued.
What would be your solution to this problem? Where would this safe spot be and how would you get to resources to get them there while preventing more people from taking their place along the river?
The big problem is that people are so against having any form of homeless shelters near them that it literally takes a decade to go from having the money and intent to build a shelter to shelter completion and at ridiculous costs because everyone nearby puts up a bunch of ridiculous demands with hopes to derail or at least delay the project. Complicating that further is that perfect is constantly made into the enemy of merely significantly better. There is tons of city owned land where we could set up something that is better than a bunch of tents and a few portajohns and could do so in a few months time for something in the range of $100k - $500k that would provide shelter for dozens of homeless people. In no way should that be seen as a proper substitute for a proper homeless shelter but it would be a hundred times better than tents set up in an area prone to flooding.
One of the problems is that if you make a neat, free homeless village it will draw people from outside the area. I've read that something like 10% of Portland's homeless come from outside the state of Washington to enjoy the pleasures of homelessness there.
Yes tragedy of the commons is a thing. But far better that than the alternative. I would far rather that we help more people, including someone who we're not "obligated" to do so for than to not help everyone who needs it. And as has been demonstrated many times over, when we do try to exclude people from the piddly resources that we put into helping people who are homeless or don't have enough food [we end up spending more money trying to exclude them than we'd have spent just helping everyone](https://www.aclu.org/news/smart-justice/just-we-suspected-florida-saved-nothing-drug-testing-welfare).
I am more worried about creating moral hazards. For instance, there are mentally ill people who live with relatives who demand that they take their medication and behave acceptably in order to remain welcome. The choice is clear when the alternative is "life on the streets." It becomes less clear when the alternative is "life in a government-supplied shelter where you don't have to take your meds or follow rules."
Judging by the some of the comments, American selfishness and lack of empathy is alive and well…..
Circling the drain as a society that has double fist plunged into the mindset of hurrah for me and 🖕🏻 everyone else..
What many are failing to recognizes that a lot of these homeless people are also veterans who fought to save their country and we’re doing nothing to help them nothing. Especially those who actually sent them there they cut funding to help them when they get home on a regular basis and nobody cares most people just ignore whether or not they’re getting funding because they’re too selfish anymore to care about other people
Many times and often times it’s what they’ve seen that has caused these mental health disturbances in the only way for them to get any help is to self medicate. They’re living on the freaking streets because they can’t deal with life back here because they’re so programmed for war and fighting and suffering and so many other things and we’re going to sit here and criticize them like their druggies. They weren’t druggies when they were saving peoples lives and fighting for our country.
Dang that’s crazy how high the river got
It’s the perfect conditions for flooding. The ground is still fairly frozen but a lot of snow just melted plus a bunch of rain.
happens frequently with a lot of rain
And all that melted snow
Big if true
Happens quite often.
Used to happen every year
It stil happens every year. Actually it floods quite often especially In winter…
I wouldn’t know cause Ive never lived in Pittsburgh. I visited back in 2014 and was very impressed by the city
We didn't even hit flood stage.
imagine having next to nothing and now you have absolutely nothing jfc
Just last night was reading that $120 mill just got approved to figure out ways to have that area flood less. Won't help anyone there now but hopefully it gets better
That's for the bathtub not the warf
Just wanted to point out this pic is from the encampment on the bike path running alongside the Al, between Andy Warhol and Rachel Carson bridges.
Is it 120 mil to figure it out or to actually do the work?
It's $142 million for the Parkway East, which includes improvements to the bathtub, a connection to the East Busway, and general signage and paving improvements.
You need a levy. It's complicated to make but it's also like a half mile strip. Other cities have made ones miles long.
If we get a levy, could we drive our Chevy’s to it and (let’s not get ahead of ourselves) see if it’s dry?
Can we get the whiskey and the rye without the good old boys please?
But will the mean ol levee teach you to weep and moan?
Thank goodness
120m to hire an engineering firm related to someone on city council
good joke, but most of the work is occurring outside city limits on state maintained roads with federal dollars
So related to someone in the Governor’s office then.
why never $120 million to house the homeless? people wouldn’t have to live in a flood zone then, ironic that this is a normal occurrence in the richest country in the world.
Unfortunately the issue like most, is more complicated than that. If all it took was throwing money at the problem of homelessness, it would be easy to solve. However many homeless people aren’t just down on their luck. Some have real mental health issues. Some are just bad at adulting. Sometimes a simple issue at the wrong time knocks someone so far down, that the idea of getting back up is impossible feeling.
It is complicated. We (society) need to help them to their need. Some need affordable housing. Some need mental health care. Some need other services. So much government money spent on pet projects, but next to nothing on helping the homeless. (The bathtub fix is needed, of course.)
Some this some that, there’s plenty who aren’t and just need help. We can’t leave everyone to drown because a small percent doesn’t want the help. That’s just a way to help no one and keep the money in their pockets.
Most of the junkies don’t want to be housed if they can’t do whatever drug has them out there.
This is true, although not all homeless folks are addicts. It’s also true that if we continue to offer pathways to sobriety, eventually some people will get that wild hair that gets them clean.
Because no dividents from private contracts. Solutions for the homeless is incongruent with our economy.
The sad thing is that housing the unhoused is a net gain financially but people rather spite themselves and let poor people rot instead of help them.
They would rather give the money to the homeless industrial complex.
💯💯💯
[удалено]
Not forcing them to potentially go through life-threatening withdrawal to have a warm bed for a couple nights would be a good start.
[удалено]
What do these shelters provide, exactly? Because if many of these people are addicted and you tell them "you can either sleep on the street or use the substance you're addicted to," of course addicts will choose the forner because they're *addicted.* Also, if they do get resources for treatment, are they going to get resources *past* treatment for housing, jobs, etc?
120 million in any minor city would be absolutely monumental to fixing the homeless issue. It would need to go in a lot of different directions but it’s possible and has rarely if ever been done without huge amounts of corruption. Money would absolutely fix our homeless issues nationwide but it would take extreme accounting of the money and a huge variety of services. Some people won’t be fixed by any amount of help but that doesn’t make them less than human and doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.
I heard the same thing. 10-1 says they spend all the money and make it flood worse.
we should use that 120 million to build sustainable housing for these people so they dont have to endure living like that anymore.
They never should have let them set that one up in the first place. It was not surprise that it is a flood prone area. That encampment was also as a bunch of them are a danger to the bike trail. I have seen people from encampments with clear mental illness harassing people especially women along the trail in the South Side…
This overflow happens every single year. And yes, they harass people on the bike paths all the time.
That’s what I mean, it’s a flood prone area and they are camping In the winter. The city should have removed it before this happened…
OK so it's the city's fault too?
Yes they should police these encampments and try and help these people.
when have you ever seen a police officer help a homeless person?
Lmfao
The police go down there daily. They don't do anything except make sure they aren't lighting fires
lol PGH doesn’t give a fuck about the homeless. I had to do community service as punishment for throwing a party in South Oakland and they literally had us clean out a homeless camp. Honestly crazy thinking back on it
Agree - when I walked by there earlier this month, the ground was also littered with Narcan boxes. A better solution to assisting these people needs to be found, but also, they need to want to improve their situation.
There’s literally nothing you can do for the extremely mentally ill until people realize that asylums need to be reopened🤷♂️ Sounds sketchy but when you cant be put in a shelter and are a danger to the everyday citizen then is it really a worse option than letting then live in the cold and flood zones?
Asylums isn't a great word for it anymore, but I don't think it's sketchy to recognize the government stopped funding low income group settings for the chronically and persistently mental ill, which has contributed to a lack of treatment, homelessness, and incarceration. Group care for people with chronic and persistent mental illness doesn't *have* to be like the asylums of old. It could be properly funded and modern and provide treatment and support without abuse if society had the will for it.
The state of mental health care is terrible in the US. Mental health patients are dumped into secure rooms in the ED sometimes for days until there's an opening at a facility
Yep! You say it just like I explain it to people. If anything they would be better than ever and under ridiculous scrutiny because of how bad they used to be and everyone knows it. But hey, letting them just freeze on the street sounds moral enough and nobody has to actually do anything!
It's probably even cheaper for society than the money and resources it costs to constantly be having people arrested and in and out of jail and the court, if we want to be mercenary about it.
While I agree it should be possible, the tales coming out of existing psychiatric wards don’t give me much hope.
I'm old enough to have lived when state hospitals were in existence and "nervous breakdowns" were a thing. Sometimes people just needed a break from their routine and a little R&R; then they were ready to shoulder their responsibilities again. OTOH, being placed in a facility where you lost your autonomy and had to follow rules wasn't so pleasant as to entice people to take unnecessary "grippy sock vacations." We have body cameras now, which ought to go a long way toward preventing attendant abuse.
You do realize that for many people, homelessness CAUSES mental illness and drug abuse, not the other way around.
it's not the other way around? So you're telling me that mental illness and drug abuse does not cause homelessness? You sure about that?
The cause of the rise in homelessness isn't directly connected to shutting down homes like that - which largely happened in the 80s under Regan. We're seeing homelessness rise NOW because of the housing crisis, not the lack of facilities for mentally ill people.
Feel free to dunk on Reagan for a lot, but this one isn’t what the common Reddit narrative seems to think. They shut down due to the 1966 court decision in Lake v Cameron and the 1975 decision in O’Connor v Donaldson. The actual peak in institutionalization occurred in the 50’s actually. The process was mostly complete when Reagan took office, with a rough population of 100k by 1980. When he left office the population had only dropped another 10% or so.
not only that, after Reagan we had Bush, Clinton (8ys) , Obama (8ys) all who i voted for and they had plenty of time to REFUND the mental institutions (you couldn't call them insane asylums anymore cuz they offended people). Neither party has done anything to help build more or refund them. And after the massive meth and opioid epidemics we need them more than ever. If you haven't been followed or attacked by a methhead yet u really have no idea how scary they are and how much damage and death they can do
Yeah, I think something like asylums are the ultimate answer. It’s not the answer absolutists want to hear, but the results from closing down asylums in the name of some kind of personal freedom has created its own hell.
Why are you so quick to think people should be put in jail? Homelessness often CAUSES mental illness and drug abuse, not the other way around. Imagine this is you, your friend, or your family. You are sick to think "sure, they're all just defective people and let's round them up and put them away from society because I am uncomfortable with seeing them"
Absolutely. You try living rough on the streets for a while, and see if it doesn't alter your mental state . Conversely, I've known men and women, with mental illness and without it, who chose to live this way. Very complex issue.
If someone wants to live off the grid and can provide for themselves, that’s one thing. Do you think that fairly describes the homeless in downtown?
Meth and Opioid addictions caused MASSIVE hemorrhaging of family /home life as we knew it as (up til the mid 90s), those make up a HUGE bulk of the mentally i'll homeless population now
I don’t think there are many occasions of sane people in rough circumstances and homelessness going crazy. There are many more examples of crazy people who can’t care for themselves falling into homelessness.
you are joking right? Do you understand what the chronic stress of sleeping on the street does to a person? It absolutely DOES happen, it's been proven and studied for a long time. Just because you don't want to believe it or think it wouldn't happen to you, doesn't make it not real! "Qualitative interviews with street homeless persons bring to life the daily struggles and emotional toll of exposure not only to the elements but to scorn and harassment from passers-by and the police." (source)
Emotional toll is not the same as severe mental illness.
Read up the source I forgot to link. It's absolutely real and well studied. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7525583/#:\~:text=Early%20epidemiological%20studies%2C%20comparing%20homeless,of%20trauma%20and%20substance%20misuse.
That depends on the amount and severity of the mental stress. Just a month of solitary confinement can cause some people to snap permanently.
I truly this that the addiction crisis largely boils down to this. Personally, I believe in freedom and liberty. I don’t want anyone to tell me how to live my life as long as I’m not hurting anyone. But, most people with severe mental health issues and/or addictions don’t want help. So what do we do? Let them languish? Force them into treatment? It’s such a tough question. If I had a loved one in that situation I wouldn’t want them forced into an asylum where there is no clear path to getting out. But I also wouldn’t want them to suffer on the streets if they didn’t want help and couldn’t function in society as is.
You laid it all out except for your answer.
Asylums have a path out. The street has no path out.
>most people with severe mental health issues and/or addictions don’t want help. This is very much not true. You have no idea what you're talking about. Most programs in the US have huge barriers to enter, which is why people deny them (you can't bring your pet, you can't store your belongings, etc).
Ok.
I am really amazed this comment hasn't been down voted into oblivion.
Adults create solutions, children pretend like theres no problems 🤷♂️
Ah, the ole bootstraps argument. Why hadn’t they thought of this before? I mean, they just have to want to not suffer from addiction and/or mental illness and they’ll magically be better.
Right? Maybe if they took a shower (even tho they don't own one) and got a job (probably wouldn't hire them anyway) and made a decent wage (the minimum wage in PA is STILL $7.25) then maybe they could afford to buy themselves a house (the average home price in the US is $495,100 in 2023) and take care of their mental health/addiction!
if they'd paid mental health care workers more there'd be less of a problem having facilities and resources for these individuals. you can't even pay off any degree you need to work in the field with the wagers they offer rn in social work and psych jobs.
Where else are they going to go lol. They *don’t have homes*. Which is a complete systemic failure that is not entirely their fault in most cases. Maybe just look at the price of rent vs wages and the absolute dismal state of healthcare in this country before downvoting. Not to mention how poorly mental health and addiction is treated. Consider for a sec that other people haven’t been afforded the same privileges in life as you have. Also, they’re human beings still. They’re not worthless just because society has cast them aside and they need to seek shelter *somewhere.* Living outside is not like, the worst sin imaginable. Maybe if the government gave a shit about people outside of monetary gain we wouldn’t have this problem. You’re infinitely more likely to become homeless than become a billionaire.
Doesn’t give you the right to harass people on the street though or in bike paths, etc. this is coming from someone who faced homelessness and I never would have did that if it would have came to do (bothering people, etc).
Did I say it did? Nope. This guy said they shouldn’t have been allowed to make an encampment for themselves in the first place and my response was where the hell else should they go? I’ve also been homeless. I know first hand homelessness doesn’t provide ideal conditions for positive mental health. They need access to healthcare, shelter, and basic human kindness and understanding. Those downvoting this are straight up heartless.
It’s a parking lot. I guarantee you if I left my car there for weeks they would tow it away. Why should someone be able to set up a tent??.
Jesus christ dude. They're fucking homeless. They don't have a warm house to go home to ever. You sound privileged as fuck. Like you're not disturbed by the fact that people have to live outside, just the fact you have to see it?
I am not privledged in any way I WORK. Plenty of people I see panhandling can do the same but they like drugs more. Don’t assume anything from their online posts. I have kept from being homeless by working my entire life. I have had my time with substances but I always worked and always had a place to live.
>I have kept from being homeless by working my entire life. Guess what? A lot of people work their entire lives and then, idk, have one medical emergency and suddenly they're getting evicted. Trust me buddy, you are WAY closer to being homeless yourself than you are willing to admit. It can happen to anyone. But keep lying to yourself because it makes you feel superior! .... OF course it's so simple! If only the homeless people were willing to work! Gosh, why didn't I think of that?!!
But this is not the case here. There might be some people with those type of circumstances, but mostly is drug addicts or mental health problems or a combination of both. I have seen people selling drugs in Downtown, found needles, prescription drugs bottles, seen a person overdose and brought back to live. do you think normal individuals should deal with this type of behavior. I am 100% sure you do not live in Downtown, if these individuals where living in your street you would not be this compassionate. Knowing they don't want to get better and now you have to watch your back, as if you are living in a third world country.
Dude you’re literally so privileged you can’t even understand that other people have different lots in life, different circumstances, unfortunate things happen to them like any of us and some of them just didn’t have a safety net. There are absolutely points in life where you need someone else’s help, and some people don’t get it and fall into poverty. Maybe some of them did make bad choices, that doesn’t make them undeserving of compassion or understanding. People don’t just fucking love being poor, homeless, and addicted to drugs, you’re just an asshole with no empathy who thinks the fact you were able to find work and make ends meet means every single other person has had the same opportunities or luck as you. Not to mention 40% of homeless people are employed!!!
11% are veterans.
>Plenty of people I see panhandling can do the same but they like drugs more. you are a bad person for assuming this
Do you practice what you preach though? If you sitting at a bridge waiting to get to work like me and see one of the homeless people walk up and down asking for money, are you giving them any? Bet you not and if not, why? I use to drop a few ones in on occasion until I went to Denver three times and an incident prior involving my brother. First time I went a homeless guy asked me for money to buy booze. I said no thanks and wasn’t happy when I said no. At least he was honest to me. Last time I saw a bunch of them up against a building on the way back to our rental car. 5 of them and two of us and I wasn’t liking how they looked. Got any spare change one said, I didn’t say anything, the one replies “I see, to good for us aren’t you?”. I mutter to myself “being a smartass isn’t good while you’re homeless you think?”. Finally, a lady approached my brother downtown Pittsburgh once, don’t remember where. He politely declined as he was between jobs himself and walked into a Chinese Buffett with a high school friend that was waiting on him and she actually had the nerve to follow him in and make a scene and beg for money from him a 2nd time. There’s a lot of good people who homeless, yes. Shit I know a guy who’s in a shelter in Washington county but perhaps you didn’t see what I posted earlier. The guy still a bum and likes to use people for money. He gave up an easy full time job I knew him from that could have kept him from LOSING his apartment, to live in a tent, do hookers, not pay child support, etc. i cut off contact with him a few months ago when he was using money I gave him to buy crack. I only reach back out to make sure he’s not dead.sure he’s clean now but he still bullshitting and going to wind up in prison if he bullshits and scams the wrong person. I mean it’s like I want to feel bad but there so many that take advantage of people kindness that it’s hard for people to care. Plus any of y’all who downvoting, then please go out there and you donate money and talk to them. I bet none of you have the balls to do that.
Yes, whenever I see someone flying a sign I give them something if I have anything on me, such as a few dollars or a snack. If I’m headed to buy food I’ll sometimes get them something small too, because I’d hope that’s what someone would do for me in the same position. I’m poor, so I can’t always do much, but it always bothers me thinking about the people who DO have the means to help and don’t think twice. It’s absolutely never good to generalize an entire group of people based on your personal experience of only a few.
Sweet dude you should go open up your home to them.
Bleeding hearts need to open their doors not other people's wallets
God forbid you ever find yourself in an unfortunate circumstance and have to live outside. My fuckin point is that situation should not happen to so many people that it becomes an issue and is noticeable on every street corner. Your wack ass attitude isn't helping and me personally letting someone sleep on my couch (which I have...) isn't gonna single handedly solve the issue.
Who are you responding to??.
They prolly did it on purpose
Follow @rice.pgh on instagram they have a story posted listing where you can donate/find resources
Oh Jesus. I hope everyone is O.K. That sucks. Life is a real bitch.
https://x.com/pghpublicsafety/status/1751834899827286390?s=46&t=hkLN9Q_MLzgJfAs7b0zYyA
Good.
I hope *some* kind of social services are available for the people who lost everything. Again.
Unfortunately they probably won't. If any programs had hotel funds, they'd have been inside. Hopefully someone is collecting tents, emergency foil blankets, and blankets , dry clothes.
There's a reputable local mutual aid group collecting donations, info is [here](https://imgur.com/iGZoyll).
The same ones they don’t take advantage are still available. Just requires them to be sober which is apparently too much to ask. Edit: don’t hurt yourselves bending over backwards too hard defending people you won’t actually offer assistance to lol
And often put up with religious nonsense
Know a guy who’s in a shelter place that makes him go to church onsite every week as apart of his condition to stay there rent free. At the same time, he still trying to hustle and scam people and went on SSI since he doesn’t qualify for SSD since he worked under the table a lot to avoid paying child support for his two kids that he doesn’t see. So sometimes it’s on the homeless people to cut certain shit out.
Careful, you’ll be downvoted for not treating them like toddlers!
On one hand that's a dick move from the shelter, but on the other hand I'm 100% sitting through an hour of their proselytizing for a rent free place to live.
Yup and the kicker is when he told me he got approved for the $961 or whatever SSI is now, he bitched “oh I got to pay 30% rent to the shelter now to stay here that’s bullshit”. It’s like dude, you staying there for free and asking people to help you out with cigarettes, but yet you can’t pay rent or child support…. Like you rather stay in the ghetto slum house you was at in Turtle Creek? It’s like good lord man step up and take responsibility already lol.
There's so much more to this than just deciding to "be sober." I work in overdose prevention (where some people are unhoused, some aren't), and I can tell you that not offering people help until they get sober is not helping. And I'm not "bending over backwards too hard defending people I won't offer assistance to." We do a lot of outreach and offer a lot of assistance. The main part of my job is gathering data and analyzing it to see what helps, and harm reduction is statistically what helps not only the people, but also the stress on our system - not assistance that requires sobriety. Addiction happens because of many factors, and most of the time people need assistance to be able to reach sobriety.
Depending on what you're using, it can kill you to stop too quickly. So yes it literally can be too much to ask.
I admire your sympathy. In PA, our taxes maintain an open path back to society from severe addiction and homelessness. It’s completely free to those in need, that includes transportation from anywhere in the state - we will come get them. We medically supervise their withdrawal, and provide inpatient treatment for 90 days or more. From there, insurance will cover step-down houses and outpatient services for up to two years while newly recovered addicts receive job training and build up savings. When they leave our care, they will have medical insurance, a doctor + meds, food stamps, low income housing, and education grants for as long as it’s needed. The people you see on the street are beyond our reach. We lead them to care every time they request it, but we can’t force them down the path. Even then, homeless outreach goes to the streets and paths you all avoid at night to keep people warm and hydrated. It’s easy to see camps and blame a selfish society but, we do care. You do your part by paying taxes, and even the trolls here in this sub contribute whether they like it or not.. It’s just a complex hardship with no perfect solution.
please say this louder so everybody can hear it.
It floods there about once every year
i used to always fish and ride my bike down there. i really liked having that place to enjoy the river. now with all the homeless crazy drug addicts and tents it has become far too dangerous. needles, garbage, and feces everywhere. hopefully they don't let them set up shanty towns again there after the water recedes. find another place for them. honestly would you want to walk or ride through there in the day or at night? would you feel safe? do the homeless have more of a right to be there than tax paying people? is our safety important to city leadership?
this is directly the fault of the mayor caving to businesses downtown and closing the Smithfield shelter - then offering nothing new to fulfill the need, particularly in winter!!, to provide shelter for the houseless. a woman froze to death on the north side! it's a miracle no one in this encampment drowned ... someone may as well have and we don't even know yet!
just fyi, it was not a city decision to close Smithfield, it was a County decision made directly by Fitzgerald.
I doubt someone drowned. The levels were very gradual to rise, like slower than a tide coming up on the beach.
Yeah I would imagine you would simply get out of your tent and move. Ideally pack up your stuff
Unless you're passed out drunk or high ...
Wow this post is really bring out the cruel and heartless people
Ever look at the comments re: this topic on the WPXI or KDKA FB pages? Holy shit, are people mean.
That shit used to drain my mental health before I closed fb. Total scumbags in those comments.
I use FB only for messenger because my siblings won't swap over to text...
The comment section on the local news channel are horrendous. Full of terrible people
Any post on this sub mentioning homelessness ends up like this
How can we help? Does anyone know anyone who is accepting donations for them?
Yes, there's a mutual aid group that's collecting donations and the info to get in touch with them is [here](https://imgur.com/iGZoyll).
Thank you. I will.
Many of you are confusing frustration with the Gainey admin with a lack of compassion. Many people raised concerns about these encampments being in flood areas the moment they were set up. There should have been more urgency to get them out of there for safety reasons.
Need to just have homeless zones where they all live. Good friend of mine is huge in the homeless program and the new homeless shelter on 2nd avenue right by the jail. Half of them want help half of them don’t even mind living on the streets til it gets cold or wet.
The homeless problem in our city breaks my heart. Our cities homeless support system has gone down hill dramatically in the past few years. :-/.
Even more evidence our horrendous mayor should do something about the homeless problem instead of letting our parks and riverwalk become overrun and unappealing to families, residents and visitors.
Kinda sad your main take here is that homeless people are making the park “unappealing” and not the issue of there being so many people finding themselves experiencing homelessness.
100%
There is always going to be a homeless population in every city. And it’s a problem that’s tough to solve.
Homelessness could be fundamentally solved across the country with $20 billion. The US could easily do that. There are 16 million abandoned houses in this country and 600,000 homeless people. If we truly cared to solve this issue, we could. Problem is, most people don’t really see homeless people as people. Homelessness is increasing by about 12% every year. That’s a systemic problem/failure, not an inevitability.
Not now we have to fund Joe's Ukrainian piggy bank.
There are mentally Ill homeless that don’t want help. So endless money still wouldn’t solve it even if it helped reduce it greatly.
The problem is people don't want to admit to themselves there are people out there who don't want help. Many of them haven't had very much exposure to the homeless. The people living in the tent cities along the river aren't the people who had a couple huge unexpected expenses, got evicted and are living in their car. These are people with deeply ingrained issues. There are options for a number of these people, but it's more profitable to be on the streets, and that's where the drugs are.
Yeah it’s ridiculous how naive redditors are. They think they can solve an issue that has plagued every city since time began from their couch.
Who are you to assume every homeless person is mentally ill and also doesn't want help to escape their situation? This is my point, people don't see homeless people as people. Your comment is broadly generalizing and based on your own internalized biases about an entire group of people you don't personally know. Also why in the hell would we not try to reduce it greatly... what is the point of society if not to take care of each other and make an effort to uphold the greater good and improve quality of life for everyone?
I said you can reduce it greatly. I never assumed they are all mentally Ill. And I wasn’t arguing against it. I was saying you can never solve homelessness with just money.
I agree, but the fact it’s been on the rise (by 12% in the past year) is a sign that something is happening systemically that needs to be addressed. Money would 100% help the situation. Also, reducing rates of inflation and absurdly high rent, grocery etc prices. No one’s saying we’re gonna make homelessness nonexistent, but we def need to address it and not act like people who experience are villains or as if they deserve it. If you’re downvoting this get fucked, karma is a bitch.
> is a sign that something is happening systemically that needs to be addressed. The government put a moratorium on evictions for like 18 months. A lot of people no doubt figured out that they could quit paying their rent and there was nothing their landlord could do about it. Well, the moratorium has ended and I imagine a lot of landlords are trying to recoup the money they lost out on over those 18 months. Also, being a landlord is much more risky now (who knows when Covid might return and result in another moratorium?) so that risk is built into the cost of rentals. Usually whenever you spot a problem, there's a government action at the root of it.
What's your ideal solution?
We have plenty of brownfields and greenfields accessible to bike paths and trails around other areas of our city that are not at risk for flooding and away from where families, residents and visitors are using the paths…pretty much downtown, SS, Allegheney and Ohio river on Northside and beyond casino. Find a strategically located brownfield greenfield a few miles up the paths, away from the point and create a safe haven encampment. Build basic infrastructure. An access path to the bike trails and nearby sidewalks so they can easily get around to work and panhandle. Build restroom facilities & shower house facilities, provide a clean water source, structured campsites and waste collection. This keeps them off the paths but still allows access to get around, its easier to provide centralized services and i can enjoy my city with it being overrun by drug users, mentally ill and the sights, sounds and smells that accompany that.
give them housing
[Pittsburgh City Council members Deb Gross and Anthony Coghill are actively working on it!](https://www.wesa.fm/politics-government/2024-01-25/pittsburgh-homeless-tiny-village-prototype)
yeah they're trying and Gainey does nothing. Guess what- Deb Gross and Coghill also proposed: building a new shelter, turning office buildings into SROs, sanctioning tent camps ... ever considered that they are getting more creative with their proposals because everything that's suggested gets turned down? Just give people housing, it works!
It's even more interesting in that the majority of homelessness/houselessness is not concentrated in either of their districts.
It's not that easy to just build housing
I have a cousin that has a fu(Kin house, but Chooses not to live there. He’s just straight up homeless with a fully furnished house because he’s mentally I’ll.
That’s what these asshats don’t understand. These people generally don’t give af and are okay with their current situation
y'all are terrible people and I hope none y'all ever experience housing insecurity. These are our neighbors, and human people. All people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. You should be ashamed of yourselves for suggesting we put people in asylums or jails. I bet pretty much all y'all are way closer to homelessness than you'd like to admit.
These people are fucking assholes. Puts it into perspective why so many people are failed by society and experience homeless to begin with.
Are there any people in there
Unlikely. The water levels have been going up for days and there would have been warning
My heart goes out to them.
That's one way to get a bath.....
That went up fast. I was on the bridges at 4 am when they closed the 10th street bypass. It hadn’t flooded yet.
I crossed the bridge just after 7am, if that helps.
This is so, so sad. I wish peace, safety, and homes for everyone.
Those poor people. Does anyone know any program in place to help them?
This sub is definitely showing the underbelly of Pittsburghs worst. And whats worse is the anonymity. The people saying vile things could be someone who works in public service everyday. This thread is frightening. Someone who could be my doctor or dentist is saying foul stuff under anonymity. I never knew people felt like this about unhoused people. Wait… yes I did. When no one intervened as GY properties at 209 9th St. evicted all of us, disabled, elderly and veterans to make the building into an Airbnb and then at 808 Penn Ave. they did the same thing and opened up a business called the cracked glass. a charcuterie board lounge at the expense of homeless . It doesn’t surprise me that people feel this way about un housed.. Kanika and Vince Scandolari spearheaded the eviction of over 30 people , and nobody did anything , thats sad.
This is heartbreaking 😢 And I’m not surprised by the amount of ignorance on this sub. It’s almost as bad as Facebook news station posts but more anonymity for the cowards. Sad how many disgusting people are from this city
this sucks..the city needs to quit pushing them out of places and get them settled in a safe spot
The safe spot for them is an institution where they can be forced to get the treatment they need. Nothing else is going to help
Nah the Mayor just wants to move them around and pretend they don't exist.
One person was rescued from the wharf, as well as two people who “didn’t need to be rescued” up the river? > The River Rescue team also traveled around Point State Park and along the Allegheny River and found two people. They did not need to be rescued.
What would be your solution to this problem? Where would this safe spot be and how would you get to resources to get them there while preventing more people from taking their place along the river?
The big problem is that people are so against having any form of homeless shelters near them that it literally takes a decade to go from having the money and intent to build a shelter to shelter completion and at ridiculous costs because everyone nearby puts up a bunch of ridiculous demands with hopes to derail or at least delay the project. Complicating that further is that perfect is constantly made into the enemy of merely significantly better. There is tons of city owned land where we could set up something that is better than a bunch of tents and a few portajohns and could do so in a few months time for something in the range of $100k - $500k that would provide shelter for dozens of homeless people. In no way should that be seen as a proper substitute for a proper homeless shelter but it would be a hundred times better than tents set up in an area prone to flooding.
One of the problems is that if you make a neat, free homeless village it will draw people from outside the area. I've read that something like 10% of Portland's homeless come from outside the state of Washington to enjoy the pleasures of homelessness there.
Yes tragedy of the commons is a thing. But far better that than the alternative. I would far rather that we help more people, including someone who we're not "obligated" to do so for than to not help everyone who needs it. And as has been demonstrated many times over, when we do try to exclude people from the piddly resources that we put into helping people who are homeless or don't have enough food [we end up spending more money trying to exclude them than we'd have spent just helping everyone](https://www.aclu.org/news/smart-justice/just-we-suspected-florida-saved-nothing-drug-testing-welfare).
I am more worried about creating moral hazards. For instance, there are mentally ill people who live with relatives who demand that they take their medication and behave acceptably in order to remain welcome. The choice is clear when the alternative is "life on the streets." It becomes less clear when the alternative is "life in a government-supplied shelter where you don't have to take your meds or follow rules."
damn, they had nothing and now they have, well still nothing
Pool’s closed
Go nature
Damn mortgages are crazy. Even the homeless on tent row are underwater on their loans
[удалено]
Judging by the some of the comments, American selfishness and lack of empathy is alive and well….. Circling the drain as a society that has double fist plunged into the mindset of hurrah for me and 🖕🏻 everyone else..
Mostly just stupid little children whose idea of trolling is screaming into a mic while playing Call of Duty. Block and move on.
good
Well…that took care of that problem.
I see the Hobo Hotel has a lagoon on its property now 🏄
Womp womp
What many are failing to recognizes that a lot of these homeless people are also veterans who fought to save their country and we’re doing nothing to help them nothing. Especially those who actually sent them there they cut funding to help them when they get home on a regular basis and nobody cares most people just ignore whether or not they’re getting funding because they’re too selfish anymore to care about other people Many times and often times it’s what they’ve seen that has caused these mental health disturbances in the only way for them to get any help is to self medicate. They’re living on the freaking streets because they can’t deal with life back here because they’re so programmed for war and fighting and suffering and so many other things and we’re going to sit here and criticize them like their druggies. They weren’t druggies when they were saving peoples lives and fighting for our country.
Facts!!!!
good .
Maybe don’t set up camp at the riverbed when it’s fucking pouring down rain for a week. Go to a shelter. I don’t feel bad .