Would you contribute €2 per week to solve homelessness?

djPSB

Hypothetical situation.

Supposing the solution to the homelessness crisis was that every citizen in the country would contribute €2 per week. So hypothetically everyone would have to contribute, those on social welfare, students, low earners, high earners etc. Everyone.

And say, again hypothetically, the money was guaranteed to solve homelessness in Ireland, would you be happy to pay €2 per week?

Don't want to get into the 'Government would just waste the money debate'. Let's just assume for once the money was used resourcefully and solved the problem.

So essentially, your €2 will be used to give homeless people free shelter and food and ultimately a path to recovery.

Walter Bishop

Yes.

Cee-Jay-Cee

Yes absolutely.

sbsquarepants

Nah, fúck them.
That's 2 more cans of prazsky stockpiled before the armageddon of minimum pricing hits.

Dravokivich

Sounds like tax. When we pay more tax, government always needs more money.

Dr Crayfish

No. We can't just build a house for everyone who's on the street. They are not all there because society failed them. Better facilities for the homeless are required. I'm sick hearing politicians on opposing sides going on about building homes for the homeless. I'm sick of the line "People are dying on the streets". Everyone dies whether homeless or not. Why do some people have to work and get mortgages and some people don't?

SEPT 23 1989

For just €2 a week you can adopt a homeless person

Shurimgreat

Yes. Through my taxes. And only as part of an overall plan to solve homelessness.

My fear what is happening to Dublin today is what happened to San Francisco. Gentrification caused by a tech and jobs boom. Thousands of new workers moving to the city allied with a limited housing stock.

amcalester

So all I have to do is pay an extra €2 a week and then I can present as homeless and voila, I now have a house?

Yeah, definitely. Cheaper than a mortgage/rent.

Red_Wake

No, it would only incentivise people to be classified as homeless.

See; Erica Fleming.

munchkin_utd

Ireland has bigger problems than homelessness.... like affordable homes for working people and students and others who wouldnt refuse a house given to them by the council just because the wrong bus passes their door.

mariaalice

Yes if it was a simply as proving a house/property, bu its not.

c_man

Would the homeless have to pay the E2 also?

valoren

Homeless implies Home. It ought to be regarded as Shelterless. The people who are out on the streets, sleeping rough.
If the 2 euro was given then it would contribute to alleviating that problem. It would give people the safety of shelter. To then go through the process of getting back on their feet knowing they at a minimum have shelter, a basic human need.

But being ireland, the 2 euro would need to be committed to up front, with no practical, coherent plan of action to combat it, with no managed budget with those responsible being accountable for managing this 'Shelterless Fund'. So another tax basically.

Beta Ray Bill

I keep hearing about "The Homeless" problem

In my eyes the only people that can help the homeless are themselves.

There are 3 kinds of homeless people
1: Young women in their 20's with kids and the father "isn't around"
2: People with serious drink/drug problems
3: People who have genuinely lost everything through a series of bad events <= These are the vast minority

There is no helping 1 and 2, and they are the vast majority.

I saw on RTE news earlier in the week some woman living in a hotel for the last few years with 4 kids, the youngest of which was only a couple of months old, finally got a house off the council.

WTF was she doing having another kid when she already had 3 and was living in the hotel?
Her eldest child (7 or 8 years old maybe) had to be put up in a separate room because for insurance reasons the hotel can't have more than 4 people in a room.

No sign of the Dad (Dad's)

I know a Homeless guy in Raheny, He lives in St Annes park. His family don't want anything to do with him as he a terrible alcoholic.
He needs to sort himself out before anything can be done to sort him out with accommodation.

There is a reason as to why people are homeless, and generally the reason is because they have serious antisocial/substance abuse/addiction issues.
No amount of money will be able to help them.
There's no helping someone that won't help themselves.

I know the above is harsh, but it's very true.

Odhinn

djPSB wrote: »

Hypothetical situation.

Supposing the solution to the homelessness crisis was that every citizen in the country would contribute €2 per week. So hypothetically everyone would have to contribute, those on social welfare, students, low earners, high earners etc. Everyone.

And say, again hypothetically, the money was guaranteed to solve homelessness in Ireland, would you be happy to pay €2 per week?

Don't want to get into the 'Government would just waste the money debate'. Let's just assume for once the money was used resourcefully and solved the problem.

So essentially, your €2 will be used to give homeless people free shelter and food and ultimately a path to recovery.

Yep.

corner of hells

grahambo wrote: »

I keep hearing about "The Homeless" problem

In my eyes the only people that can help the homeless are themselves.

There are 3 kinds of homeless people
1: Young women in their 20's with kids and the father "isn't around"
2: People with serious drink/drug problems
3: People who have genuinely lost everything through a series of bad events <= These are the vast minority

There is no helping 1 and 2, and they are the vast majority.

I saw on RTE news earlier in the week some woman living in a hotel for the last few years with 4 kids, the youngest of which was only a couple of months old, finally got a house off the council.

WTF was she doing having another kid when she already had 3 and was living in the hotel?
Her eldest child (7 or 8 years old maybe) had to be put up in a separate room because for insurance reasons the hotel can't have more than 4 people in a room.

No sign of the Dad (Dad's)

I know a Homeless guy in Raheny, He lives in St Annes park. His family don't want anything to do with him as he a terrible alcoholic.
He needs to sort himself out before anything can be done to sort him out with accommodation.

There is a reason as to why people are homeless, and generally the reason is because they have serious antisocial/substance abuse/addiction issues.
No amount of money will be able to help them.
There's no helping someone that won't help themselves.

I know the above is harsh, but it's very true.

I work in a hostel , no it's not very true.
Their reasons for homelessness vary from economic right up to chronic mental ill health and everything in between.

HONKEY TONK

I would donate €2 a week but........

It depends who im donating too. This is Ireland and it seems there are load of Groups and Charities and the Government, but none of them work together.

If you donate €2 to charity, How much of that is actually used to help that homeless person.

If im taxed €2 with the guise of helping the homeless, I could just be paying for a bonus of some TD.

If I hand €2 to a homeless person. I know they got 100% of my donation.

Agricola

In a purely hypothetical situation where I was absolutely certain (as night follows day) that my contribution along with everyone elses would solve the issue, yes, I'd be happy to.

In reality, another levy imposed by government where they collect the money first and THEN think about how to administer it, or probably use it as a slushfund for some other completely unrelated area.............. not a hope.

Beta Ray Bill

corner of hells wrote: »

I work in a hostel , no it's not very true.
Their reasons for homelessness vary from economic right up to chronic mental ill health and everything in between.

I'd imagine you've seen and heard many stories about homelessness.

Realistically speaking though, if I had a family member or friend in serious need of somewhere to stay, I'd put them up until the got back on their feet. (On condition that they do try and get back on their feet and not mooch off me indefinately)

I find it very hard to believe that any more than a very small percentage of homeless people have absolutely no friends or family that can put them up.

In terms of mental illness, yes that is a factor too, but it is heavily exasperated by alcohol and substance abuse.

Yes, although i don't think it's as simple as throwing money at the problem. People seem to become homeless for many reasons and they should be looked at at a roots level, not slapping some short term fix on top. How do we help people and stop them being homeless in the first place. What even are the various reasons, misfortune, no chance from the day they were born, addiction, is there a reason for the addiction, etc

Gatling

No .

We unfortunately don't live in an ideal utopia ,

oceanman

yes would definitely donate 2euro....everybody deserves a roof over their head.

endacl

I would, of course. But only if somebody could also magic up a world where lack of resources was the simple root clause of endemic homelessness.

Caveat: I want my €2 ringfenced. My cash doesn’t go to pay for some young wan who has already been offered accommodation, but has refused it because she wants to live around the corner from her mammy and favourite chipper.

Rubberchikken

No.

Agricola

Gatling wrote: »

No .

We unfortunately don't live in an ideal utopia ,

And we'll never create one if people with a roof over their head don't even attempt to help those who don't.

Beta Ray Bill

bluewolf wrote: »

no chance from the day they were born

This is the saddest thing of all.
All the babies are born the same, I remember seeing them all in the Hospital when my son was born.
At that point in their life they are all equal.
It's only the people that take them out of the hospital that determine what kind of life they are going to have.

I was on my way home from work about 4 months ago, crossing the road from Ely Place onto Merrion Street upper. There was a woman crossing the road pushing a pram while carrying the most beautiful little baby you'd ever, probably only 4 or 5 months old. New Pram, New white baby warmer.

The baby looked at me, and I looked back and smiled. The baby coo'd and giggled at which point the woman noticed, she then turned around to me and said Spare change for the homeless?

I was shocked.
I took a look at the woman, missing teeth, very unhealthy looking, glassy eyed, cuts and scabs on her skin and walking funny. This woman was clearly a Heroin addict.
I was caught completely off guard so I gave her like €5, was all I had in my wallet.
On the train I couldn't stop thinking about it, I even got a bit teary eyed
That little baby hasn't a chance.

I still think about that little baby now, and what's going to happen her.
Ultimately it probably won't be a good life.

But again there is no helping that mother, she is clearly using the baby as a mechanism to mooch off others and feed her addiction.
Child should be taken off her.

Very Sad.

ChikiChiki

No, because it will be taking the burden off a government who in fact should be providing a solution. Its what they were elected to do. It will be a cop out for them.

realdanbreen

I would but of course the fact is that this already is a wealthy nation. There is more than enough wealth around to solve just about every problem that is out there. But greed, nothing more nothing less, ensures that not everybody lives a comfortable life.

HandsomeBob

Yes I would..... but I would need to see exactly where the money would be going.

I've worked for one homeless service and one of the major things I learned about is transparency. I'd be surprised if a single person who has worked in the sector doesn't have a story about funds being spent in a questionable manner.

realdanbreen

ChikiChiki wrote: »

No, because it will be taking the burden off a government who in fact should be providing a solution. Its what they were elected to do. It will be a cop out for them.

So if the government(whichever government you like, FG/FF/LAB/SF/Paul murphy/Ming/ Mick Wallace/the Kerry boys, introduce a 0.2% tax rise to solve it they will be f####d out plain and simple. We are all very concerned about homelessness etc until we are asked to put our hands in our pocket.

gozunda

djPSB wrote: »

Hypothetical situation.

Supposing the solution to the homelessness crisis was that every citizen in the country would contribute €2 per week. So hypothetically everyone would have to contribute, those on social welfare, students, low earners, high earners etc. Everyone.

And say, again hypothetically, the money was guaranteed to solve homelessness in Ireland, would you be happy to pay €2 per week?

Don't want to get into the 'Government would just waste the money debate'. Let's just assume for once the money was used resourcefully and solved the problem.

So essentially, your €2 will be used to give homeless people free shelter and food and ultimately a path to recovery.

First define what "homelessness" is before asking if anyone wishes to give money.

irishgrover

djPSB wrote:

And say, again hypothetically, the money was guaranteed to solve homelessness in Ireland, would you be happy to pay €2 per week?

Based on your actual question, with the emphasis on "guaranteed to solve homelessness in Ireland".... Then yes absolutely I would..... I'd happily pay considerably more than that.
However in reality, no such guarantee could ever be given, and no such programme would ever work

pawrick

Seems to be way to many different charities / agencies all fighting for a share to resolve the same issues. As an outsider looking in I cant help but think a lot of money is wasted just by having so many different groups involved and talking shops going over the same issues year in year out.

PCeeeee

Assuming everyone signed up this would bring in approx 10 million a year. Are we saying this would sort the 'homeless crisis'?

NinjaTruncs

PCeeeee wrote: »

Assuming everyone signed up this would bring in approx 10 million a year. Are we saying this would sort the 'homeless crisis'?

you mean 10 million a week... which would give 500 million a year, which if there were no admin costs and you could buy apartments at 250K each you could home 2000 individuals/families.

However, there would be admin costs which would be huge and reduce the number that can be helped, essentially it would end up being like most other charities where most of the money generated would be spent on administration.

Never mind there would be a never-ending supply of homeless people looking for a free house.

corner of hells

pawrick wrote: »

Seems to be way to many different charities / agencies all fighting for a share to resolve the same issues. As an outsider looking in I cant help but think a lot of money is wasted just by having so many different groups involved and talking shops going over the same issues year in year out.

Good point , for years lots of different agencies and charities were providing identical services competing for resources through state funding or charitable donations.
However now attempts are being made to avoid duplicity by diversifying the types and levels of support.
Different types of accommodations exist along with various types of support individuals.
Its worth paying attention to the multitudes of soup run , Facebook type groups that have sprung up in recent years all providing identical supports without actually gaining anything long-term.

corner of hells

NinjaTruncs wrote: »

PCeeeee wrote: »

Assuming everyone signed up this would bring in approx 10 million a year. Are we saying this would sort the 'homeless crisis'?

you mean 10 million a week... which would give 500 million a year, which if there were no admin costs and you could buy apartments at 250K each you could home 2000 individuals/families.

However, there would be admin costs which would be huge and reduce the number that can be helped, essentially it would end up being like most other charities where most of the money generated would be spent on administration.

Never mind there would be a never-ending supply of homeless people looking for a free house.

Where are these free houses ?

munchkin_utd

corner of hells wrote: »

Where are these free houses ?

you are born with an entitlement to one apparently.

There's a list with the council where people register to exercise this god given (birth)right to a free house but too many people were being born in the 80s and 90s so the government is struggling to keep up with its commitment to provide said free houses now that the people entitled to houses are now no longer living with their parents .

Now that the government has sorted peoples god given right to unlimited free water, maybe they'll figure how to clear the list of those waiting for the free houses.

Harry Palmr

I'd ****ing well make Bono and the boys pay for this building programme.

Gatling

Agricola wrote: »

And we'll never create one if people with a roof over their head don't even attempt to help those who don't.

May be rephrase that to help those who are helping themselves ,

Rather than helping because someone feels more entitled than anything else

lawred2

Nope

Tsipras

grahambo wrote: »

In terms of mental illness, yes that is a factor too, but it is heavily exasperated by alcohol and substance abuse.

That's a load of bollocks, mental health problems lead people to drugs not the other way around, and it is a major cause of homelessness. In the US over 10% of homeless people are military vets, nearly all with PTSD .
Having mental Illness isn't someone's fault.

keano_afc

If the money was spent looking at why these people are homeless then maybe. Can just throw money into houses for people on the streets without examining why they are there in the first place.

lawred2

Tsipras wrote: »

That's a load of bollocks, mental health problems lead people to drugs not the other way around, and it is a major cause of homelessness. In the US over 10% of homeless people are military vets, nearly all with PTSD .
Having mental Illness isn't someone's fault.

poster said 'exasperated'

nothing whatsoever about leading

Geuze

We spend 120m on homelessness in Dublin.

http://www.homelessdublin.ie/funding-homeless-services

Last year, 2016, we spent 96m.

This is public spending, and it excludes voluntary charity spending.

lawred2

grahambo wrote: »

This is the saddest thing of all.
All the babies are born the same, I remember seeing them all in the Hospital when my son was born.
At that point in their life they are all equal.
It's only the people that take them out of the hospital that determine what kind of life they are going to have.

I was on my way home from work about 4 months ago, crossing the road from Ely Place onto Merrion Street upper. There was a woman crossing the road pushing a pram while carrying the most beautiful little baby you'd ever, probably only 4 or 5 months old. New Pram, New white baby warmer.

The baby looked at me, and I looked back and smiled. The baby coo'd and giggled at which point the woman noticed, she then turned around to me and said Spare change for the homeless?

I was shocked.
I took a look at the woman, missing teeth, very unhealthy looking, glassy eyed, cuts and scabs on her skin and walking funny. This woman was clearly a Heroin addict.
I was caught completely off guard so I gave her like €5, was all I had in my wallet.
On the train I couldn't stop thinking about it, I even got a bit teary eyed
That little baby hasn't a chance.

I still think about that little baby now, and what's going to happen her.
Ultimately it probably won't be a good life.

But again there is no helping that mother, she is clearly using the baby as a mechanism to mooch off others and feed her addiction.
Child should be taken off her.

Very Sad.

I see this all too often

A roof over that woman's head will not help that child

however relieving that child of her 'mother' might

Geuze

In 2016 we spent 73m on emergency accomm in Dublin.

47m was paid to hotels.

I suggest we spend some of that on building houses instead.

http://www.homelessdublin.ie/files/fundinginfographic2016

lawred2

Geuze wrote: »

In 2016 we spent 73m on emergency accomm in Dublin.

I suggest we spend that on building houses instead.

http://www.homelessdublin.ie/files/fundinginfographic2016

certain 'hoteliers' wouldn't get fat on a building program now will they?

jimmycrackcorm

Geuze wrote:

I suggest we spend some of that on building houses instead.

So you'd throw homeless people out on the street from the hotels while building houses?

What happens to those of them who don't get the houses as that money won't pay for enough housing.?

When more people decide to become homeless, would you day we should refuse to even provide hotel rooms for them?

weldoninhio

No chance.