patrick.net

If you took away their drugs and stopped enabling the dealers, jailed them long enough to make them suffer painful withdrawal, and threw away their tents and crap, they would probably mostly disband back where they came from and sleep on the couch of some skeevy relative.

Mobile homeless with civic co-depenance are just a roving, subsidized Baltimore ghetto. Drugs corrupt everything, and you can bet in every city with the large homeless groups, a lot of people and at least some the local politicians are making money from it. Even social services, under guise of rehab, become part of the distribution networks.

An older acquaintance in Santa Cruz lived in one of the mobile home parks. The management group who handled several parks actually sheltered some recently released felons to start meth manufacturing (because it was central to homeless area) because the management group was in on it, and used its legal powers to harass the mobile home residents who noticed and protested the thugs. They also threatened physical violence. It didn't last, because it became so blatant, but when social services, city council members, and management services are corrupted, you have a nidus that becomes self perpetuating, like the bureaucracy from hell.

The homeless are a curse for taxpayers, businesses, homeowners, communities and consumers, but can be a boon to the cartels (sanctuary etc.) dealers, recently re-cycled criminals, and all of the bribe-able corrupt entities in the community. It shows you how far they can play the 'compassion' card to perpetuate self dealing.