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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

#191

Post by claydavisss »

majormajor wrote: post #68
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

Income equality is more about the top end changing dramatically than the bottom end changing dramatically. "LA SF NYC are too rich and too business and super-wealthy-friendly" is a very different argument than the one you're making, and yet the only thing you note could support it just as well. So maybe it's more complicated than that.

Its only "complicated" for people who continue to believe that Democrats represent the working class.

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

#192

Post by phil248 »

reading-at-work wrote: post #177

> It’s not bad everywhere. Houston, the fourth-most-populous city in the nation, has cut its homeless population in half since 2011, in part by creating more housing for them. That’s dampened the effect of rising rents, Zillow found. This seems like a quick and practical solution that would provide effective assistance while more nuanced factors like mental health are debated about. Why aren't more cities increasing…

In part because building housing in places like San Francisco and NYC is incredibly expensive. Trying to house people with the least means in the most expensive corners of the planet doesn't make a lot of sense to be frank about it.

Houston may be more of a middle ground in terms of building cost and access to land.

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

#193

Post by seanmcdirmid »

harlanji wrote: post #151
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, I see why that would be possible, but considering cause and effect, one is more likely to burn out their support network by having a drug addiction and mental issues than the other way around.

My support network flew away when I lost jobs, quit jobs, and finally became homeless. They get frustrated by various things and call it being negative or difficult or similar. There’s a strong unwillingness to empathize. I realized some things I did/didn’t do to attract parasitic people to my life, but I’ll digress there. Ymmv of course, but in general people are made very uncomfortable by the situation and may jump…

Support networks only have so much energy in them, some have more some have less. They burn out as you use them, I think that’s just human nature. Richer people generally have deeper ones, poorer people generally have shallower ones, I guess because they have their own problems to deal with.

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

#194

Post by CryptoPunk »

The US spends far more now on social welfare than it did in the 1950s, 60s or 70s.

Social assistance to drug addicts concentrated in neighourhoods where a disproportionate number reside, combined with reluctance to institutionalize them, or otherwise force them to stop doing drugs, creates ghettos where drug abuse predominates, that perpetuate drug use lifestyles.

From the other end, restrictions on housing construction, like zoning by-laws, and limitations on private property rights, like rent control, lead to housing scarcity, which pushes more people to the margins where they are more likely fall through the cracks.

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

#195

Post by anigbrowl »

booleandilemma wrote: post #161

I think part of the problem is that there is a certain percentage of homeless people that are just completely irredeemable. Anyone that’s spent some time riding on the NYC subway can attest to this. No matter how much money you throw at them, they will keep begging or acting crazy. Short of locking them up, what do you do with those people?

Irredeemable? Have they committed some awful moral transgression? Certainly some people are chronically incapable of looking after themselves, but please avoid such prejudicial language.

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

#196

Post by BurningFrog »

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…

I understand how building more housing would improve a housing shortage.

But I don't understand how reducing inequality through taxes and social re-distribution programs, while not building more housing, would improve a housing shortage!

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

#197

Post by rootusrootus »

harlanji wrote: post #151
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, I see why that would be possible, but considering cause and effect, one is more likely to burn out their support network by having a drug addiction and mental issues than the other way around.

My support network flew away when I lost jobs, quit jobs, and finally became homeless. They get frustrated by various things and call it being negative or difficult or similar. There’s a strong unwillingness to empathize. I realized some things I did/didn’t do to attract parasitic people to my life, but I’ll digress there. Ymmv of course, but in general people are made very uncomfortable by the situation and may jump…

You sound a lot like my brother. And you seem to have landed in much the same position. I could not help him keep a job so I won't pretend I could help you, either. The best thing that has happened to him is he found an employed woman whose head is fucked up in about the same way his is, and so they get along nice. And she owns her place. So at least he isn't homeless at this point.

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

#198

Post by simplify »

51lver wrote: post #53
timb07 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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% own the media companies which are happy to tell you what a winner looks like, and there is a general belief that voting with your heart is inferior to voting for a probable winner.

The latter problem would be solved with approval voting at least https://ncase.me/ballot/

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

#199

Post by reaperducer »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #181
flaque wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. This is just provably false. Utah solved it's homelessness problem by just giving people homes. And it was pretty effective.

From what I have read, Utah's ability to pull that off is tied to the strong influence of the Mormon church there and its institutions. So it's probably not readily replicable in other US states.

The Mormon Church played a big role in it because that organization is involved in its community. But it's not like it only helped Mormons. Everyone was helped, regardless of religion or lack thereof.

Why can't the Utah success be replicated elsewhere? There are no religion-specific aspects to the Utah plan.

Are you implying that atheists are incapable of compassion, generosity, or the need to help their fellow man?

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

#200

Post by vikeri »

Alex63 wrote: post #104
spookthesunset wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

I'd be interested to hear how homelessness can be meaningfully addressed in a humane way by the federal government (especially if it is constitutional).

In comparison to SF/LA/NY etc. we have very few homeless people in Scandinavia. If I were to speculate then I think our extensive social security systems (free healthcare & education etc.) is the reason why. But then we all pay 30-55 % tax on our income to fund that social security.
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