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Comment by mrguyorama | Hacker News Reader

>It also includes pools, benches, art, fountains, playgrounds, and food stands — things people gather at.

Can't have those, the homeless might use them to avoid suffering for a few minutes and be visible, and that makes people angry.

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>avoid suffering for a few minutes

Not sure where you live, but where I've lived, they form camps, do drugs in the open, scream at people, and vandalize their surroundings. They make a good environment hostile to everyone. That's what most people are angry about.

In Ohio we have professional hobos. People that hang out with signs, know all the laws, dress a certain way, make themselves up all dirty, and beg for money. They do quite well with the fools here. You can see them change out for shifts. Whole families cycle through the shifts or work in a group with their children on display.

I guess they are entertainer then ?

I’ve seen that described several time here on this forum.

I’m skeptical that those people really do “well for themselves”.

But I’m open to it?

I doubt they have sick day or that they’re saving for retirement. But who know?

Who you say they make more than a service industry worker for instance ( per hour )

That's only half of the story. A lot of those people are mentally ill. There are also a lot of "hidden" homeless people who live diverse lives. I knew some travelling kids that rode freight around the country, they were typically sheltered by friends. They did odd jobs and could busk, and yes they did drugs, but they weren't shitting in the street and boofing heroin in plain sight. There's people that are down on their luck, and there's people who just gave up the rat race - and there's a good chance they aren't slamming meth, but they can turn into drunks fast.

Nah, the "camps" around here are a bunch of tents where people just want to be left alone. The only violence happens to other homeless people, so it's "contained" in a way. The best part is that the city keeps throwing away everything these people physically own, so they have no hope of improving their situation and ever escaping homelessness, and all the social workers struggle to keep in touch with the homeless community because they keep being jerked around and screwed with for no benefit.

Tell me, if you are homeless, where are you supposed to go when the sun goes down? As far as I can tell, it is a crime to not be in a bed you have paid for. Why have we made it a crime to be alive?

Around these parts it's more like a few hours to a few days but it is still a fair point. One answer would be to build and support more places, enough for everyone to enjoy.

Nah, better for it to be a crime to be homeless in public

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