Oh, John, “care” services in this “advanced” country?  You must be joking.

Finding and obtaining “care”, even for those who’ve always been upright citizens, paid their taxes on time, have clean driving record and so on and so forth is an on-going hassle requiring justification chits at every twist and turn and annual renwal as if, for example, the person concerned can grow an amputated limb or a new pair of ear drums.

I haven’t noticed the lady you mention, but there are quite a few such in town and, as you say, most people don’t give them a second glance and certainly not the police.

I often wonder how these folk manage to survive.  Luckily, the different charities and their volunteers do a great job in providing food and shelter, particularly in winter, but they, too, have to contend with the bureaucracy of the system.

This is indeed a “devil take the hindmost” society.

Ritchie

Sad indeed if no such help is avaialble.. 

Of course I see loads of bums, tramps, strange people -- whatever we call them erveryday.

This lady stands out a bit because she appears to be rather mature shall we say, ceratinly to be living that sort life, I'd hazard mid 70s. But it's hard to tell with the matted hair etc etc. 

I guess she must go somewhere but almost every night around 17h her place is at Bel-Air, half sitting, half lying on the bench.

There are a lot of 'care' services in Geneva for homeless people. They do help these people in all different ways: find a place to stay for the night, clothes, food, medical help, find long term solutions, etc, etc. 

It is maybe not so visible, but social workers are in the streets every day to help people in need and do a very good job. But when someone refuses help, than the services can't do anything. Don't forget that most of these people have mental problems at the same time.

Unfortunately one of my friends went from caring father into homeless within a year and lived in the streets the last 2 years. He always refused any help. A few weeks ago he finally accepted help, was taken to the hospital. A tumour in his head has been confirmed now. This explains his change of personality in the last years.  

Well described! Sadly, the truth.

In 2013, 440'000 people received payments from the IV (disability insurance) of total SFr. 9'300'000'000.00.

Additionally, 300'700 people (111'400 included in the number above) received payments from the EL of SFr. 4'527'900'000.00.

These are the numbers in 2012.

In 2010, total expenses of social security were SFr. 152'729'600'000.00.

This are of course truly the signs of a "devil take the hindmost" society. (sarcasm over 9000).

I highly doubt, that charities and volunteers come anywhere near to these numbers. I have travelled the world and seen many homeless people, but homeless people (at least of legal residence) who don't live on the streets out of their free will do not exist in Switzerland.

I do not directly work in social security, but due to my work, I have some insight into the lives of those at the edges of our society. We used to put those people into Arbeitserziehungsanstalten, but today, this is a no-go. But it is also an aspect of freedom (their freedom esp.) to let them live their lives as they want, which in many cases is what you see them do.

You also complain that people receiving money from the government have to go through an annual renewal. Those of us working have to show up almost all the days of the year to get our money, so having someone who collects social security having to show up once a year does not really bother me at all.

There are a few regulars around, and like others I wonder how they deal with winter. There is a relatively new guy in a bus shelter near Park Bastion, and I gave him some food a few times because I couldn't imagine how he would deal with the winter, but he made it.

As another poster mentioned, there are services, usually manned by volunteers, and also housing assistance, though limited. The person needs to seek or to be reported as in need though. I lived in New York a while back, and I would say that the 'system' here is not so different. Every once in a while though, I observed that the guys in NYC were picked up, cleaned up and dropped back off. The facilities offered for public mental health in Geneve leave much to be desired, and I have to say I would prefer to live at Bel Air bus exchange than seek help from the clowns at the hospital.

"There, but for the grace of God, go I"

Perhaps you can run for government and proppse the reinstallation of the Arbeitslager? A little slave labour never hurt anyone, right?

Please do not misinterpret or embroider other posters’  comments.  In my own case, I did nit “complain”.  I simply recoded the difficulty that people can and do encounter in finding and obtaining “care”, a concept which is not confined to finance alone.  Nor did I mention “the government”, whoever that might be in this context.  

And on the question of  the annual renewal, in writing, of a beneficiary’s impairment, what justification can there be in requiring, say, a totally blind person to prove that he/she has not been miraculously cured by a new Messiah in the past 12 months?

Unfortunately, maintaining squeakily Swiss neat and tidy records impacts on the consideration of new case-histories so the waiting-lists lengthen, requiring more meetings, more staff,, more equipment, and … and …

I’m not saying that CH is way down the ladder in matters of social security and welfare but it’s nowhere near the top either.

R.

Sorry, fat finger prob. again.  “nit” at the end of the first line should, of course, be “not”.

Mea culpa.  

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/complain

According to Merriam Webster, to complain is "to say or write that you are unhappy, sick, uncomfortable, etc., or that you do not like something".

This is what you did, ergo you did complain.

True, you did not mention the government, but you used the terms "bureaucracy of the system" which you compared to "charities and their volunteers" which only leads me to the conclusion, that you meant the government, or which "involunteers" were you talking about?

The non-existance of Messiahs or miracles does not render unnecessary the periodic reevaluation of a situation. I see no reason (no pun intended) that a blind person can not be a productive member of society. He might not be able to fly a plane, but there should be some jobs he can do. 

So which other countries are better than Switzerland? And do your retract your statement, that Switzerland is a “devil take the hindmost” society? 

What an asinine comment. I never advocated for work camps nor slave labour nor slavery.

None hath it as we.

I actually stopped and talked the lady in question a few months ago when it was freezing in Geneva. I was appalled that a person of her age was on the streets. We chatted for about 20 minutes and she told me that she used to be a professor at a university in France. Became ill and lost her job. I asked her what she was doing in Geneva and from what I can gather, she thought life would be better in Geneva. I gave her a bit of money so that she could spend the night at the hostel run by the Salvation army. I also asked her if she had contacted Social Services. She did not seem interested. She obviously has some issues but I don't think there are easy solutions in cases like this. And we should not judge without having more information. I used to work for the social services and many of the employees are overworked, funds have also been cut so they are trying their best with less money and less personnel.