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If, in the Soviet Union, people had to live in tents while working, most sensible people would blame the economic system in place. Yet in capitalist America...?
https://komonews.com/news/local/komo-news-special-seattle-is...
It is an excellent discussion on the causes and remedies.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This should be a solvable problem in my opinion we are a rich country and we can afford to feed and shelter everyone. The problem is figuring out what to do about the homeless people who refuse to accept shelter and other forms of government assistance. What are you going to do, arrest them? That's been tried in San Francisco and it went badly. If you force them to move they will set up camp somewhere else, so that…
It is not a matter of "refusing shelter" it is a matter of refusing the strings that come with the Shelter. Like the story says most shelters have a litany of rules that most reasonable people would find objectionable. Some even require you to attend religious services, or preform some other act. Then you have the one that refuse pets (homeless people will not and should not have to give up their pets) then you have…
I never said that. It is an unfair misrepresentation of my argument.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is not a matter of "refusing shelter" it is a matter of refusing the strings that come with the Shelter. Like the story says most shelters have a litany of rules that most reasonable people would find objectionable. Some even require you to attend religious services, or preform some other act. Then you have the one that refuse pets (homeless people will not and should not have to give up their pets) then you have…
> I could probably list a dozen or more other facts more than "the damn homeless just refuse help" I never said that. It is an unfair misrepresentation of my argument.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The problem is figuring out what to do about the homeless people who refuse to accept shelter and other forms of government assistance. Does San Francisco have shelter beds that are sitting empty? We just don't have that problem yet. The people refusing shelter are refusing to throw away all of their remaining possessions for the promise of a few nights inside and then getting kicked out.
> The people refusing shelter are refusing to throw away all of their remaining possessions for the promise of a few nights inside and then getting kicked out. That's true for some. But there are many who would not accept a guaranteed permanent shelter bed because they prefer the freedom of living on their own. If you won't accept the reality of that, you'll never solve the problem.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is not a matter of "refusing shelter" it is a matter of refusing the strings that come with the Shelter. Like the story says most shelters have a litany of rules that most reasonable people would find objectionable. Some even require you to attend religious services, or preform some other act. Then you have the one that refuse pets (homeless people will not and should not have to give up their pets) then you have…
> I could probably list a dozen or more other facts more than "the damn homeless just refuse help" I never said that. It is an unfair misrepresentation of my argument.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The problem is figuring out what to do about the homeless people who refuse to accept shelter and other forms of government assistance. Does San Francisco have shelter beds that are sitting empty? We just don't have that problem yet. The people refusing shelter are refusing to throw away all of their remaining possessions for the promise of a few nights inside and then getting kicked out.
> The people refusing shelter are refusing to throw away all of their remaining possessions for the promise of a few nights inside and then getting kicked out. That's true for some. But there are many who would not accept a guaranteed permanent shelter bed because they prefer the freedom of living on their own. If you won't accept the reality of that, you'll never solve the problem.
> there are many who would not accept
You're blaming people for how they would make a decision that they don't actually have. That's not dealing with reality.
What is the problem with people living in tents? Why are they forced to dismantle and kicked out by cops? It makes no sense. How can Americans be so cruel to the most vulnerable, most helpless people in our society that they won't even let them live in tents and insist on disrupting their lives constantly? What kind of sick society does this? Is it just so rich assholes don't have to look at them and be reminded that…
It's not just rich assholes, a surprising majority of the population want all evidence of poverty out of sight in their lives. Santa Cruz made it illegal just to sleep visibly in public in an attempt to criminalize homelessness so they could hide the problem.
Annualized "new housing starts" is 1.28M/yr [1]
And we already have a housing deficit, proven not only in homelessness, but in adults sharing rentals, the high cost of rent, new grads completely besides themselves in lack-of-prospects, student debt, etc... In other words, it's getting worse.
Clearly, the only answer is building more housing, and the market is not answering that call. Or give me 40 acres and a mule...
[0]: https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/population-growth... [1]: https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/housing-starts
These are my personal observations: When I first moved to the SF Bay area, I was surprised by the amount of visible homelessness and by the number of service economy workers who drove nearly two hours to and from work. I also had my first experiences with the "campuses" of major technology companies, where money was made hand-over-fist. I think the recent widening income gap is a natural consequence of the technology…
But this happens in the US disproportionally more than, say, many countries in Europe.
KOMO TV in Seattle recently (last Sunday) did a big report on this called "Seattle is Dying." Down south in Portland, it's the same thing. Down in San Francisco...same thing. Down further, same thing. This is spreading quite quickly, all over in the big cities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b53uiRFq4Ds