A spokesperson for SpartanNash, the parent company of Family Fare, said store employees responded “with the utmost compassion and professionalism.”

“Ensuring there is ample safe, affordable housing continues to be a widespread issue nationwide that our community needs to partner in solving,” Adrienne Chance said, declining further comment.

Warren said the woman was cooperative and quickly agreed to leave. No charges were pursued.

“We provided her with some information about services in the area,” the officer said. “She apologized and continued on her way. Where she went from there, I don’t know.”

I feel like there’s very few opportunities these days to say this, but the cops and business owners in this situation actually seem to have behaved in a very humane and decent way here, so that’s a nice surprise

cops and business owners in this situation actually seem to have behaved in a very humane and decent way

Well it’s nice that they didn’t beat her to death. But they still kicked her out and didn’t actually provide any more help. “Services in the area” probably will be less adequate than what she’d had before they booted her.

I don’t expect them to actually take care of her, but they don’t get a gold star for declining to bludgeon, strangle, or imprison her. She’s on her own.

I mean, I would add on not sticking her with a criminal charge as an important thing they didn’t do here, because the whole story of “oh you missed a court date because we sent the notice to an address you haven’t lived at in years, so now we’re fining you on top of the original criminal charge that brought you in here, [soon] wow, you’ve got a lot of missed court dates and unpaid fines, you look like a career criminal who needs the book thrown at them” happens a lot,

And there’s a very real chance that the contractors looked the other way and then this woman’s residence got discovered they could have lost their licenses or otherwise gotten in trouble

Like, I think what you’re pointing out is a really important perspective and we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that a woman with a home was made homeless here, but I think a lot of relatively powerless people here tried to be as humane as an inhumane system would let them be, and I think that’s important too. I think the way this world gets less shitty is when more people start making these little steps towards revolutionary kindness and then those little steps start getting bigger and bigger.

Again, it’s not praiseworthy that they merely declined to abuse her. I’m not scorning them, but they get zero credit for declining to abuse her (beyond the abuse of kicking her out with no help).

there’s a very real chance that the contractors looked the other way

Without evidence, there’s no point in this speculation unless you’re hired by their PR to praise them (which seems unlikely).

the way this world gets less shitty is when more people start making these little steps towards revolutionary kindness and then those little steps start getting bigger and bigger

Sorry, but this is absolute nonsense. It’s meaningless. She is homeless.

a woman with a home was made homeless

This is the only story. Let’s not waste time praising the heroic saints who kicked her out.

mate it’s ok and good to acknowledge a small measure of good that may exist in a very terrible situation.

humans are not meant to focus on only the doom, gloom, and cynicism of it all 100% of the time.

a small measure of good

There was no measure of good whatsoever. Her situation was made objectively worse, and we’re presuming to praise those responsible merely for not making it even more worse. I’m not the one who created any doom or gloom. I didn’t kick her out. And it’s not cynical to sympathize with the homeless woman instead of with the people who kicked her out. Mate.