It seems to me that there are people in the world that are by nature transients- many of whom seem to be homeless. Wouldn't it be great if there were shelters where people could work for a very short period of time until they either went on a drug binge, needed to move onto another place, or started to lose their mental well-being? This way, even if a person was only capable of functioning in society part of the time, they could still make a contribution. Furthermore, since so many are transients, their jobs could be things like disseminating information to whatever place they go to. Perhaps they could give out flyers about new homeless services. And since I notice that so many homeless people like to access the internet at libraries, the shelters could have a web based network, perhaps saying what kinds of work were needed at a given shelter, or how many beds were open.

These shelters would be run by the government. And instead of giving money to the homeless, you could buy tokens, kind of like food stamps. When a street beggar asked you for money, you could just give them a token. These tokens would be good for a night's stay or a meal at one of these shelters.
-- lsteinho, Jun 30 2002

Real Change newspaper http://www.realchangenews.org/
Homeless distributing information: baked. [wiml, Jun 30 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Hello? Isn't this what happens now?
-- phoenix, Jun 30 2002


These exist now. The problem, as I understand it, is that there aren't enough of them; they're always full. So people end up sleeping on the street anyway. Use of shelters can also come with (real or perceived) strings attached which people may not be willing to accept.
-- wiml, Jun 30 2002


Phoenix-

I may be wrong, but my understanding is that shelters either do not have work, but simply provide shelter and food, or they are designed to get people back into society- getting them apartments, jobs, etc.
-- lsteinho, Jul 01 2002


Ah, yes, bring back the workhouse.

P.S. Baked. See under Dickens.

P.P.S. Giving tokens, food vouchers, and other items non-redeemable for alcohol or crack is also quite Baked.
-- DrCurry, Jul 01 2002


obligatory: expected a transsexual secretarial service.
-- waugsqueke, Jul 01 2002



random, halfbakery