@tinman if you're truly interested in solving homelessness, pay attention to what this article says has been successful. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/14/headway/houston-homeless-people.html[/quote]
I read about half the article and will read the rest later. It’s certainly an interesting approach and combined with other programs like the tiny houses could be a possible solution.
I spend a lot of time on the homeless issue and I have noticed a few things that aren't discussed. First there is this assumption that the homeless were all drug addicts first and then as a result became homeless. The reality is that a lot of homeless people become homeless BEFORE they become drug addicts. Being homeless is a very mentally hard and drugs are cheap and plentiful and common in the homeless community, so a lot of people that find their homelessness go on weeks or months eventually use drugs as an escape. Had there been housing, this segment of the homeless would not likely have become addicts. Second, when people think of the homeless, they think of the people living in tents and on the streets strung out. Those are homeless, but not the biggest group of homeless. The largest group of homeless are those that are functionally homeless. They often work jobs or are actively looking for jobs. They usually will rent a cheap hotel once or twice a week to bathe and clean their clothes and spend the rest of the week working part time or at libraries and other places off the street. These are people that do not make enough money to pay for housing and they do not want to be homeless. Over time, without housing these people will half the time become typical homeless people. Third, there are a LOT of functionally homeless children. They typically are staying at a friends house or relatives house until they are kicked out. Their parents usually are homeless and trying to make enough money to get the family proper housing. These people will go from relative to relative hoping to save up money. These kids have clothes and do not appear homeless, but are still considered homeless. Fourth, a lot of the homeless in the South and smaller towns leave and go to places like Los Angeles and New York because there are poor resources and help for the homeless in these areas. There is usually poor public transportation in the South and smaller cities, which makes getting a job almost impossible. Fifth, in most major cities, the homeless are scared of street gangs who will rob them and take their few meager belongings.
There are also people that CHOOSE to be homeless. They have cells phones, a mailbox, etc... I wish they would park themselves in the suburbs instead of cities and trains.
There are a whole lot less people that choose to be homeless than you would likely believe. There are some young people that say that they want to go on an adventure and will live on trains or camps for awhile, but unless they become addicted to drugs, they almost all end up getting employment and live in the larger society. Most of the people that really "choose" to be homeless are severe drug addicts or suffer from mental disorders such as schrizophenia. Even these people are wanting housing most of the time. Some of these people that say they choose to be homeless that are in the 50-60's say that because they have been homeless for decades and it is what they are used to. These people, are not the vast majority of the homeless. Drug addiction and human trafficking and theft are all serious problems in the homeless community, but the idea that these people were drug addicted, stealing and engaging is dangerous behaviors before they were homeless is simply not accurate. It is close to 50/50. We lump homelessness into one group for a variety of reasons. However, most of those homeless are not like the people you see on television on the streets of LA, SF or Philadelphia. Those are homeless people, but they are actually the minority. The best way to cut down on homelessness in the USA is to increase the amount of affordable urban housing in the USA. It isn't hard either, there are just industries and interest groups against it. It also helps the middle class and working class as well. There is a serious housing crisis in the USA and most Americans are paying too much for housing. The Democrats are marginally better than the Republicans on the issue, but neither one is terribly responsive. The issue in the the San Francisco/Oakland and LA areas are decades in the making.
We tend to throw homeless, drug addicts, and jail convicts in the same pot. We use them as examples for failing society for not working hard. It's a useful prop, but massively underserves people in need by lumping them with folks who have totally given up. I'm not sure where it's acceptable to separate between the unlucky among the "undeserving" or whether we would punish/exclude the dropouts if we did. Bit dark when you think about it. Anyways, expensive housing across America is becoming more and more outside our control. The dollar is world's reserve currency, and real estate is generally the best way to park large dump trucks of money. It's happening to other countries like Canada or New Zealand. They have no way to handle that influx of money and their real estate bubble has been crazier than ours. It's not as simple as working hard enough as people are starting to lag behind. If it's happening to California, it's definitely happening elsewhere as once affordable cities are not just receiving Cali's exodus but also from the original reason why Cali's real estate prices sky rocketed earlier.
Very few people have completely given up. Homeless people that have given up end up dead in a very short period of time. We are usually only talking about a few years. As for the incarcerated, I differentiate between those that have a track record of those that are violent and those that are not. Some of the root causes are the same, but overall are more different than I expected before I really got involved. I don't think that you punish homeless people that haven't committed a violent crime. We are headed towards a situation where homeownership will not be obtainable for normal people. It sounds absurd, but the restrictions on new construction in large and in demand areas are very harsh because those with existing real estate want to artificially prop up the value of their real estate. Second, the number of corporations buying homes is new and growing very quickly. There are also individuals buying and leasing out the homes. The results are that they can charge an extreme amount in rent. The USA has long taken for granted the ability of most people to buy a home if it is a top priority. It isn't the case in most other desirable parts of the world. It is sad, but it is happening here and it is going to result in less wealth accumulation for the middle class and working class. It used to be someone could buy a home in LA or San Francisco. Even working class people could buy homes in the working class areas of LA, that is simply not the case anymore. California is the canary in the coal mine. We already have seen home prices greatly increase in places like Dallas and Houston, which were bastions or opportunity in the past. Also the idea that the working class and middle class pay more in taxes in California that Texas or Florida, and that is the cause is simply not accurate. The working class/middle class actually pay more in taxes than in California. The main reason for the difference is housing costs, and stretched resources; and that will happen a lot of other places. All we need is another housing collapse for the wealthy and corporations to buy the homes at low prices and rent them out at huge profits, and we will have a snowball effect. I know some people in California that have full time employment and are functionally homeless. They will split their time between an efficiency and the streets. These are not people anyone would believe were homeless. They are mostly fast food employees, work in retail or other similar fields.
@ROXRAN @Nook @Salvy @basso @AroundTheWorld @tallanvor Gaza? oh wait this is California ! wow, they created caves under Sacramento? Forget Hamas , these guys did this without funding!
I thought it was Gaza lol ~ they need to check that no innocent civilians aren't in there held as hostages
Homelessness in the United States is a really big problem. The lack of affordable housing, caused by local municipal rules that limit the number of homes, and prevent the building of small homes - coupled with older American's not selling their homes and individuals and corporations buying and renting out homes - has caused a SEVERE shortage of affordable housing, especially for young Americans. Couple that with drug addiction, untreated mental health issues and poor screening in the USA and we are in a position where there are going to be a lot of homeless people. The federal government does nothing, and most cities and states just try to push them into another state. A big part of the American dream was the realistic chance at home ownership - and it was something that separated the USA from places like NZ, UK and Western Europe. Now - that is being taken away by a government that is dependent on money from power brokers that have finally figured out that the key is to make people have nothing of value to pass on when they die. Rather than the democrats fighting about whether it is bigoted to call a male a women or if the borders should be all open - and rather than the Republicans complaining about forts being renamed and whether the term "oriental" is offensive - they both should worry about important issues like the housing market.
Hamas wouldn’t want to live Cali breh They wouldn’t be able to feel safe going to in and out for a double double
- housing is ridiculous- I feel bad for young adults such as my kids in their early 20s - it's unfair how it is for them versus how it was for me in my 20s - my most recent house purchase that I paid for $390k only maybe a tad over 3 years ago is supposedly worth $600k now ... at first glance this is great - I should pocket equity- but there's no way I can get the interest rate the same plus if I do sell - it may be a smaller house at equal or higher cost . Crappy and old houses can hardly be found for less than $200k - per buying power of the dollar - it doesn't make sense - it's unfortunate
Anyone heard of Georgism? I saw a youtube about it and some form seems useful against wasteful land hoarders/speculators.
While I don't disagree with many of your points, I do have to qualm a bit with the whataboutism that you end with there. Democrats often are accused of going too far on homelessness policy proposals, and Republicans almost always counter with a "pull yourself up from your bootstraps" argument or a "we are too much in debt as a country" excuse. There are some in the middle who have tried to work with the other side on reasonable bills (Joe Biden has a standing proposal for a 5billion tax credit for Congress to take up, Susan Collins has worked on a bill to her credit, etc.), but in the end homeless in terms of policy has always been Democrats want to be super aggressive (see Bernie's 2 Trillion dollar bill that progressives support), and the Republicans finding any excuse they can find to just do nothing or make matters worse by doing this: https://www.propublica.org/article/trumps-trillion-dollar-hit-to-homeowners Yes... both sides have blame for not figuring out better middle of the road legislation, and maybe taking up Susan Collins' bill. However you and I know that the fundamentals of homelessness aren't going to be solved by a moderate bill. There are fundamental issues with the Real Estate industry, and the regulations that allow for professional billionaire, or millionaire investors to hoard the residential real estate market, and unfairly skew pricing so they can maximize selling on the high. There's also the issue of the Federal Reserve having only one primary tool to curb inflation which is raising interest rates that really only hurts residential buyers. Especially first time home buyers while doing nothing to curb investor spending because they have the capital to use cash in many cases, and use their capital to secure loans from big banks to continue to lend to purchase and sell at more favorable rates than any first time homebuyer would dream of. Most people go homeless though because of a series of events that happens in alot of peoples lives - The area they own their home in changes (see 3rd ward Houston Gentrification as a great example), their job situation changes where they cannot afford as much as they used to, and they have family/relationship challenges. All three of those primary factors are more than likely going to happen to all of us at some point in our lives, and while most of us won't end up homeless, it's three factors that have NOTHING to do with Democratic or Republican policies. Democrats at least do have some aggressive solutions, and far fewer excuses for actually trying to HELP the problem, while the Republicans signature policy achievement of the past 30 years is the Trump Tax Cut which gave EVEN MORE favorable advantages to high worth real estate investors. I just think we need to have better context here, and not just take the easy road of just blaming both sides equally. A. It's not always about politics. B. When it is about politics, both sides are NOT equal.
It's not just homes the large corporations are buying up. It's the corporate farmers, corporate seed and pesticide companies, and corporations like Amazon, Walmart, Walgreens, Lowes and others putting all the small farms, business owners, hardware stores and drugstores out of business. They simply own the market. They do it in the big cities, driving or buying out the poor, then building on that land million dollar townhomes and apartments. That happened around downtown, just like in Harlem, LA, Austin, and New York City. They gut old homes and built mansions on the properties, or luxury apartments in old neighborhoods, like around the Medical Center, where retired people see their taxes skyrocket, and are often forced to move to live more comfortably. It's sad, and it isn't going to change. The days of owning a nice home as a young couple in a nice neighborhood aren't nearly as affordable as they used to be for middle class Americans. When I grew up you never saw grown adults and their kids living with their parents to get by. I see that all the time now.
