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‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

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Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#51

Post by adamsea »

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #16
drwicked wrote: post #2

Adding to the problem, the NIMBYs everywhere mean that no one builds new RV parks anywhere and the extant RV parks ramp up rents and regulations (your RV has to less than 10 years old) to push out the lower income people. This exact thing happened to me in Austin.

I hear the same argument on this site every time poverty and homelessness in Silicon Valley is brought up, but I really don't understand it. Massive capital concentration is leading to only a few cities in the country experiencing economic growth, and your solution is to just build more housing in those few areas? Why not do something about the capital concentration? Why not do something to push some of those jobs in…

The answer to your question is poverty. Several studies have shown how poverty has serious negative mental consequences, and how poverty makes everyday tasks significantly more challenging. Especially for someone who grew up poor and is poor as an adult.

https://ivn.us/2014/05/23/the-psychological-effects-of-pover...

> Recent studies suggest that the mental strain undertaken by the poor far surpasses previously expected amounts.

This strain can easily affect one’s ability to succeed in school and/or work, and can even influence one’s ability to pay bills on time. Specifically, poverty affects such cognitive functions as decision-making, memory, focus, patience and even awareness. The scientific reasoning for these shortcomings is linked to the brain’s finite ability. Thus the limited brainpower resulting from poverty infringes on the ability of such people to complete everyday tasks.

The problem with many people’s understanding of the stress of poverty is that they neglect to include the added stress that most U.S. adults face on a daily basis. Such triggers include work, money, health, relationships, poor nutrition, media overload, and sleep deprivation. In fact, 76 percent of U.S. adults correlate work and money to their top stress indicators.

https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/webinars/neurobehaviora...

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/am-i-right/201210/the-e...

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#52

Post by TheAdamAndChe »

arkades wrote: post #49
TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So it's only an issue when the public health of the rich is at risk? Because it seems to me that's what your comment is implying.

No, he’s saying that homelessness in high population density areas has secondary effects that you don’t see in low density areas.

Right, with the implication that only homelessness with those secondary effects is the only homelessness that should be addressed.

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#53

Post by chaostheory »

tw1010 wrote: post #17

Part of me is empathetic with this whole story, obviously. But another part of me finds it strange that there is such a huge emphasis on the homelessness situation in SF. It's as if we're only paying attention to this because of the huge inequality density in the city. But the truth is, homelessness is a problem everywhere. It just doesn't feel like an efficient (from a utilitarian perspective) use of resources to fo…

It's an AP story. The writer just didn't have the resources of someone working on those cool Bloomberg special edition stories.

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#54

Post by jimmywanger »

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #25
jimmywanger wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Massive capital concentration is one of the reasons the valley, SF, and to a lesser extent Seattle, Austin, and New York, are creating so much. Capital concentration leads to higher pay, which leads to smart people coming, which leads to cool products, which leads to an increase in the economic productivity of a society. I don't see why anybody should "push" jobs away. That would make both the jobs and their employer…

The issue with this is that it's going to create massive political instability if there are a few megacities with massive poverty in every other state. There are already signs that our political system is already destabilizing. What makes you think this wouldn't amplify that?

The alternative is government mandated poverty. The government hardly ever creates wealth. They can create the conditions for wealth creation by getting the heck out of the way.

To be a bit dramatic, Venezuela, PRK, Sudan, and Cuba all have incredibly low wealth inequality. Except for the rich and corrupt, everybody else has just about the same as everybody else, which is nothing, based on government policies. Hong Kong is cutthroat with high levels of inequality, but it's also an engine of economic growth. Would you really rather like in Sub Saharan Africa than Hong Kong?

EDIT: And massive wealth and capital concentration brought us Amazon and Google. In exchange for newly minted millionaires being "equal" to us, would you rather live in a world without those technologies - next day shipping and Google Maps and Search?

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#55

Post by bdcravens »

pm90 wrote: post #48
bdcravens wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unskilled labor in Houston may not get $15/hour, but jobs are pretty easy to come across. I know multiple people who really aren't good at their job (one's a waitress, one works in retail) but they frequently get new jobs when they lose the old (and sometimes have more than one at once). It's not hard to find a $700 apartment here either.

Interesting that you bring up Houston. As someone who lives in Austin and frequents Houston (and have friends living in Houston), I really really liked the city for its great housing at affordable prices, amazing food and nightlife (even though one has to drive fucking everywhere with inhumanly aggressive drivers). Has your opinion changed after the recent Hurricane?

I live in an area where I was unaffected (north of Houston). It really only affects where I'd buy a house in the future, as I'd ensure I'm not near a bayou or creek (my current home, a lease, is outside of that danger zone). If you're open to where you live, and aren't stuck on a certain hot spot, I still think it's a great (if hot with the traffic you mentioned) place to live.

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#56

Post by leggomylibro »

deadmetheny wrote: post #26
gt_ wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those locations don’t pay $15/hr. if you can find a job, and you probably can’t. Employment is rising in densely populated areas and not so much in rural areas. This is a little different on the east coast, but that’s a more significant moving investment. Other services like healthcare in rural areas has eroded to barely existent. I can speak from experience in Oregon. Moving costs money, something they don’t have. F…

Cities that aren't on the coasts exist, you know. $15/hr jobs in Midwestern cities aren't outlandish by any stretch.

Well, except maybe in St. Louis, which set a $15 minimum wage only to have it nullified by the state of Mizzureh.

They technically exist, but it's like...would you ever think of opening a business somewhere like Illinois? That's like opening a tin of meat in a school of pirhannas.

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#57

Post by chrischen »

> Mountain View, a city of 80,000 which also is home to Mozilla and 23andMe, has committed more than $1 million over two years for homeless services, including money for an outreach case manager and a police officer to help people who live in vehicles.

Why are local governments treating these people as dysfunctional when the dysfunction is in the government in its ability to provide an environment that is safe, stable, and affordable for otherwise functional members of society.

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#58

Post by ShabbosGoy »

majormajor wrote: post #40
ameister14 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, if all your possessions are in an RV, moving your family to the midwest costs gas - that's pretty much it.

Several hundred in gas, I'm guessing, and that may not be such an insignificant amount if you're that much on the margin. Remember: you almost definitely aren't paying for it on credit in this scenario.

Why not stop participating altogether? It's not hard to leave this system of slavery[1]: it just requires sacrifice.

You don't need to live on the major coasts or in a major city. You can live off the land in the woods, hunting and growing your own clean food, drinking clean water, etc.

[1] https://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/n...

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#59

Post by superb_herb »

ryaniscool wrote: post #32
s73ver_ wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But here's the thing: SV still needs 7-11 clerks, still needs fast food workers, still needs coffee baristas, and still needs all of those lower income positions. Automation is nowhere near eliminating all of those positions yet. So if all those people left, where would those businesses hire from?

If more people said "F * this, I don't want to live out of my car" and then drove away to someplace cheaper, business owners would have to raise wages to attract people to either stay or move to the area. What I'm interested is why has the equilibrium been established where people who aren't making enough to have a decent standard of living choose to stay there.

What makes you think there are jobs in cheaper places to live?

Re: ‘I lost everything:’ Homelessness surges in Silicon Valley

#60

Post by deadmetheny »

leggomylibro wrote: post #56
deadmetheny wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cities that aren't on the coasts exist, you know. $15/hr jobs in Midwestern cities aren't outlandish by any stretch.

Well, except maybe in St. Louis, which set a $15 minimum wage only to have it nullified by the state of Mizzureh. They technically exist, but it's like...would you ever think of opening a business somewhere like Illinois? That's like opening a tin of meat in a school of pirhannas.

I own a business in the Midwest. So, yes, I absolutely would.
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