Stopping Homelessness May Protect All from Epidemics

In "3rd/Developing" world countries, the elderly and indigent are taken care of within the family unit. There are no veterans of needless wars, and far less drug abuse than in our 1st world "enlightnend democracy" where we stash our elderly in hospitals, invade countries for our own self interest, and consume recreational drugs with the same giddiness as the rest of our self-indulgent excesses."

Santa Barbara County Jail puts new inmates into general population without doing a TB test. If the inmate is there for 2 weeks, THEN a TB test is done. Wouldn't it be more cost effective, in the long run, to give each new inmate a skin test upon arrival, segregate them for the 3 days it takes to get a result and then house them in general population? Instead, someone infected not only has the potential to infect the people they're housed with but also anyone in close proximity on the bus to court, the guards at the jail and the courts, etc.
When is the American government going to start caring more about it's citizens instead of the bottom dollar?

What is amazing is how political candidates strive for the (fill in the blank) female, business, Hispanic, student vote and try to appeal to whatever demographic that can benifit them but they will not utter one word about homeless people. (Notice I don't use the term "Families" or "children", but "people")

This situation can affect anyone, and those of us who are not homeless are not homeless because we are LUCKY. My sister knew a guy who was a homeowner but got cancer and while he ultimately survived the disease, he lost his home in the process.

This is a growing problem, and people had better wake up because regardless or what gender, age, or race you are, this is a scary situation.

Once again: What were we doing in times past as a society when becoming homeless was not such a problem? Maybe our politicians running for office can actually address how to end homelessness, rather than treat the symptoms.

People struggle for the most basic of staples, and yet we are more concerned with our property values, tourism, and views from our windows than we are about our world.

Homeless people are like the miners' canaries of yore; they are the first-line red flags, warning the rest of the population that there is not enough air for a small creature to survive, let alone a large one.

There are not enough resources for many people to survive, and gradually they fall off their perches, one by one, and all we can think of is to criminalize them or herd the fortunate few we find most attractive into programs.

There are no real jobs being offered, no affordable housing, and no healthcare.

The homeless are often marginal earners (many more are employed than we will ever admit exist among us), the elderly, disabled, castoff teenagers and aged-out young adults from the foster care system.

Some have alcohol, mental illness or drug problems, and a tiny minority have kids, but since those are the ones most commonly seen and noticed, the public and social services are lulled into believing that this is the majority, and these are the only members of the homeless population we should recognize as human, and help.

Then we act aggressively to criminalize the remaining majority, living in their RV's, working subsistence jobs, or those who dared to get old, sick, or who managed to survive combat overseas only to end up homeless and invisible here.

Until we all collectively wake up from our minimally conscious state and realize that this is far bigger and deeper than a "homeless problem" and is a socioeconomic Hydra we all must stand together to slay, this situation will continue to rear head after deadly head, to ultimately destroy us all.

Homeless people are "us"...not "them."

Homelessness and health care are two subjects we talk about endlessly in this country, and do nothing to alleviate.

Help for some, but not everyone, is not help at all.

Insurance for children, but not adults, does nothing to address sick adults who use emergency rooms for primary care, then can't afford to pay for it. Employers who cleverly keep all their employees at three hours a week under the time required to qualify for insurance are the norm.

People who might be able to still work part time are instead forced on SSI just for the health insurance.

Housing for families, and no one else, still leaves the vast majority out on the streets. Everyone is stepping on themselves to help kids...until they turn 18 and aren't cute anymore; then the kid whom everyone couldn't do enough for finds himself hiding from the cops in a drainage ditch as he tries to get some sleep and go to work at the local fast food joint the next day.

When I drove a paratransit bus some years ago, one of my routes involved picking up homeless Santa Barbarans (no, they aren't "transients"...they live here, most for decades) and non-locals for transport to appointments. They were mostly seniors, veterans, and long-time locals, with varying numbers of aged-out former foster kids who had nowhere else to go.

I had to be TB tested routinely, because of the occasional Mexican ag worker who might have brought the disease up here with him. A lot of these guys would end up at local shelters in the off-season, spreading the disease to the local population.

TB is of course, treatable, but the patient has to be compliant with treatment, but this is a population that doesn't speak English or even Spanish (many speak only Mixtec), they don't understand the treatment instructions, take a dose or two, then disappear to unwittingly infect more people.

Homeless people are often weakened by their living conditions to the degree that they are unable to fend off so much as a mild cold, let alone TB or the rampant Staph infections that plague them.

They are also at constant risk fo MRSA, and the flesh-eating bacteria, as they often scratch themselves on the ground rolling over in their sleep, picking up bugs from soil and sidewalks.

We live in the most technologically advanced nation on earth, yet our people do not have equal, effective, affordable access to healthcare.

We have a high standard of living in this country, and a terrible quality of life.