You’d think that after eight years of doing street outreach helping the unhoused homeless it would be easy to recognize the difference between ‘helping’ and ‘enabling.’ But it can be tricky, especially when we’re talking about chronic homelessness and addiction.
How do we ensure that our outreach is empowering rather than reinforcing harmful cycles? We only provide people with the very basics they need to survive (basic foodstuffs and hygiene items, tarps, and in certain instances clothing). When they start asking for more, we try to get them to focus on personal responsibility and problem solving. That’s all we can do.
Of course, if we had the means to offer addiction treatment and recovery services we could do more. But we don’t.