Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Breakdown of data on homeless populations across the U.S.

dynomight.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 270 posts

Re: Breakdown of data on homeless populations across the U.S.

#211

Post by ianhawes »

pgcj_poster wrote: post #205
rp1 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just ask anyone in NYC if this is familiar: “Excuse me everyone. I’m sorry to bother you. My name is Mark and I’m homeless. I’m between jobs right now and I have two kids. If anyone could spare a few cents or even a dollar, then I would really appreciate it. God bless you.” Happened multiple times a day on my commute.

And that was enough to ruin your entire ride?

Not parent, but I’ve been approached by homeless people plenty of times and most of the time they’re just ready to move onto the next mark if you decline to assist them, but occasionally they will accost you for your perceived lack of empathy. The situations can be tense and make you feel uncomfortable. So yes, bring approached by a homeless person would definitely ruin a commute.

Re: Breakdown of data on homeless populations across the U.S.

#212

Post by pboutros »

mulmen wrote: post #17
cheriot wrote: post #9

We're a country of 350,000,000 people. Leaving 500,000 outside simply because municipalities don't want them around is inexcusable. Solution in two parts 1. Make it legal to build homes where people live (looking at you California, specifically LA, SF, SV) 2. Build dorm style shelters for anyone that would otherwise sleep outside There's complicating issues like not enough addiction treatment and mental health facili…

What do you do if someone wants to sleep on the street? Where do you build these dorms? Are there barriers to living in these dorms? Sobriety requirements, job searching, etc? We should definitely try to solve this but I don't think it is simple at all.

_What if they want to sleep on the street?_ Let's start by sheltering as many people as we can, and when our problem becomes "too many empty beds", then we can move on to that problem.

_Where do we build them?_ I bet there are choices we can make that house 100+ people for every 1 person who is mildly inconvenienced.

_Are there barriers to living in these dorms?_ No.

Re: Breakdown of data on homeless populations across the U.S.

#213

Post by rp1 »

pgcj_poster wrote: post #205
rp1 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just ask anyone in NYC if this is familiar: “Excuse me everyone. I’m sorry to bother you. My name is Mark and I’m homeless. I’m between jobs right now and I have two kids. If anyone could spare a few cents or even a dollar, then I would really appreciate it. God bless you.” Happened multiple times a day on my commute.

And that was enough to ruin your entire ride?

Yes because an entire car of people are sitting there, minding their own business, and someone approaches them and violates their personal space. If someone grabbed you with the intention of disturbing you, would that not ruin your ride? How is someone entering your personal space by being loud and obnoxious any different?

Re: Breakdown of data on homeless populations across the U.S.

#214

Post by vanilla_nut »

b9a2cab5 wrote: post #101
throwaway0a5e wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure you can find a few anecdotal counter examples but generally speaking people don't behave that way on the east coast, homeless or not. And when they do it's more likely to be a drunk on game day than a homeless person.

Sounds like I need to move to the East Coast because that's the experience I get half the time I get on a bus or BART in the Bay.

As a former NYC resident: I experienced this a hell of a lot, riding the subway multiple times per day. Worse when I rode the 6, but it’s bad on all lines. Not sure what world this person lives in where they don’t experience that as much as I did just a couple of years ago.

Re: Breakdown of data on homeless populations across the U.S.

#215

Post by trinovantes »

azinman2 wrote: post #141
trinovantes wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you're severely constrained by where you can build thanks to NIMBY, you always build whatever has the highest margins i.e. luxury 1bd condos

That's actually perfectly fine. The more you build for the top end, the more you pressure release on the lower end.

The people buying luxury condos are usually single professionals who previously lived with their parents. Them moving out of their parents homes don't add more housing supply to help the homeless.

Re: Breakdown of data on homeless populations across the U.S.

#216

Post by cheriot »

refurb wrote: post #195
epistasis wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Induced demand for housing is a fallacy. There's only a very very small range of living space that people want. Induced demand for highways definitely is not a fallacy. People can go from needing zero highway miles a day, up to 60-90 highway miles a day, depending on where they live. This sort of range is an order of magnitude higher than what could potentially be induced by having access to, say, cheaper constructio…

You’ve got cause and effect backwards. More people in an area take up less space because it’s more expensive and vice versa when living far away. And of course you can induce demand with housing. If suddenly you could find $1,000/month 1 bed apartments in SF how many people you think would move there?

You're conflating pent up demand with induced demand. People want housing in SF because they work here. The jobs are the cause. In other words, office construction in a hot economy creates demand for housing.

Re: Breakdown of data on homeless populations across the U.S.

#217

Post by mulmen »

pboutros wrote: post #212
mulmen wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you do if someone wants to sleep on the street? Where do you build these dorms? Are there barriers to living in these dorms? Sobriety requirements, job searching, etc? We should definitely try to solve this but I don't think it is simple at all.

_What if they want to sleep on the street?_ Let's start by sheltering as many people as we can, and when our problem becomes "too many empty beds", then we can move on to that problem. _Where do we build them?_ I bet there are choices we can make that house 100+ people for every 1 person who is mildly inconvenienced. _Are there barriers to living in these dorms?_ No.

Homelessness is not a single problem. We can't pretend there is a single solution. Reality is more complex than just saying "build beds" and not adding any rules or guidelines.

Why should recovering addicts be forced to live in a setting where they are tempted by drugs? Why shouldn't they be given a chance to live in a drug-free setting?

Why should victims of abuse be forced to live near potential abusers? Shouldn't we consider their needs?

Clearly we need shelters suited to the needs of individuals.

But what are those needs, and what do we do if someone refuses the opportunity? I don't think "ignore them" is a satisfactory answer.

Re: Breakdown of data on homeless populations across the U.S.

#218

Post by refurb »

cheriot wrote: post #216
refurb wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’ve got cause and effect backwards. More people in an area take up less space because it’s more expensive and vice versa when living far away. And of course you can induce demand with housing. If suddenly you could find $1,000/month 1 bed apartments in SF how many people you think would move there?

You're conflating pent up demand with induced demand. People want housing in SF because they work here. The jobs are the cause. In other words, office construction in a hot economy creates demand for housing.

Not going to lie but all of that just sounds like "demand".

Re: Breakdown of data on homeless populations across the U.S.

#219

Post by azinman2 »

trinovantes wrote: post #215
azinman2 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's actually perfectly fine. The more you build for the top end, the more you pressure release on the lower end.

The people buying luxury condos are usually single professionals who previously lived with their parents. Them moving out of their parents homes don't add more housing supply to help the homeless.

First, I'd love to see the data to support that. It's hard to imagine a single professional doesn't rent first and goes straight to buying a condo, especially in the North America where people generally move out at 18.

Second, if they're buying a condo versus paying rent, that's still good because it leaves less price elastic renters in the market. You can to get those who are willing to pay much more into something higher end versus them taking the bottom and increasing its price (which is what's happened in SF).

Re: Breakdown of data on homeless populations across the U.S.

#220

Post by _zfxr »

This article is completely ignorant of the actual situation. These comments by most of you really show your true colors.

If you truly believe "mental issues" are "causing homelessness" You are blinded by privilege, deaf by choice, and dumb by default.

Greed is causing homlessness and these numbers are ridiculous. We're at 16% homelessness here in Atlanta.

There are solutions, but not a one of you has the intellectual capacity, balls or creativity to execute.

I am in awe at how out of touch these comments are.

Post reply on HN