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The Oakland homeless problem is beyond belief

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Re: The Oakland homeless problem is beyond belief

#2
I remember going out to Oakland for work and having to step over the bodies of people who were passed out from taking drugs (heroin and/or alcohol, I presume?).

Let me repeat that: I had to navigate the sidewalk by stepping over the bodies of human beings scattered on the ground to get to work.

Re: The Oakland homeless problem is beyond belief

#3
The burden is falling on fair-weather states as the down-and-out from cold states find their way to coastal states to avoid freezing to death. There are plenty of empty houses in the rust belt. We need to find a way to get the homeless into those.

Re: The Oakland homeless problem is beyond belief

#4

I remember going out to Oakland for work and having to step over the bodies of people who were passed out from taking drugs (heroin and/or alcohol, I presume?). Let me repeat that: I had to navigate the sidewalk by stepping over the bodies of human beings scattered on the ground to get to work.

Head down to LA where you can navigate around human poop on the walk of fame. America is a wild place.

Re: The Oakland homeless problem is beyond belief

#5
post #3

The burden is falling on fair-weather states as the down-and-out from cold states find their way to coastal states to avoid freezing to death. There are plenty of empty houses in the rust belt. We need to find a way to get the homeless into those.

Not necessarily disagreeing with you but homelessness issue won't be solved by simply moving people into rust belt. Even if people were to be moved... how would we fix the issue that caused them to become homeless (and helpless)?

Part of the reason why homelessness is so visible in places like Oakland because the governing body in cali cities tend to decriminalize homelessness. I've also known homeless in east coast go down to the southern states during the winter... only to come back up north during the summer.

We also need to consider the fact that homelessness is multi-facted. There are folks who are employed but still gets classified as homeless due to high CoL.

Re: The Oakland homeless problem is beyond belief

#6
post #3

The burden is falling on fair-weather states as the down-and-out from cold states find their way to coastal states to avoid freezing to death. There are plenty of empty houses in the rust belt. We need to find a way to get the homeless into those.

>We need to find a way to get the homeless into those.

This is a logical conclusion, but one that isn't compatible with one of the fundamental tenants of US culture: liberty. You could offer a free house to a homeless person in the Rust Belt, and even pay them to live there, but would they want that? We will not force the homeless from where they want to be.

As well, such a solution would end up raising the ire of homeowners, who see costal homeless as strictly Not Their Problem. Especially costal homeless who are Black and Latino.

Re: The Oakland homeless problem is beyond belief

#7
I remember seeing favelas in Brazil next door to ultraluxury apartments 10 years ago thinking that this is probably what the future of the US was going to be like if wealth inequality steadily kept climbing.

And here it is.

r > g in the flesh - the other side of "the magic of compounding".

Re: The Oakland homeless problem is beyond belief

#8
post #5
post #3

The burden is falling on fair-weather states as the down-and-out from cold states find their way to coastal states to avoid freezing to death. There are plenty of empty houses in the rust belt. We need to find a way to get the homeless into those.

Not necessarily disagreeing with you but homelessness issue won't be solved by simply moving people into rust belt. Even if people were to be moved... how would we fix the issue that caused them to become homeless (and helpless)? Part of the reason why homelessness is so visible in places like Oakland because the governing body in cali cities tend to decriminalize homelessness. I've also known homeless in east coast…

The rust belt solved their problems with homelessness by simply giving them a bus ticket to wherever else they wanted to go https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2017/dec/...

Re: The Oakland homeless problem is beyond belief

#9
post #3

The burden is falling on fair-weather states as the down-and-out from cold states find their way to coastal states to avoid freezing to death. There are plenty of empty houses in the rust belt. We need to find a way to get the homeless into those.

Most Bay Area homeless are from the Bay Area originally

Re: The Oakland homeless problem is beyond belief

#10
post #4

I remember going out to Oakland for work and having to step over the bodies of people who were passed out from taking drugs (heroin and/or alcohol, I presume?). Let me repeat that: I had to navigate the sidewalk by stepping over the bodies of human beings scattered on the ground to get to work.

Head down to LA where you can navigate around human poop on the walk of fame. America is a wild place.

California is a wild place, and by no means representative of the rest of the country.
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