Often times when the police say ‘refused shelter services’, this can mean one of the following:
The shelters they referred him to are already full, or he has already been deemed ineligible for them (are you a homeless single cis white man? good fucking luck, on the west coast most shelters prioritize women, families, non white ethnicity and non cis people) or he has been at them for their maximum allowable time and he now either cannot come back or must wait some period of time before he can attempt to apply to them again.
Or
The shelters he was referred to are unsafe, unclean, filled with violent drug addicts who will assault you and steal your phone or paperwork (documentation and identity verification is almost always required for most shelters), as well as your other belongings.
Or
The shelters are themselves staffed by people who are rude/abusive/incompetent, who either restrict access to your documents and belongings or just outright steal them (and then either steal your identity or sell your info to someone else who does that).
…
Reasons like these are why some people would rather be arrested than go to a dysfunctional shelter: jail is actually safer.
That or the cops just say ‘well we gave him a shelter number, we have no clue if its full or won’t accept him, not our department’
Tiny home communities are often little better than just straight up homeless encampments: You get a box with a tiny bed, probably no running water, no laundry, electricity is a loud diesel generator, you have times you are and are not allowed to enter and leave… etc.
Its basically a concentration camp, set up on a parking lot.
Source: Me, I used to be a data analyst for a large nonprofit assisting the homeless in Seattle, then a series of crimes reduced me to homelessness.
In this case, he was offered assisted services no less than four times including placement in a Tiny House and he refused each and every time.
The Tiny Home stuff has been working, he didn’t want it.
“Of the people who left the Safe Rest Village program between July 2022 and March 2023, 53% moved into permanent or temporary housing.”
In the case of Portland’s tiny homes, the units look to be spartan but much better than a tent. They provide a locked door, heating/AC, grid electricity, showers, shared kitchenettes, laundry, nearby transit, and various social and medical services. Of course, I’m going off a web site, so I could always be getting a rosier picture than reality.
