Homeless in Public
Homeless people are sleeping on public property. What shall we do?
For the past two weeks, homeless person blanket and tabloid newspaper The New York Post has been on an important story: shaming one Manhattan homeless woman as she moves about the city in an attempt to live. On December 14, under the bizarrely mundane headline “Police roust homeless woman in Greenwich village,” the paper ran a short story that exists mostly as a pretense for mocking her appearance. Then, today, the Post ran an important follow up: “Residents fume after homeless woman moves into West Village bus stop.”
It seems our PROTAGONIST—a woman, who is homeless—is sleeping out in public! Not only that, but she has now had the nerve to take shelter somewhere sheltering! What is it about homeless people that makes them oddly want to find shelter somewhere other than a private home? A moral failing, no doubt.
Look: it is not optimal to have people living long-term at bus stops. It makes the bus stop inconvenient, yes, but more importantly it means that a person is homeless. So here is a very brief quiz for the reactionary readers of the New York Post:
What Should We Do About All These Homeless People?
1. Subsidize long-term housing for them so that they can get back on their feet. With my tax dollars?? Fuck off!
2. Build more homeless shelters as a temporary measure. With my tax dollars?? Fuck off!
3. Put them in jail. Yes!
Option three is the most expensive option of all—with your tax dollars.
So call your elected officials and demand more long-term housing for the homeless, or stop fucking whining about people sleeping at the bus stop.
