Public restrooms are essential. Just because one isn’t available doesn’t mean people won’t go whenever or wherever they need to. I’ve seen at least five people defecate on the walls at a bus stop, and every corner reeks of urine.
Providing free train or bus tickets for unhoused individuals would help keep them warm and could prevent some from dying. I’ve never seen any of them cause problems; they simply ride the trains all day. In contrast, the only people I’ve seen regularly cause issues are usually those who appear to be well-off.
I was speaking to a local parks employee about their restrooms and since they were built 2 years ago, every door (8) has been damaged, every door latch, every hand sanitizer dispenser, half of the sinks broken off the wall (leaving water running)
Now they are putting openings in the doors, above and below eye level, like a shitty normal partitioned restroom with no privacy, because employees are being ambushed in them. Sinks are gone, heavy duty hand sanitizer dispensers installed with non alcohol sanitizer.
I’m kind of horrified about these openings because anyone can just look in and see anyone doing whatever they are doing in there, the door is to the outdoors.
I’ve never seen any of them cause problems; they simply ride the trains all day.
Maybe this is dependent on country or region, because I see wildly different behavior between the unhoused in NYC and Manchester, in the UK, for example. In NYC, I’ve personally seen them pull a knife on random people, masturbating in the middle of the day on the train, two blind guys panhandling try to beat each other with their canes, each accusing the other of faking it to invade the other’s territory, smoking crack in the middle of crowded cars and plenty of other problematic behavior.
When I’ve been in Manchester, they’ve always been pretty reserved, just trying to do their own thing and get through the day without doing anything to draw unwanted attention to themselves. You wouldn’t even know a lot of them are there, unless you’re out after the shops close, and then there’s suddenly a bunch of people in sleeping bags in the doorways, just trying to sleep out of the wind and rain in a spot that might be marginally warmer.
Public restrooms are essential. Just because one isn’t available doesn’t mean people won’t go whenever or wherever they need to. I’ve seen at least five people defecate on the walls at a bus stop, and every corner reeks of urine.
Providing free train or bus tickets for unhoused individuals would help keep them warm and could prevent some from dying. I’ve never seen any of them cause problems; they simply ride the trains all day. In contrast, the only people I’ve seen regularly cause issues are usually those who appear to be well-off.
I was speaking to a local parks employee about their restrooms and since they were built 2 years ago, every door (8) has been damaged, every door latch, every hand sanitizer dispenser, half of the sinks broken off the wall (leaving water running)
Now they are putting openings in the doors, above and below eye level, like a shitty normal partitioned restroom with no privacy, because employees are being ambushed in them. Sinks are gone, heavy duty hand sanitizer dispensers installed with non alcohol sanitizer.
I’m kind of horrified about these openings because anyone can just look in and see anyone doing whatever they are doing in there, the door is to the outdoors.
Our society would rather put people in prison for far more than the cost of just housing them.
Maybe this is dependent on country or region, because I see wildly different behavior between the unhoused in NYC and Manchester, in the UK, for example. In NYC, I’ve personally seen them pull a knife on random people, masturbating in the middle of the day on the train, two blind guys panhandling try to beat each other with their canes, each accusing the other of faking it to invade the other’s territory, smoking crack in the middle of crowded cars and plenty of other problematic behavior.
When I’ve been in Manchester, they’ve always been pretty reserved, just trying to do their own thing and get through the day without doing anything to draw unwanted attention to themselves. You wouldn’t even know a lot of them are there, unless you’re out after the shops close, and then there’s suddenly a bunch of people in sleeping bags in the doorways, just trying to sleep out of the wind and rain in a spot that might be marginally warmer.
I’ll say, I’ve never seen a homeless person cause issues in public transport either.