gentrification

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Wed Aug 18 09:09:09 PDT 1999


At 10:49 AM 8/18/99 +1000, Angela wrote:
>
>Wojtek wrote:
>
>> The homeless are a minority by numerical standards, and they are not
>> responsible for most social problems that working class faces.
>
>not responsible for _most_ of the problems? what problems would they be
>responsible for?

For the most part - littering, especially relieving themselves and tossing empty bottles on pavement (where I live, most sidewalks are literally covered with broken glass, and finding human feces on your doorsteps is not that uncommon) - but that is a rather minor problem. As I argued in my oroginal posting, crime is a much bigger issue - but the homeless are seldom the culprits.


>
>and, again, why aren't those who are homeless being defined as not a
>part of the working class?
>

It is a semantic issue that may have some significance to symbol manipulators, but few practical consequences. The problems faced by people at work are much different from problems faced by most homeless people, and the solutions of these problems involve very different approaches - so little would be gained from conflating these groups under a single label.

To be more specific - most work related problems stem from lack of workers' representation in business decision making, such as living wage policy, benefit policy (e.g. health care, child care, vacations), investment policy, location of business operations etc. These problems can be effectively addressed by a combination of effective unions, international cooperation and government policies.

The problem that most homeless people face is the lack of effective social safety networks - psychiatric facilities, rehabilitation centers, half-way homes, asssited living facilities, social assistance etc. - mainly because money is being pumped to police departments and prisons. This problem can be solved by decriminalization of drugs, cutting police budgets and redirecting the money to the above named programs.

wojtek



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