How do you "care" for the poor

When the reason they are poor is that they refuse to do a damn thing to help themselves?

I stumbled across this article, and I can confirm that the homeless are pretty much taking over LA.  Yeah, there's millions of people living there, but you'd be amazed at how much an affect 50k homeless can have on a city.

You would also be amazed at how much alcohol and marijuana they are consuming, among other things.  And how often they'll just steal whatever they can from you in order to fund their drugs.

So here's my question:  given that we know, from experience that any money given to the homeless goes into booze or drugs.  We know that if we give them a place to live, they will turn it into a shit-strewn hovel of drugs, trash and crime.  We know that if we give them a job, they most likely won't go to it, because that would interfere with their drugs and booze.  How do we know this?  Because we have the concrete examples of various shelters and organizations that help the homeless who's only real demand is no drugs, no booze.  St. Vincent De Paul in my hometown has a program for the homeless that gives them three hots and a cot, clothing, an address, and references, all to help them get back on their feet.  The only conditions are A) work one hour PER WEEK in the shop, and B) you must stay sober.  No booze or drugs.

Over 90% of the homeless who are told these conditions walk right back out.  They want a hand-out, not a hand up.  They don't want to get sober and turn their life around, they just want people to give them the money and things they need in order to stay drunk and high.

So, how do you help people like that?

This is just my opinion, but you force them to hit rock bottom.  A person cannot change unless they want to change.  They cannot be saved unless they want to be saved.  And as long as they have a way to keep getting drunk or high, they won't want to change.  They have to hit absolute bottom before they make the choice to change.

There are programs out there that actually help the homeless.  I've seen them.  But demand sobriety, and accountability.  Anyone who turns that down should get nothing. 

And yes, I know that means some people will die.  If they refuse to get help and get off whatever drug they are on, they're going to die anyway.  The question is just a matter of when, and how much grief and money that addict is going to cost their family and society before they die.  My answer to that is "As little as possible for the good of society."

In the mean time, to anyone who demands that we give the homeless their camps and their free shit, the only question is this:  How many tons of human waste, garbage, and used needles would you accept in your neighborhood?  How many criminals do you want hanging around your house? 

Living in a world where the homeless are coddled means living in a world where everything you own must be locked up or locked down.  Living in a world where the homeless are coddled means security doors with two or three locks on them.  Living in a world where the homeless are coddled means not taking a walk in the park because the drug addicts who shit directly in the walking path also chase you, screaming gibberish, for daring to wake them up by walking past them while they marinate in their piss-soaked clothing.

For the mentally ill, re-open the asylums.  Have a place where they can be treated and cared for.  Or again, deal with the crazy cat lady chasing your kid down the sidewalk, howling in insane rage over something that doesn't exist.  Deal with the guy shitting in your rosebushes in the early morning because the voices in his head have told him that a steady job was the alien's way of controlling his spleen and he just can't do that and survive.

Stop with the hand-outs, and quite a bit of the homeless would be forced to either change their habits, or die.  And then you can truly help the people who actually need it.