We know the role that addiction plays in chronic homelessness. We know that many of the people who live on the streets do so because they are addicts and cannot conform to the standards of behavior set by their families, friends, employers, addiction treatment and recovery centers, and homeless shelters.
Many people say that they don’t care to donate to causes that are trying to help the addicted and chronically homeless because to do so means that they are enabling addiction. We get it. We understand that measure of thinking. We run into it every single day as we try to raise the funds to stay afloat as a helping entity and to accomplish our mission.
Some in our organization are clinically trained as counselors, and we know how addiction affects people. Addiction is listed as a psychiatric disorder in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM 5). It impacts the brain and the psyche in ways that often make it impossible for people to lead what one might consider a normal life.
Do we abandon the addicted, people who desperately need help? Some might. But we don’t. We know what’s going on. We know that there are people in the unhoused homeless communities who because of their addictions cannot make the best choices in life. As for what we do, we try to help them cover life’s most basic survival essentials, while they find their way to a better existence. If that’s enabling, so be it.