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Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

latimes.com

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Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#181

Post by emodendroket »

mc32 wrote: post #125
dyingkneepad wrote: post #23

As a non-American person living in the US, I fail to understand one thing about its society. When I walk around town I see tons and tons of places advertising jobs, for simple stuff like kitchen, moving stuff around, etc. I even recently saw a store with a "talk to the manager and start working right now" sign. And then I walk around the streets and see all these homeless. It seems like a paradox to me, but I am obvi…

I don’t know, honestly. When I travel overseas and see people who don’t look down upon menial jobs but see them as a source of sustenance I have to admire them. I’ll see people doing lots of things like picking up recyclables, selling drinks, handyman type jobs, knife sharpener, shoe repair, mobile tailor, etc. Very seldom see homeless in Asia or Mexico (I don’t stay in tourist areas). People there hustle one way or…

> Very seldom see homeless in Asia or Mexico (I don’t stay in tourist areas).

What on earth are you talking about? Even in Japan, famous in the Western imagination for societal cohesion and lack of crime, you can easily spot homeless people sleeping rough in Tokyo. I suppose they do a better job than American cities of keeping the problem out of sight but the idea that there are no homeless people at all in Asia is simply risible.

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#182

Post by throwhome2 »

dyingkneepad wrote: post #23

As a non-American person living in the US, I fail to understand one thing about its society. When I walk around town I see tons and tons of places advertising jobs, for simple stuff like kitchen, moving stuff around, etc. I even recently saw a store with a "talk to the manager and start working right now" sign. And then I walk around the streets and see all these homeless. It seems like a paradox to me, but I am obvi…

Nobody wants to admit this, but probably more so here on HN and specially those who will downvote this reply to oblivion and have 10k+ karma points. They will find any excuse to sidestep this as a legitimate issue, here are some to watch out for: a. other countries have a worse homeless problem b. it's because we closed mental health institutions in the 80s c. I was homeless you don't know what you're talking about d. war on drugs is the cause e. you shouldn't judge others maybe they chose this... the list goes on and on and I'm not going to respond to any of them here, just something to be on the look out for when this topic comes up.

In the US people don't find the same solidarity with their fellow citizens unless you belong to the same club or same sociopolitical spectrum you basically think you're better than everyone else and there is a deep rooted superiority complex among people here. This is in stark contrast to countries even in Europe including Italy and others where there is a strong sense of community and for example Italianess that supersedes petty political and idealogical beliefs that many in the US cling to almost religiously.

I don't think Americans want to admit this specially the closer to the coastal cities you get the less sense of solidarity with fellow citizens and belongingness prevails rather than more community driven even religious South.

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#183

Post by Kaytaro »

goshx wrote: post #67
sudosysgen wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the incentive to get a job if you're still going to be homeless? If you stay homeless you're eventually going to get fired too.

I don't know, maybe being able to buy food is an incentive?

Homeless in the US are not really struggling for food.

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#184

Post by emodendroket »

vondur wrote: post #49
dyingkneepad wrote: post #23

As a non-American person living in the US, I fail to understand one thing about its society. When I walk around town I see tons and tons of places advertising jobs, for simple stuff like kitchen, moving stuff around, etc. I even recently saw a store with a "talk to the manager and start working right now" sign. And then I walk around the streets and see all these homeless. It seems like a paradox to me, but I am obvi…

Most of these people are mentally ill, in addition to most likely being addicted to drugs. They can probably never hold down a steady job.

Just not true.

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#185

Post by sokoloff »

cduzz wrote: post #100
pineconewarrior wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, that job may not offer the person any net quality-of-life improvements. Flipping that burger for 30 hours a week does not give them enough money to find housing. Now they're still broke but they're also tired, smelly, and angry.

How do you cash a paycheck if you are without an address or a bank account? How do you establish that you are a citizen and are legally able to take a job if you are unable to safely store your documents? How do you get health care, inclusive of mental health care, if you are unable to pay for it? If you are without a secure residence, how do you know when to wake up, how do you clean up, put on fresh clothing, and g…

You can cash paychecks at the issuing bank.

Plenty of people use public transit to get to work. (If public transit can’t reliably move people, that’s much more than a homeless problem.)

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#186

Post by mfer »

Swizec wrote: post #134
simonsarris wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First please note that America has fewer homeless people than many European nations or Canada. Per 10K: Germany......79 UK...........46 Sweden.......36 Canada.......36 Netherlands..23 France.......21 USA..........17 (via Wikipedia, stats for differing years unfortunately but gives a sense of magnitude) It's mostly that the US homeless population concentrates in very few areas. > How do you reconcile that with the fac…

How are "homeless" defined in different countries? There was an eye-opening 99pi series of podcasts around homelessness in USA where I learned that the definition is ridiculously strict. Something like "If you slept anywhere other than the street last night , you do not qualify as homeless". I can't remember if tents count, but sleeping on a friend's couch, squatting a derelict building, or staying in your car disqua…

You can find the legal definition at https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/11302

Squatting in a derelict building counts as homeless per the US definition. It's not just people living on the street.

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#187

Post by jeffbee »

thepasswordis wrote: post #142
jeffbee wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Abundant housing is a necessary condition for solving homelessness.

Have you spent much time working with the homeless?

Yes, I worked to create the most recent census of homelessness in my county. That's why I am aware of the fact that an overwhelming supermajority of current homeless express a wish to live in independent, affordable rental homes, like the rest of us. But you don't have to personally conduct the census to know this; you can just go read the results.

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#188

Post by paulddraper »

emodendroket wrote: post #160
hackeraccount wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not of the Left. So you know where I'm come from. That said people who are living on the street are frequently deeply alone in way that can be hard to understand. Substance abuse problems. Mental problems. Sure all of that. No place to live too. All of that's a huge burden. On top of that the jobs that get listed are frequently not going to be offering 30 hours or less a week. So the way to think of people in tha…

It's only like a third of homeless people with mental illness, so while it's a major contributor it cannot totally explain the problem.

45% have mental illness.

25% have "serious" mental illness. https://www.bbrfoundation.org/blog/homelessness-and-mental-i...

38% are alcoholic.

26% abuse drugs. https://www.banyantreatmentcenter.com/2020/07/01/a-look-at-h...

I suspect they tend to be the more visible ones, as opposed to the ones in shelters or assistance programs.

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#189

Post by emodendroket »

Alex3917 wrote: post #60
dyingkneepad wrote: post #23

As a non-American person living in the US, I fail to understand one thing about its society. When I walk around town I see tons and tons of places advertising jobs, for simple stuff like kitchen, moving stuff around, etc. I even recently saw a store with a "talk to the manager and start working right now" sign. And then I walk around the streets and see all these homeless. It seems like a paradox to me, but I am obvi…

In the U.S. there is a law that says if you want to hire government-subsidized indentured servants from overseas, you need to the advertise the job to U.S. citizens first. Just because there is a sign advertising the job doesn't mean they're actually going to hire an American.

I don't think people are sponsoring visas for dishwashers.

Re: Woman sues L.A. after being struck by car on a street where tents block sidewalk

#190

Post by shadowoflight »

temp8964 wrote: post #83
pineconewarrior wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, that job may not offer the person any net quality-of-life improvements. Flipping that burger for 30 hours a week does not give them enough money to find housing. Now they're still broke but they're also tired, smelly, and angry.

What kind of life you can get by just flipping burger for 30 hours a week in Europe? Honest question.

I don't know about flipping burgers or all of Europe, but entry-level pay at Aldi in Switzerland is around $65k USD.
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