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This is Real, That's Not

streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com

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Re: This is Real, That's Not

#301
post #34
post #14

> Growing up, I kind of thought "Most people are just nice." I had no means to figure out how much was natural charm, how much was me dressing well... > Being homeless taught me that, no, most people absolutely are not just nice. I know this will get downvoted but AFAIK most people see homeless people themselves as "not nice" as in "it's not nice to foist your problems on the rest of us", "it's not nice not to take r…

Yh, everything you’ve stated is incorrect. We all live in a society, homeless people included. If everyone has to truly fend for themselves, why should anyone follow the rules? Who’s to stop people from taking whatever they want? And before you state that policing will force them to, who will force the police? So to answer the question you never asked, yes homeless deserve help just for existing, not for their sake b…

I'm going to start directing all homeless people to your house. We'll see how long your tolerate them.

Re: This is Real, That's Not

#302
post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want to believe this is hyperbolic. Do you really believe business owners, and landlords are sitting in some smokey room plotting to keep people homeless so people will pay their rent? Really, that is your honest held belief of the situation?

Are you saying that there are not smokey rooms in all countries where they are plotting how to cut public services?

What I am saying is landlords do not believe people are paying (or not paying) rent because of homelessness, nor do landlords believe that if homelessness was solves completely that would mean people would stop paying rent...

That is a ridiculous and moronic position. People can have good faith disagreements on how to solve social problems, and if you believe government is not the right avenue for that solution it does not mean you want or desire people to be homeless.

Re: This is Real, That's Not

#303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just nonsense. Right now, homeless people are not customers, meaning they are not making money off of those people, when they could be if those people were actually renters.

The argument is that would be penny-wise and pound-foolish. It also isn't penny-wise: homeless people don't have cash.

It is absolutely not clear that this would be pound-foolish, and homeless people do have cash if you get them off the streets and back as productive members of society.

Re: This is Real, That's Not

#304
post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>But the contempt the working and middle classes have for the poor is something I'll never understand. Really? Should be fairly easy to understand, for a Middle Class Family that is living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to save for retirement, the kids collage fund, maybe help pay for a aging parent, save for home repair, and provide daily expenses seeing a good chunk of their earnings being stolen errr "taxed" aw…

Taxation is only theft in the US, in the rest of the world you get something for it (health care, free education).

Taxation is always theft... If I steal your TV but clean your house, mow your yard, and perform other services "worth" same as your TV, I have still stolen your TV even though you got something for it.

Re: This is Real, That's Not

#305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you doubt that plenty of people think that threat of homelessness is necessary motivation for people to work? Those people also think that some people being homeless is acceptable trade off given the motivational value of the threat and cost of paying for everyone's accommodation.

Yes, I do doubt that.

Have you never heard the argument that all handouts make people lazy?

It's an opinion of significant percentage of american voters.

Re: This is Real, That's Not

#306
I couldn’t help thinking about a lot of the kids I knew at University while reading that. Some of them were enrolled in classes, and some of them were only tangentially associated with the school. Many of them were poor or occasionally homeless or just had very low paying jobs, and substance abuse was not at all uncommon. But the thing is they were all very smart and creative and tough. I would much rather have spent my time with them then the mindless frat boys and the so-called honors students... I think those are the types of privileged people discussed in the post that simply cannot function outside of that bubble. I am not suggesting that anyone should want to be poor or unprivileged but rather that it is a possibility, and this sort of humble approach helps to give a better perspective when things are not going so well.

Re: This is Real, That's Not

#307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this, but also that: “ What £ of tax would the working class family contribute towards university education” Is not really fair to the issue. It’s not a cost for university education, because it’s not open to all - there are gatekeepers - and those from underprivileged backgrounds have very little chance of being accepted to the most prestigious institutions, so it’s unfair to expect them to pay for it, is essentiall…

My point is that people from underprivileged backgrounds realistically don't pay any different amount in tax and are only further removed from access. To repeat myself: "Their children take [accruing debt] to mean that they absolutely shouldn't go to university, no matter how capable they are." Tax pays for plenty of things that working class people don't use; it also pays for plenty of things that working class peop…

"Tax is an agreement that we find these things valuable to pay for, as a society."

But we don't agree. A lot of people are affronted that as they see it they're being asked to, in essence, fund a high quality education for wealthier people's kids that their own kids can never have access to.

Whether they're right or wrong (and I've yet to see evidence that they're wrong), that's their view. And there are a lot of them. Which is why Clegg could never sell it to the electorate back in the coalition days.

Re: This is Real, That's Not

#308
post #288
post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would you spend thousands of dollars putting people in prison rather than just spending that cash on providing them treatment? Addicts, by definition, take drugs. They continue to take drugs when they know it harms them. Why do you think the potential risk of going to prison for a few days will have a deterrent effect when the very real health consequences they're currently going through isn't a deterrent?

Of course treatment is better, but privileged Californians see the state "coercing" an addict to go to rehab as evil as well. That's why the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on homelessness rarely goes to the people who need it most.

Genuinely asking, how much more does California spends on homelessness per capita than the average state? What services are offered that aren't offered elsewhere? If these services aren't reaching people where is the money going instead?

Re: This is Real, That's Not

#309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is there any evidence for people becoming homeless because of skyrocketing rents? Plenty of it, it is one of the primary causes. But just to put it in concrete terms that should scare anyone, the average rent in San Francisco in 1994 was about $1000. By 2001 the average rent was $2300. [1] Consider that other living costs go up along with rent. > Are there no renter protections in the USA, anyway? Sometimes. But wh…

Rising rents are not evidence that rising rents are a major cause of homelessness. "what happens when you lose your job, and then lose your apartment as a result?" Then losing your job is the cause, not the rising rents. "So your theory is that rich people hire homeless people off the street to cater to them?" I could imagine many people migrate to those places to try to make their luck, because there are many opport…

> I could imagine many people...

Yes, that's the entire problem I've been encouraging you to stop doing. You don't need to imagine. It's an extremely well researched subject.

I was sincerely hoping you'd put a little work into the research yourself (like I asked you to) instead of continuing to create mental fantasies about why homelessness might happen. We already know why it happens. Without any cherry picking on my part, here are the top five search results from "causes of homelessness". Is it really going to surprise you that "lack of affordable housing" shows up over and over? When average rents goes from $1000 to $2300 in a few years, that's a specific example of "lack of affordable housing" isn't it? It's plain common sense that skyrocketing rents are going to put some people on the street. If you don't believe the articles, talk to some real homeless people, like I have during my volunteer work to help them.

https://atlantamission.org/7-major-causes-homelessness/

https://www.homelesshub.ca/about-homelessness/homelessness-1...

https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/what-cau...

https://www.solutionsfdl.com/resources/what-causes-homelessn...

https://www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/root-causes-of-hom...

Re: This is Real, That's Not

#310
post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a wonderful movie about a difficult topic. Great job. Thank you for making it and for sharing it here—I watched it based on this recommendation, and it was well worth the watch.

Thank you! If you wouldn't mind leaving a review, I would really appreciate it.

Certainly. I will leave a review on iTunes.
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