Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 340 posts

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

#91

Post by biztos »

TomMckenny wrote: post #37

A big part of the problem is the use of Revenue Management Software to set prices. This obviously ends up working like a cartel. I note that: -Even when nation wide vacancies were at their highest in 30 years, rental price rose. -Even as home prices plummeted, rental price rose. -Rent has risen 30% _nation_ wide just since 2013 so zoning an limits on building can't be the main cause. https://www.census.gov/housing/hv…

I've never heard of Revenue Management Software. What effect does it have exactly?

If you own some apartments, wouldn't you just check the local advertised prices and set your prices similarly, possibly also using whatever your social network of landlords can tell you?

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

#92

Post by jahaja »

sien wrote: post #21
exogeny wrote: post #2

I will go to my grave not understanding why this is so complex and difficult for people to understand and politicians to fix. Wages are stagnant, save for a handful of sectors, in which they're growing quickly. Housing prices are rising due to limited supply and backward policies towards new construction. Inequality therefore expands exponentially, creating a city of haves-and-have nots. Either reduce inequality thro…

It's difficult to fix housing supply because NIMBYs have so much power on local political activity. It's not just a US problem either. In Australia, Sweden, the UK, Germany, France and many other places housing is more expensive than it should be. If you want to do something go and get active in the YIMBY movement. https://www.yimby.wiki/wiki/YIMBY_movement

NIMBY/YIMBY arguments seem just too convenient an excuse for me. It's almost if one has actively tried to find something that can plausibly explain the housing crisis but does not challenge the status quo of structural/systematic problems in any way shape or form. In Sweden the seemingly prime effect of these movements is to remove democratic influence to the benefit of construction companies, even though that only rarely is the cause of delays, and certainly not the root cause of the housing shortage.

And here's an anecdote from Sweden from the early 90s:

To get a cheap rental flat in high standard, albeit in a working class neighborhood, my parents were able to walk into the office of the municipal housing company and more or less pick a key from the wall and go take a look at it. If they liked, they got it. These were the days where the state still took an interests in providing housing to its citizens and planned, and built, accordingly. Now there's the market and a housing bubble consisting of too many expensive apartments that few can afford. To now suggest that the state should again start building cheap housing to a population where the middle-class is up to their neck in inflated mortgages is impossible. This is the real NIMBY.

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

#93

Post by thoughtexplorer »

aphextron wrote: post #34
enriquto wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not only sad. It is mind-blowingly absurd and overwhelmingly inhuman.

[flagged]

...has resulted in the lowest rate of poverty the world has ever seen.

Although certainly not a perfect system and could be improved, be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

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

#94

Post by biztos »

dawhizkid wrote: post #24
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.

Equally bad compared to what? As an SF resident I would argue SF has one of the worst homeless situations in the country - not necessarily in terms of overall numbers (LA/NY have more), but in terms of what I see as severe mental health issues and drug use among many (but not all) homeless people I see here.

I remember being impressed by how many apparently high-functioning homeless people I saw out near Venice in LA a few years ago. I managed to avoid Skid Row, I guess that's where you'd go to see SF-style homelessness but in a more... integrated? boxed-in? tolerated? style.

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

#95

Post by spookthesunset »

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.

> endless money pits

The reason they are money pits is because they aren't something that will be solved by a city or even a state. Any attempt to solve the problem locally in a "humane" way has a high risk of just attracting more folks in the same circumstance to the area.

The most effective way for a city or state to "solve" the local homeless problem is to simply pay for one-way bus tickets to somewhere else. But that doesn't solve the actual problem.

Homelessness is a systemic problem that can only be meaningly addressed in a humane way by the federal government.

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

#96

Post by omegaworks »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #84
crooked-v wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I think the other problem is that the more one city spends to "fix" its homeless problems, the more other areas ship their homeless to these cities with more resources. It's certainly the case in Texas, where many smaller cities and rural areas give homeless people a one-way bus ticket to Austin, Dallas or San Antonio.

This is a common enough misrepresentation of the sources of homelessness that it's imperative that you stop spreading it.

71% of San Francisco's homeless used to have homes in the city, it is likely a similar proportion elsewhere.

http://sfist.com/2016/02/11/71_of_sf_homeless_once_had_homes...

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

#97

Post by mikeash »

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.

Social Security has been the most effective anti-poverty program in history and it has less than 1% overhead. Can any charity match that?

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

#98

Post by cwkoss »

endtime wrote: post #65
exogeny wrote: post #2

I will go to my grave not understanding why this is so complex and difficult for people to understand and politicians to fix. Wages are stagnant, save for a handful of sectors, in which they're growing quickly. Housing prices are rising due to limited supply and backward policies towards new construction. Inequality therefore expands exponentially, creating a city of haves-and-have nots. Either reduce inequality thro…

Inequality isn't the right measure unless you make some assumptions that have, historically, not held (e.g. fixed total amount of wealth). All you care about is that the poorest people can afford somewhere to live. Toy example: If everyone can afford a home, and then Jeff Bezos increases his wealth by 1000x, inequality goes up but no one becomes homeless. I'm not saying wealth inequality is meaningless, but I think m…

We should measure and optimize for the the growth in wealth of the bottom X percent of citizens.

Who makes up that portion may change, but that portion will consistently be the one that needs the most help.

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

#99

Post by SN76477 »

noobermin wrote: post #60
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…

>Unfortunately, a lot of the solutions are expensive and frankly politically toxic. At the end of the day, everything is political. Instead of shying away from it engage with it because it is the only way you'll change society.

I think what we can do tomorrow is lighten regulations on things like how many people are allowed in a hotel room. This could help many people tonight.

Next is feeding the homeless, some cities limit how they can be fed.

We need to take a close look at these sorts of regulations as soon as possible. Just these two things could make a huge impact.

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

#100

Post by omegaworks »

xienze wrote: post #85
Retric wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Well in SF and Seattle the spending continually increases and the homelessness problem manages to get worse every year. Sounds like a money pit.

The money pit is the cost of housing. Homelessness and artificial housing scarcity go hand-in-hand.
Post reply on HN