The Warehouse State

Here is a disturbing vision of the paternalistic welfare state becoming the laissez-faire warehouse state.  Seattle operates a housing facility for hard-core, homeless alcoholics.  It's entirely taxpayer-funded, and residents can drink as much as they want to:

Each [resident] had been a street drunk for several years and had failed in at least six attempts at sobriety. In a controversial acknowledgment of their addiction, the residents - 70 men and 5 women - can drink in their rooms. They do not have to promise to drink less, attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings or go to church.

In 2003, the public spent $50,000, on average, for each of 40 homeless alcoholics found most often at the jail, the sobering center and the public Harborview Medical Center, said Amnon Shoenfeld, director of King County's division of mental health and chemical abuse. . . . the annual cost for each new resident of [the new facility is expected to] be $13,000, or a total of $950,000.

The mindset of this program strikes me as wildly inconsistent with human dignity, providing a stark reminder of the distinction between individual autonomy and human flourishing.  Basically we're warehousing alcoholics, content to let them suffer and die with their disease, in order to lessen the burden on the taxpayer.  Are folks who are leery of the state funding faith-based personal transformation more excited about this as an alternative?

Rob

UPDATE:  Incoming St. Thomas law student Abby Johnson has a different reaction:

I wonder whether programs that put stipulations on care are really the most humane way of addressing these issues. Let's say Joe has tried 10 times to give up alcohol and failed every time. He's homeless, sleeping on grates and scavenging food where he can, he has liver cancer and diabetes, and he's weeks from dying. Treatment programs are out for him, since he has provided no indications that he's really willing/able to kick his addiction. What's the better course of action for him, to give him a roof over his head for a short time along with some medical care, or to let him live out the rest of his days on the streets until he succumbs to his diseases?