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defineandredefine's avatar

I would have thought we could house homeless folks in all the empty office buildings, but maybe we should let them stay in all the empty houses.

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Kaiser Basileus's avatar

There's plenty of churches sitting empty most of the time that could do the job too.

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Slightly Lucid's avatar

The best an empty church could provide is a temporary shelter.

I donтАЩt want to put words in your mouth - but I suspect (I could be wrong) that you donтАЩt like organized religion for whatever reason, and therefore you feel like churches - rather than the larger society - should be made responsible for the social ills of society?

Many churches actually DO provide a lot of charity; they feed the homeless in soup kitchens, many provide shelter when they are allowed to, they raise money, house food banks, provide space to social groups. Many church programs and shelters and kitchens have been shuttered due to local regulations, nimby-ism, and community resistance.

But even if every church in every corner of the globe were providing these sorts of services, it wouldnтАЩt be enough. It wouldnтАЩt provide the structural support that was needed. Housing still wouldnтАЩt be a right - it would be a charity, and the best an empty church building could do is provide temporary space outside of the cold.

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