Porta-potties for the homeless?

[KamaAina]

My boss just floated this at a staff meeting. He's talking about the large, wheelchair-accessible ones. We had a few set up for our Disability Unity Festival at the SF Civic Center last month. For those of you back East or in SoCal, the Civic Center is Homeless Central. The nearby BART station has had escalators break down because poo got caught between the steps!

And so, here's my boss wearing an orange vest, serving as porta-potty patrolman for the event. He saw it all. People shooting up. People turning tricks. Nudists from a nearby protest. That's when it hit him: there's enough space in there to shelter someone, and they even have doors that lock!

So is he completely nuts, or could he be on to something?

[oldandhappy]

1. works for me

about time we came up with something

[reddread]

2. for toilets yes, shelter? no

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023917303

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/05/17/18417798.php

http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=7657

http://fresnoalliance.com/wordpress/?p=10181

[dembotoz]

3. years ago while camping in the ozarks during a freak snow storm i spent the night in a larger

campground john

we were the only ones in the park.....

it was dry
it was warm

[Warpy]

4. Anybody who tried taking one over for shelter

would find his "home" tipped over and himself aggressed upon for taking over an accessible bathroom.

Porta potties for the homeless are a great idea, the city has put them at the tent cities that have popped up around here. The homeless value them for their intended purpose (although I'm sure shooting up is part of the purpose) and prefer them to public pooping. They're also a tacit admission that people deserve better than being kicked out on the street with the trash.

[reddread]

5. which city is this?

thanks

[KamaAina]

8. Albuquerque, I believe.

[AngryOldDem]

7. I could see them being used for their intended purpose.

That would provide some sense of privacy and dignity -- a lot of places won't allow people off the street (anyone) to use their restrooms if they aren't patrons.

They could be discreetly placed -- again for privacy and dignity.

[AngryOldDem]

6. My first response is, no.

I don't know what they're like where you're at, but the ones I use at running events are barely big enough to accommodate what they're supposed to be used for, let alone for shelter. I imagine the wheelchair-accessible ones aren't that much larger, Plus, they can be tipped, set on fire, etc., etc. They would not be effective against bad weather, either.

Besides. Homeless people are just that -- people. They deserve better.

I just wish the government, or someone, would take over all the abandoned buildings we see and convert them into housing. Doesn't have to be much. My local NPR station this week had a story about a formerly homeless man who just moved into an efficiency apartment, and he loves it, mainly because it's his.

I commend your boss, though, for noticing this problem. Most people choose not to.

[Cal Carpenter]

9. For shelter?

You think someone proposing that human beings live in a toilet 'could be on to something'?

I feel like I'm in bizarro land.

How about HOUSES and APARTMENTS for the homeless. Like, actual HOMES? There is much more empty housing in this country than there are homeless people. To think that somehow porta potties could be a dwelling is fucking nuts.

I'm sorry if I sound like I'm mad, I'm not, I just feel like maybe you should have thought about this longer before posting it, because it is downright offensive.

[KamaAina]

10. It's an emergency solution only.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

[Cal Carpenter]

11. It is not a solution to anything

Is it April Fool's Day or something?

Tiny houses, maybe, or empty shipping containers, even those are iffy ideas for temporary, emergency solutions that get floated around (and in some cases, tried). But fucking toilets?

smdh... I'm seriously trying to bite my tongue here because what you are saying is so offensive. You are talking about human beings. I believe you are posting in good faith but just simply not thinking this through.

[KamaAina]

12. A) I was repeating my boss's idea.

B) He and I were not viewing them as toilets but as prefabricated structures.