I think the answer is pretty simple… there are more homeless people because housing is very expensive.
So, if there really is an exodus from California, they will drive up housing prices elsewhere and the homeless problem will spread?
I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem
21–30 of 325 posts
Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
The government website stats support the claim: ~29% of the entire US homeless population is in California, which is disproportional when compared to other state population densities.[1] That said, the piece doesn't offer much constructive advice on how to fix it. Californians have been witnessing the very real, large increase in tent cities, addicts, feces, ... for years now, but so far they still vote for the same…
The callous disregard for human life exhibited in this post is sickening. My office has a janitorial staff. Why don't public spaces? Too many people in public parks? Claw back more public park space, maybe from the automobile lanes and parks that infest our cities and spew far more stinky poison than people living rough.
> My office has a janitorial staff. Why don't public spaces?
San Francisco spends tens of millions of dollar a year cleaning its streets.
https://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-spent-54-milli...
> Too many people in public parks? Claw back more public park space...
The issue isn't the number of people in public parks. The issue is that people are using public parks (and other public spaces) to set up encampments, which is not the purpose of these public spaces. In fact, this infringes on the rights of the people who want to use these spaces for legal purposes.
Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem
#23This is a thinly sourced blog post that seems like pure flamebait and not really relevant for HN.
The government website stats support the claim: ~29% of the entire US homeless population is in California, which is disproportional when compared to other state population densities.[1] That said, the piece doesn't offer much constructive advice on how to fix it. Californians have been witnessing the very real, large increase in tent cities, addicts, feces, ... for years now, but so far they still vote for the same…
Californians are getting precisely the kind of world
they've voted for. It's ugly, and it literally stinks.
Yes, how to fix it is the question, but I'm not sure the
people have had enough yet. The recall election of Newsom
next month will be an indicator. If he's recalled, then a
new day of hope begins.
...the people turned on him, and even set fire to his front
lawn in protest.
July 2009 - Then-mayor Gavin Newsom and wife Jennifer
Siebel Newsom had only just moved into a new home in the
Upper Haight when their front stoop was promptly defecated
upon.[1]
A Brief History Of Poop On The Streets Of San Francisco
https://sfist.com/2019/05/01/a-brief-history-of-poop-on-the-...
Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem
#24"Dumping ground" implies other places did this to CA, which isn't substantiated by the article. As it says, the vast majority of CA homeless are from within the state. In the cities of CA, as in other rich cities, homelessness and high housing prices come from the same problem: prohibitive regulations on housing construction.
I'm really not convinced that high housing costs accurately depict the source of the homelessness problem in CA. If it does, it certainly isn't describing the homeless people I see.
Most of the homeless people I see, the ones who are literally pitching tents on the side walks, sleeping on boxes, defecating anywhere and everywhere, passed out on park benches at 3 in the afternoon, are almost certainly not going to be benefited by lower housing prices.
These people could not afford nor likely ever would afford, a house that cost literally anything. Most of these people suffer from a mental illness and/or a drug addiction which makes holding down a job unlikely to ever happen. What they need is publicly funded mental health hospitals, like the ones that were destroyed in the 80s.
Of course high housing costs are a huge problem, but I just don't think they tell the whole story when it comes to CA homelessness. There's an elephant in the room that far too many people don't want to address. It's the aforementioned population of people who either can't or won't work and the solution we have for them right now is the street.
Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem
#25"Dumping ground" implies other places did this to CA, which isn't substantiated by the article. As it says, the vast majority of CA homeless are from within the state. In the cities of CA, as in other rich cities, homelessness and high housing prices come from the same problem: prohibitive regulations on housing construction.
It’s been a known problem for a while now.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/21/nevada...
South Park made an episode about it with the song “California loves the homeless”.
https://southpark.fandom.com/wiki/California_Loves_the_Homel...
California largely has weather that you can survive outdoor in year round and social programs that provide for and policies that show empathy for homelessness.
Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem
#26> Rather than asking "Who can we blame?" maybe we could start asking "How do we fix it?"
Nobody talks about the hard truth: The homeownership rate in California is ~55% and therefore over half of Californians are heavily incentivized to keep the housing crisis going. For existing homeowners this isn't a crisis, it's a free paper money bonanza. Just by living in their houses home "owners" (most are heavily leveraged) "earn" 100k in paper money year in year out - magic! Truly solving the housing crisis would mean for housing costs to go down a lot, which means house values would go down and the 55% will keep fighting that. If you want to stay long term in California and disconnect yourself from the madness that is California housing costs, you have to buy at some point and accept it as the price of entry.
Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem
#27"Dumping ground" implies other places did this to CA, which isn't substantiated by the article. As it says, the vast majority of CA homeless are from within the state. In the cities of CA, as in other rich cities, homelessness and high housing prices come from the same problem: prohibitive regulations on housing construction.
I'm really not convinced that high housing costs accurately depict the source of the homelessness problem in CA. If it does, it certainly isn't describing the homeless people I see. Most of the homeless people I see, the ones who are literally pitching tents on the side walks, sleeping on boxes, defecating anywhere and everywhere, passed out on park benches at 3 in the afternoon, are almost certainly not going to be…
California already has a 1% income tax allocated just to mental health, and has collected $7.4 billion so far just from this tax[0]. How is that working?
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Mental_Health_Servi...
Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem
#28Lived in Chicago and Minneapolis. Hard winters naturally reduce the homeless. They either migrate, get jobs or die
This is unnecessarily darwinian in its conception. It also ignores that the major NE cities invest more into building shelters because they decided people freezing to death on the sidewalk was unacceptable.
I second the op, it's hard to just be homeless when it gets freezing cold. Put differently, if I had to choose a place to be homeless, I'd start by choosing a place with good weather, that's a (hypothetical) fact.
Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem
#29"Dumping ground" implies other places did this to CA, which isn't substantiated by the article. As it says, the vast majority of CA homeless are from within the state. In the cities of CA, as in other rich cities, homelessness and high housing prices come from the same problem: prohibitive regulations on housing construction.
I'm really not convinced that high housing costs accurately depict the source of the homelessness problem in CA. If it does, it certainly isn't describing the homeless people I see. Most of the homeless people I see, the ones who are literally pitching tents on the side walks, sleeping on boxes, defecating anywhere and everywhere, passed out on park benches at 3 in the afternoon, are almost certainly not going to be…
No offense, but equating housing with owning a house is part of the problem.
Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem
#30This is a thinly sourced blog post that seems like pure flamebait and not really relevant for HN.
The government website stats support the claim: ~29% of the entire US homeless population is in California, which is disproportional when compared to other state population densities.[1] That said, the piece doesn't offer much constructive advice on how to fix it. Californians have been witnessing the very real, large increase in tent cities, addicts, feces, ... for years now, but so far they still vote for the same…
Your response to
> Rather than asking "Who can we blame?" maybe we could start asking "How do we fix it?"
Is to (1) complain about a lack of constructive solutions, (2) blame Newsom and (3) not provide a constructive solution. "Hope" is free though. You can have mine, I wasn't using it.