Reply #57: Yes

[izquierdista]

That's what a lot of assisted living places look like these days. A large building with communal areas for socialization and private rooms with bed and bath facilities.

College dormitories and assisted living facilities are two obvious models that could be used to provide shelter for the homeless. The assisted living facilities not so much so, because they are mostly owned by for-profit corporations, but college dormitories are usually owned by the university and their aim is to cover costs, not make a return on investment. In the same way, a city or county could own a dormitory (I'm going to keep using that word, since it is a perfectly good noun to describe a building designed for many people to live in) and house people there. Maybe even have more than one; one for short term stays, another for longer stays, and finally something like permanent low-cost housing.

Also, in another post, you refer to the "if things are this bad for you, you must be screwing up and this is how we will help you" as demeaning and patronizing. How about being less defensive? Most of the homeless people I have known personally have had very dysfunctional behaviors that got them into that situation: alcoholism, meth addiction, "anger management" issues, gambling addiction, etc. Even if you find these people a place to live, they still carry the behavior around 24 hours a day and they are one arrest, one fight, one bender away from being back at the bottom. There is one set of rules that governs how to survive out on the street with no place to call home. However, you can't carry that set of rules with you when you deal with people who have a home to go to and you want to join them in having a home yourself.