[TurdF3rguson]

I would avoid homeless shelters because I have no reason to be there. But I won't avoid libraries because I do have a reason to be there, and I know there's no reason to be scared of interacting with homeless people.

They're just people and the library is for them too.

[vasco]

They're not just average people, they're people with a particular condition which is more than likely associated with mental health issues, lack of social skills and several times more likely to be dealing with an addiction problem than a normal person.

Plus all the trust issues of having lived in the street. Only someone who hasn't interacted a lot with the homeless would say they are just like everyone else. Even if the reason they became homeless was just random by the time they've been homeless for a couple of years they are a different person.

There's a reason many of the homeless avoid shelters, if you talked to one you'd know why, and it's not because the other guests are lovely kind people to be around.

[TurdF3rguson]

The bottom line is they have as much a right to be there as you do and you're free to ignore them or interact with them as much or as little as you want to.

[vasco]

That's not the bottom line, the law is the law nobody is arguing to kick anyone out. This thread was just about why someone might not want to go there and then being gaslighted that homeless people are somehow not a risk group in any way lol

[TurdF3rguson]

It's up to you to do your own assessment but I don't see any reason to be fearful.

These are regulars at that library who never caused enough disruption to be banned, and aren't dangerous enough to be in jail. They also have more to lose by getting banned than housed patrons.

[hsuduebc2]

There absolutely are people which are fine and there are one's that don't. No need to create these specific scenarios.

That's the whole point of that post.

[TurdF3rguson]

We're not talking about people being fine or not, we're talking about assessing the risk associated with homeless people patronizing libraries (which is effectively zero).

You are more likely to be attacked by a shark than a homeless person at a library and that should be obvious to anybody.