What if we can't help them?

https://vtdigger.org/2024/12/31/vermonts-rate-of-homelessness-now-ranks-4th-in-the-nation/

We're not alone among blue states in experiencing a spike in homelessness. No one seems to have an effective strategy for helping these people, or even really a clear understanding of what's going on.

In Vermont-related subs we mostly talk about strategies for helping people - family shelters, pod communities, affordable housing, "wet" shelters, street teams, drug treatment, and so on.

All of these have the potential to help small numbers of people, but at best it will be years before any of them have the potential to significantly effect change.

What if we just can't help these folks? A subset of them remain a public safety threat and an unfavorable economic force. Do we tolerate that problem until some major external factor fixes it for us? Invest in strategies that are less about helping and more about deterring? Not sure how we square that with Vermont's prevailing ethics, but maybe it's better we think about it before public outrage leads us there.