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The Homeless Crisis Is Getting Worse in America’s Richest Cities

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Re: The Homeless Crisis Is Getting Worse in America’s Richest Cities

#71

Post by crooked-v »

sharkweek wrote: post #9

Long-time Seattle resident here who volunteered for several years in the homeless community. Homelessness has always been a thing in Seattle, but has definitely become a much larger issue in the past five years. I'll spare my thoughts on any number of reasons as to why we got here as a city, but will say I think we are doing a terrible disservice to actually finding a solution by lumping "anyone who doesn't have a ho…

> suddenly we get very "every person for themselves" the second homelessness has a price tag.

A confounding factor involved here is that many government strategies for dealing with the homeless are endless money pits without noticeable results. I think a lot of people would be more comfortable with their tax dollars going to that purpose if they didn't feel like nothing was actually happening from it.

Re: The Homeless Crisis Is Getting Worse in America’s Richest Cities

#72

Post by cronix »

timb07 wrote: post #18
DanHulton wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, I think you're missing a key factor here: politicians require money to be elected. The poor (the folks most affected by these issues) don't have the money to donate. The rich (the ones you propose taxing) do. Thus, the only ones who can get elected are catering to an audience that does not want this problems solved in this way (and indeed, one could argue, does not care to have it solved at all). Until the pr…

In a properly-operating democracy, politicians require votes to be elected; money helps, but isn't sufficient. The 1% may have 50% (or more) of the money, but they only have 1% of the votes. The 99% (or rather, those members of the 99% who vote as if they're in the 1%) need to exert their power at the polling booth.

> The 1% may have 50% (or more) of the money, but they only have 1% of the votes.

Yes, but that money also buys political votes via contributions, political influence, and affects legislation favorably towards themselves. Look at how much money Google alone spent in 2017 on lobbying ($18M). If that wasn't gaining them tremendous influence, I highly doubt they'd be doing it. Not to single Google out (they just spent more than anyone else last year)... they all do it... because they have the money to do it... and it pays off.

The 1% have a lot more influence than just their "1 vote each."

http://fortune.com/2018/01/24/google-facebook-amazon-apple-l...

Re: The Homeless Crisis Is Getting Worse in America’s Richest Cities

#73

Post by carbanion »

claydavisss wrote: post #48

Better title: Income Inequality Reaches Death Spiral In Democrat-run Cities LA SF NYC Seattle - please dispute my claim with facts... California is ground zero for homelessness in the industrialized world and has a veto-proof Democrat majority

This is fairly clear.

Republicans are generally kinder and more willing to help their fellow man, all the while Democrats are doing nothing except bemoaning racism.

Re: The Homeless Crisis Is Getting Worse in America’s Richest Cities

#74

Post by thoughtexplorer »

Zdup wrote: post #7

In San Francisco is equally bad. In the morning @7am you see so many people sleeping on sidewalks like sardines, it's pretty sad considering it's a rich city.

SF can't even provide affordable housing for the working class. People with full time jobs.

It's a city where you need to be making >$100k/yr to even get a 1 bd apt.

Re: The Homeless Crisis Is Getting Worse in America’s Richest Cities

#75

Post by codegoblins »

commandlinefan wrote: post #49
exogeny wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, makes sense. Thank you for the reply. Where it's personally frustrating for me: I've sold two companies in my life, and saw my tax rate jump from the lowest to the highest. I'm fine with that. I did well and despite all the work I put in, I recognize the amount of good fortune that was involved - and I'm perfectly happy to give back more because it affects me less, and because it's my fair share. I recognize th…

> I'm perfectly happy to give back more If you really feel that way, charitable organizations can effectively distribute donations far more efficiently and effectively than any government organization has ever been able to. I suspect that if all of the people who say they feel the same way did just voluntarily donate what they considered their own fair share to charity, the homeless crisis would be mostly solved.

Do you have a source? Is that true for all charities, or just some organizations?

Re: The Homeless Crisis Is Getting Worse in America’s Richest Cities

#76

Post by davidw »

iamdave wrote: post #67
InclinedPlane wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's some merit to this but I'd say it's still a little off the mark. Homelessness is a condition, how people got there is one thing, the main tools to "fix it" are fairly straightforward: give people housing. Dealing with everything else (mental health issues, drug addiction, etc.) can be dealt with separately, and will be vastly easier without having the fundamental problem of homelessness.

how people got there is one thing, the main tools to "fix it" are fairly straightforward: give people housing The solution sounds straightforward, the path to get there looks like a Gordian knot. How do you pay for it? How do you get that funding source to go along with your plans to pay for it? Etc.

Well, we could stop making it illegal. That'd be a great first step.

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/real-estate/amid-seatt...

Re: The Homeless Crisis Is Getting Worse in America’s Richest Cities

#77

Post by Retric »

crooked-v wrote: post #71
sharkweek wrote: post #9

Long-time Seattle resident here who volunteered for several years in the homeless community. Homelessness has always been a thing in Seattle, but has definitely become a much larger issue in the past five years. I'll spare my thoughts on any number of reasons as to why we got here as a city, but will say I think we are doing a terrible disservice to actually finding a solution by lumping "anyone who doesn't have a ho…

> suddenly we get very "every person for themselves" the second homelessness has a price tag. A confounding factor involved here is that many government strategies for dealing with the homeless are endless money pits without noticeable results. I think a lot of people would be more comfortable with their tax dollars going to that purpose if they didn't feel like nothing was actually happening from it.

Actually spending targeting homelessness is fairly minimal. So, IMO it’s hard to call it a money pit.

Re: The Homeless Crisis Is Getting Worse in America’s Richest Cities

#78

Post by RedneckRampage »

carbanion wrote: post #73
claydavisss wrote: post #48

Better title: Income Inequality Reaches Death Spiral In Democrat-run Cities LA SF NYC Seattle - please dispute my claim with facts... California is ground zero for homelessness in the industrialized world and has a veto-proof Democrat majority

This is fairly clear. Republicans are generally kinder and more willing to help their fellow man, all the while Democrats are doing nothing except bemoaning racism.

Nice delusion

Re: The Homeless Crisis Is Getting Worse in America’s Richest Cities

#80

Post by [deleted] »

sgt101 wrote: post #43
rb808 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I will go to my grave not understanding why this is so complex and difficult for people to understand and politicians to fix. Ugh, if it was that easy it would have been done already. Look at the recent wars over the best way to run an economy. Its never that simple. Perhaps European system is the best? Or maybe they just got wealthy by exploiting their colonies for the last few hundred years so they can afford to…

Well, then Portugal (not invaded twice and smashed to pieces in a century) should be richer than Belgium and Holland (blown to bits, slaughtered and battlefields in ultra war) due to all three ruthlessly exploiting their colonial properties, but suffering different misfortune in the 20th century. And yet this is not so - oddly the liberal democracies (regardless of imperial wickedness) seem to be doing better than re…

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