No answers to homeless dilemma
The plight of unemployed drifters in society inevitably unlocks the philanthropy in all of us
Public debate about the fate of homeless people is by nature an emotive issue.
The plight of unemployed drifters in society inevitably unlocks the philanthropy in all of us.
Yet, finding a solution to the problem requires cold assessment of hard facts – in itself a dilemma given the blurred individual circumstances of those on the road.
Even the terminology applied to such people illustrates differentiation.
The more modern term ‘homeless people’ evokes sentiments of compassion, describing innocent victims having fallen on hard times because of factors beyond their control, such as poor health, disability or loss of employment.
Beggars, hobos or vagrants elicit less sympathetic feelings, conjuring up images of layabouts content to live their lives in a state of social parasitism.
To put it more bluntly, they are simply too lazy to work and contribute nothing to the economy, preferring to rather remain idle and feed off gullible, soft-hearted humanitarians. They exercise this choice. Job and food offers by well-meaning benefactors are often scorned, as so many recorded examples in Zululand attest.
The dilemma is that one cannot apply a collective approach to find workable answers to solve the problem.
Distinguishing between ‘homeless people’ worthy of public funding as opposed to the freeloaders is an unmanageable minefield.
For example, building a formal shelter in Richards Bay as has been suggested may seem like a noble idea, but the complications are many.
A social worker said the municipality has never been in favour of designating land for a shelter because of fears that it would attract even more beggars to the city.
That is exactly the point. Any decision exacerbating squalor conditions is the last thing city ratepayers will tolerate.
Shelters and soup kitchens are no doubt moral and virtuous concepts if one is prepared to accept that the scroungers will be the majority beneficiaries.
The reality is that no city anywhere in the world where thousands of homeless people roam has managed to find suitable solutions.
Neither will we.
And that is the frightening part.
As the city prioritises development, the problem is not going to go away. It will in fact become worse.
