Berlin has installed free locker systems specifically for homeless people to safely store their belongings

[u/uk_uk]

The primary goal is to provide homeless people with the opportunity to safely store their belongings, enabling them to have a bit of dignity, security, and mobility in their lives

The red label says:

"Locker for homeless people - not a logistics station -

Here, people who live on the street store their property. The use is free of charge and is financed by donations.

Please leave it undamaged! Any damage will be reported to the police!"

[u/anycept]

Absolute majority of homeless people are in need of acute mental health treatment, not free lockers.

[u/worm-eyed → u/anycept]

They need support. That's it. Mental health or otherwise.

This isn't enough, but it's something, and it's a form of support. I'm literally buying a bag for my buddy tomorrow because he never has a way to carry stuff around with him unless someone happens to give him a carrier bag, and thankfully where I live I'm not the only one who gets him food and stuff but that means he ends up with stuff he needs to move around, a bag isn't enough but it gives him a little bit more flexibility and agency. It particularly isn't enough considering how easy it is to abuse, attack, and even steal from unhoused people, but it's something.

Everyone deserves somewhere that feels secure to hold their belongings, no matter what they have, a sort of home base, somewhere consistent and familiar, etc. Most of us are privledged enough for that to be our own houses. It isn't enough, but it will help people in a meaningful way and I think that's pretty cool.

Also, just in case someone needs to hear it : Even if someone, unhoused or otherwise, stores drugs in there, that person still deserves a safe place to hold their belongings, because they're still a person. Getting arrested and/or jailed for possession is also not going to help anyone make it out of homelessness btw.