Most people do not like politicians they feel like they're ignored by them and they don't represent
their interests this is true for many people but it's not true for anyone more than homeless people
homeless people are ignored by society and politicians except one politician ben mcadams
is the mayor of salt lake city utah and he is a politician like no other he's always done good for
his community and he's known for not being someone who acts in front of the camera and does something
different behind closed doors ben was doing a great job and his city was improving but there
was one issue that would simply not improve in fact it was getting worse day by day this was
the issue of homelessness in the city the city had done some things to help the homeless before
millions of dollars were spent on homeless centers this meant homeless people would be able to eat
and also have somewhere to sleep overnight but despite all the money spent on this the city's
homeless preferred to avoid the shelters many of the homeless would actually prefer to sleep on the
streets overnight instead of spending the night in the shelter ben was always very confused by
this he thought there's specialized centers for homeless people to go to so why would they want
to sleep out in the cold on the street it made no sense to him so he asked his city officials
but every time he asked he would get the same response they would say that homeless people
are lazy and unmotivated and that homeless people simply don't want to change their own lives for
the better most mayors would have just taken the advice of these city officials after all
they're getting paid either way but ben mcadams is not like most politicians he decided to think
outside of the box and do something spontaneous one friday afternoon he told his assistant he
was taking his weekend break early he changed out of his expensive suit and instead put on
some raggedy old clothes he put on a baggy sweater with holes in it and also some dirty ripped jeans
he then left his nice fancy office but instead of heading home he went to the cold hard streets
for that friday night and over the weekend he became a homeless man in disguise all he had
with him was a piece of canvas to sleep on a bag of old clothes and a cell phone for emergencies
when he went to the city's garbage dumps and streets popular with homeless people he blended
right in people would often smile at him in the street before but now that he wasn't wearing his
suit it was like he was invisible he soon realized that many people simply shut out homeless people
when they walk past them they just pretend they're not there some people did give him a few coins but
this was barely enough for him to buy a small snack let alone a good meal ben left his wallet
behind so he was literally starving the entire time he was out on the streets he was stunned
by the lack of help that he received from the public ben spent his first night as an undercover
[ __ ] on the streets he asked a homeless man he was sleeping next to why don't you stay at the
shelter overnight and the homeless man told him that homeless centers are very dangerous places
not only do people hurt you at homeless centers but also consumption of illegal substances runs
rife in the centers and all this happens while the staff simply turn a blind eye the homeless man
said not only can you lose all of your belongings but your health and maybe even life as well
the homeless man also said that these staff were sometimes very mean to the homeless and would also
demand money from them as well at first the mayor did not entirely believe this after all his city
officials told him everything was fine they said that the homeless shelters were running smoothly
and that homeless people being lazy was the only reason they weren't using the shelters
with the new information ben had he decided to investigate further the next night ben headed
to the city's homeless shelter he had no idea what to expect as he'd never been there before
he walked in and put his bags on a bunk bed but as soon as he did the homeless man in the bunk bed
next to him gave him a warning he said keep your shoes on when you're sleeping at night otherwise
they will be taken he said keep any other personal belongings in your pocket or they will be stolen
the homeless man also told ben do not go in the bathroom at night he said that if you do
people in there may try to hurt you and you could also run into other problems he also said if you
want to wake up tomorrow night you need to be as quiet as possible the mayor was in shock when he
heard this but then things got even worse then heard and smelt people doing illegal substances
and all night strange looking men who seemed to be criminals would roam around the shelter they
would talk with the staff and guards walking in and out whenever these strange men walked in the
homeless people in the shelter seemed terrified they would not even look in their direction
ben decided to ask the shelter staff who are these strange people who keep walking in and out and the
response from the shelter's staff shocked him the staff said stay out of it and go to sleep
or leave the shelter it turns out the homeless guy who said the staff were collecting money was right
in a way in reality these were criminals posing as shelter staff they would then harass the homeless
people and try and get their money as well as this scuffles and brawls broke out frequently in
the shelter unlike most mayors who never see this ben actually did with his own eyes and this gave
him a whole new perspective on why homeless people avoid homeless shelters ben's undercover operation
lasted for two days and three nights and amazingly he kept it totally secret not telling anyone
and the mayor only went public with his story four months later ben said one of the worst things he
saw was a homeless man being pulled out of his bed the man's head banged on the concrete floor and
ben heard a loud thump although ben's experience was not very nice it was eye-opening and very
useful he realized homeless people have three big questions every day when they wake up first is
where to look for food second is how to spend the day and third is where to sleep the mayor
soon fired everyone who worked in the shelter and also the city officials who lied to him and said
everything was fine he then decided to build three new homeless shelters he also made sure that these
were far away from any liquor stores and the new shelters will have better trained guards and staff
ben said i know that my three days and two nights is nothing compared to most homeless people
but it was still a very helpful insight he supported a groundbreaking bill which increased
funding to tackle homelessness and he's also called for a radically different approach to
addressing homelessness but now it's time to make your voice heard comment down below what you think
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