This is Billy Bob and the Consortium
Topic of Discussions
Opinions Run Rampant, All Over the Place
Opening Discussion Topic
Guys, it is cold and uncomfortable this morning and it fits in with the discussion card I got! Pete, the treats you gottoday had better live up to the heat that this card may produce. I am still not sure of the reason or what we are doing letting others pick our morning coffee time talks, but whatever, it is fun to watch every one fume for a few moments, so here it goes:
• Homelessness is at a record high: ~770,000 people on a single-night count (2024). Real numbers are likely higher.
• About 1 in 3 are unsheltered: living on streets, in cars, under bridges.
• It’s not one group:
o Families & children (~150,000)
o Older adults (fastest-growing group)
o Veterans (~32,000, declining, not growing)
o People with mental illness, addiction, or medical needs
• Costs are massive:
o Billions yearly just to manage homelessness (shelters, ER visits, policing).
o Emergency response costs more than housing people.
• Why many stay outside:
o Not enough affordable housing
o Shelters can be unsafe, crowded, or restrictive
o Mental health, addiction, trauma, lack of ID or benefits
• Counts aren’t inflated:
o Snapshot counts miss couch-surfing, doubled-up, and hidden homelessness.
• What actually works:
o Housing first (place people first, treat issues second)
o Supportive housing + services
o Rapid rehousing & prevention
• What doesn’t work:
o Sweeps, pushing people elsewhere, “out of sight”
o Criminalization without housing options
Bottom line:
It’s expensive, visible, and frustrating — but simply “moving them along” doesn’t solve it. Housing + services costs less and reduces street homelessness long-term.
Initial Reaction from the Consortium
See, they admit that the problem is too big to fix, and it is not good or right to move us along, but they won’t change.
Popping off numbers and the like, nothing is going to change, why are we agreeing to do this?
We are only hearing opinions by now, we could repeat them ourselves, what is being accomplished?
This is exactly what we said, topic, discussion, opinions flying like pigs with wings and we ain’t involved, but we are its victims every darn time
Okay, time up, time to switch, ready, or are we silll too mad?
Round Table Discussion/Frustration
Hold up, Pete, sip coffee, we are to have a discussion this morning, we are now trying to be educators, as weird as it sounds, the questions are posed to have us help them! Billy Bob, I am hopeful as the next homeless guy, but they cross that line, in what movie? Bil, think back to military days, when ideas clashed, did not mesh, what did you do? We talked, and we followed orders. There are no orders out here but one, move them out of sight, is that really going to change by talking with them? Bill, Pete, think of it this way: it may not solve anything, but will it hurt anything or cause problems? If not, let’s just talk and see if the knuckleheads will listen!
Frankie, why do you stay outside instead of a shelter? If anyone truly knew what would go on in most of the shelters, they would run far away from them. They are dirty, crowded, noisy, and filled with criminals, real criminals. We are safer on the streets than in the shelters. So, what you are saying to us is that even though they want to force shelter on us, they are dangerous and unusable? They talk about shelters like it is the four star hotel or something, but in there, you can lose everything, what little you have, they have no clue, instead of talking, they should try a shelter for the night.
Sally, why do you think older adults are homeless right now? The government will not admit, and many other agencies will not, but the Pandemic and the former President started the ball rolling by tossing the economy in the garbage heap. Rents out of control and expenses are beyond their ability to cover and housing was lost. When the old ones are controlled by limited income but all the stuff around them gets more expensive, how can they live inside four walls?
Johnny Boy, what is up with Veterans being homeless? Darn it, why ask me this question? You know it is close to my heart and Bill’s as well. They fight, give up so much and when they come home injured, broken they are ignored and left to struggle and suffer with homelessness; that is wickedness. I have lost count of how many veterans I have come across who have said that their treatment and benefits in war were better than when they returned home and opted out of the service. That is a bad statement for the United States. But if I dare say, when you have a government that honors, cares for, and demands benefits for those that don’t belong in this darn country, it is a given that the veterans will getthe short end of care!
Bill, do you want to jump in here or sip coffee? I will jump in, these opinions that have been allowed to fly and are highlighted in these here comments above as troublesome. They are all talking about what already exists, not about what can be done to reduce, remove, or counter the numbers that are moving to the streets every day against their will. They use the numbers, the thought patterns and news articles to numb us from the reality thatthey do not care and that they are not concerned about reducing the numbers. I think if this idea of open, frank and real talk is going to work, we first have to close the back door.
Riposte
Opinions Comfort—Facts Convict
You’re Arguing Opinions
I’m Pointing to Facts
Stop counting people like data points.
If you’re serious—build shelters, build homes, build housing.
Change the scene. Change the landscape. Change lives.
Old. Young. Veterans. Kids.
The plague has come to roust—and somehow the blame keeps landing on the very ones caught in it.
Blame is a luxury of the sheltered.
Out here, it feeds no one, fixes nothing, and saves nobody.
You can argue causes from a warm room—
but storms don’t ask permission,
and poverty doesn’t wait for consensus.
Old, young, veterans, kids—
this isn’t a moral failure, it’s a human one.
And every time we blame the trapped,
we excuse the fire and applaud ourselves for standing dry.
Opinions are noise.
Action is the only language the street understands.
Okay, Our Turn, We Ask You Some Questions:
Our Hope that you will see through the superficial topics of discussions that trap us to the streets and to the graves
That you begin to understand the danger of: Not thinking for your own self, but where you can challenge groupthink
See the great divide presented today in this discussion, where we are reduced to mere topics and not humans, a warning to all
Finally, assess for yourself, is this a true, true mindset that I have allowed or is it something that I have been fed, and it is false, critically important
Conclusion
Well, folks, it’s me, Billy Bob, I guess I am the moderator in this new adventure, and we have stirred up some strong opinions in the discussion about the uselessness of opinions!
The greatest enemy to ending homelessness is the thoughts and mindsets that have been formed for the people and not by the people and then fed to them in massive doses. This is why we are having this change-up in our morning coffee talks, it is challenging, the guys are not happy, but if it helps change attitudes and hearts it is worth it.
However, the sad and nearly unspoken thought when it comes to opinions, topics of discussion is this y’all still carry the day, what you deem good to have an opinion of, that is what well grab the attention of millions. So thanks for being brace and jumping in today, there are many more to come and the waters may get real bumpy but hold on and ride it out with us.
What Will Their Outcome Be?
You Have a Part to Play…
