Rodrigo, I definitely understand your point. While I know many good things come out of programs like these, anytime I hear the term ECHO I think of two things. The time they would not take the money offered to them from the Hooter's restaurant, and the family of 8 I saw loading their free stuff into their new Escalade. If my harshness offends anyone, thank for listening.

Don't forget to integrate into your plan the problem of people not having the time.

I wish I had the time...

Sig...., crystallize your plan on paper and submit it to the proper people -including the ones who'd be doing the work.

Just curious, instead of just continuing to feed and shelter the homeless, why dont we put them to work doing something? There should be a rehab program of some sort instead of just a "giving" program. Like the "clean up the river blog"... If we house these people and feed them, why cant they be part of a system getting them going? Some people choose to not be part of the "system" (defined as working for stuff) and just take advantage of the free stuff.

If the food help isn't an everyday event and is only sporadic, then anyone who appears to be homeless or otherwise presents his or herself as homeless should be helped. We are humans. It's what we do. Speculation that some of the recipients are merely exploiting a food source to augment a lifestyle they freely chose and other scammers should not work against the truly needy.

The question becomes: How do we determine who is truly homeless and therefore truly needy. To begin, we must be careful how we identify or describe the truly homeless. Social worker terms like "food desert" in the (ironically) related matter of people who are overweight, allegedly because they can't make their way to locations with less expensive and lower calorie food, detract from the real causes and solutions for obesity.

Sometimes the downtrodden internalize what the perceived opposition says about them -even when what that opposition says is untrue. No one lives in a food desert. Or if there are a few people who might by some stretch of the meaning of that term do live in one, the term lacks the proper proportion for honing in on the real problem of obesity.

Ok, just to play devil's advocate, if we offer food and other items to those living on the street are we helping them or enabling them?

The homeless people I know want to be homeless. They are just looking to get that next drunk or high. They want no responsability that goes with earning a living. One guy I know was offered a house to live in with everything paid for to get back on his feet by a very good friend- the homeless guy turned him down. This was about seven years ago and he can still be found living under a Janesville bridge or abanded car. A young girl I know(20) will follow the drugs where ever they go. She has no desire to take help because that would cost her high.

saxcat- I see you post about wasted taxpayer resources, and I'm assuming that you are in support of our troops that come home and things like that- 2 (of the many) purposes this count ultimately serves is to help to reduce taxpayer expenditures associated with homelessness and to provide support to our homeless veterans. If you're not going to help, I'm not surprised...but don't mock it. Your arrogance is disgusting.

greener, let's not forgot that this is what you first said:

"Society will always push those who don't fit in to the edges. It will also teach us to fear the people on the edge, or at least judge them lowly enough to think they need our civilized "help"."

greener, all you did was mimic your own nonsense. Make an effort to understand this:

At some point a homeless person can't help but relinquish his will to his own bodily instincts for food and water. These instincts are that powerful. You may have noticed them in yourself.

Also, consider that the wish to live indoors is not as strong as are the instincts for food and water. If it doesn't come to you right away, give it some time.

Let's see gazettefan: they're not seeking help so it's a reasonable assumption that they don't want it. Duh, get a life.

Beth, the count and the motel rooms are the first step toward being back where they don't want to be. Not yet, anyway.

Also, the hygienic rigors of living outside, living in one's own substance, may provide the homeless person with a perverse form of comfort and intimacy that harkens back to the simplicity of infancy.

Mike, a lot of people know why you have weird opinions. Does that mean you no longer exist?

Wow...With this many experts on homelessness living in the Janesville area, and posting in the Janesville Gazette, one would think that the problem would no longer exist.

Let's see, greener: Society pushes people toward the edge, then falsely believes that those people need help?

Want to give it another try?

real classy saxcat.

Society will always push those who don't fit in to the edges. It will also teach us to fear the people on the edge, or at least judge them lowly enough to think they need our civilized "help".

Another complication of the homeless is that when they live in parks and wooded areas, people are justfiably frighten of them. This is even the case though some of them are docile. But no one can be sure of what's going on in the mind of someone living outside. The act of living outside causes or contributes to a homeless person's rejection of orderly society. This rejection opens the potential for incivility. Primal territoriality can be triggered.

Of the one's who have been living along the Kiwanis Trail and the wooded area just south of it, there is still a long time "resident" there.

I asked all of them at some point if any of them were veterans, they all said no.

janesvillean - I agree. The reasons for homelessness are numerous, and some are very difficult to solve.

It's important to realize that homelessness is a complex problem. It isn't just someone who was normal one day and, whoops, out of their home the next, and is simply awaiting a magic bean, in effect, to return them to normal life. It's often a long process involving unemployment, dislocation, emotional and social isolation, and often heavy doses of mental illness or addiction behaviors. Someone who is homeless often feels rejected by their loved ones and prefers self-reliance (in a fashion) rather than being drawn back into society. Society can mean structure and responsibility, taking unwanted drugs or getting unwanted medical care, and having to deal with longstanding issues such as debt or family dysfunction. (Criminal behaviors, too, but because of the way most homeless are judged by our culture, few of them escape that for long.) Most of all, it's important not to slot the homeless into one single definition. The bitter military vet with a disability is another thing entirely from the jobless single mother with alcoholism.
.
One thing is clearly true: We can solve the "homelessness" part of the problem much more easily than the *reasons* a person became homeless in the first place.

@totellthetruth: There are also people who refuse motel vouchers and other help. I'm genuinely curious--why do you think people do that? I've participated in the January count in the past, and it's always difficult for me to understand why people won't come in out of the cold (or heat, for the July count). Can you offer insight? Thanks! Beth

Sorry, Can't make it. I'll be eating fried pickles and enjoying a cold beverage at Hooters.