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We can reduce homelessness if we follow the science on what works

newscientist.com

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Re: We can reduce homelessness if we follow the science on what works

#21

Post by LarryMullins »

epicureanideal wrote: post #5
chizhik-pyzhik wrote: post #3

This article is a good overview of the research about treatment-first vs housing-first approaches. The last paragraph is pretty clear on the real difficulty: >The major obstacles to resolving homelessness remain ideological. It is politically hard to sell the idea that people who take drugs or are disruptive should get free housing – even when the evidence shows that is actually what works.

I guarantee I could produce a program that would be acceptable to conservatives and provide free housing. Note also that Utah, a very conservative state, solves homelessness in exactly this way. It just might be that the housing would not be provided by funneling huge amounts of tax dollars to the rentier class, and might involve constructing more houses, and therefore would be opposed by the left.

> I guarantee I could produce a program that would be acceptable to conservatives and provide free housing.

That's trivial; prison. (Ignoring the part where prisons now charge prisoners rent...)

Finding a solution everybody can agree on is much harder than finding a solution only one side or the other can agree with.

Re: We can reduce homelessness if we follow the science on what works

#22

Post by LarryMullins »

lupire wrote: post #17
epicureanideal wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes that’s exactly what I’m saying. More precisely, they’re for public housing only if they can capture a lot of the funds to enrich themselves and their supporters and friends. See also the book “SanFranSicko” by Michael Schellenberger.

"the left" has a lot of people in it.

A lot of people? I've been informed by knowledgeable Europeans that a left wing doesn't exist in America at all!

Re: We can reduce homelessness if we follow the science on what works

#23

Post by 8note »

epicureanideal wrote: post #14
enkid wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm so confused by this comment. Are you suggesting the left is against public housing and pro landlord?

Yes that’s exactly what I’m saying. More precisely, they’re for public housing only if they can capture a lot of the funds to enrich themselves and their supporters and friends. See also the book “SanFranSicko” by Michael Schellenberger.

To get it done in a republican area, you'd use the same trend. The people in charge only do things that benefit themselves

Re: We can reduce homelessness if we follow the science on what works

#24

Post by Supermancho »

pessimizer wrote: post #6
sys32768 wrote: post #2

I tried to help a homeless friend who was an alcoholic, but landlords really don't tolerate urinating on the floor, breaking keys off in locks, and not paying bills.

I tried to help a sick cat, but it died. I don't take that as evidence that all sick cats will die, regardless of what we do.

The implication is that there are risks (eventual damages) incurred by being a first-mover. Re: Anaheim's attempt to curb the homeless by the river. What's more, is that it is not a panacea nor does it eliminate drug use. The risk is an ongoing cost and current housing is not tooled to tolerate it. How is this best addressed?

I expect that housing will be bifurcated, much like it is in England. The Blocks (made of cinderblock and stone to minimize the inevitable fires) and what we currently think of as traditional wood-and-stucco housing.

Re: We can reduce homelessness if we follow the science on what works

#25

Post by 8note »

epicureanideal wrote: post #11
pessimizer wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Socialism becomes a lot more palatable to majority populations as long as minority populations are kept to a minimum. With a reasonable expectation that the recipients of help look like you, helping starts to seem more like an obligation than an imposition.

The loss of the distinction between the deserving poor and the undeserving poor also caused many people who would’ve supported help to one of those to just throw their hands in the air and forget the whole thing.

It's gone for good reason. "Deserving" tends to mean "white" and "Undeserving" tends to mean "Black"

Re: We can reduce homelessness if we follow the science on what works

#26

Post by not_the_fda »

Progressive cities have tried housing first solutions, yet they have a bigger homelessness problem and it keeps getting worse.

Cities that have done treatment first policies have seen a reduction homelessness.

A great book on this topic is San Fran-sicko. https://www.amazon.com/San-Fransicko-Progressives-Ruin-Citie...

Re: We can reduce homelessness if we follow the science on what works

#27

Post by SCdF »

epicureanideal wrote: post #14
enkid wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm so confused by this comment. Are you suggesting the left is against public housing and pro landlord?

Yes that’s exactly what I’m saying. More precisely, they’re for public housing only if they can capture a lot of the funds to enrich themselves and their supporters and friends. See also the book “SanFranSicko” by Michael Schellenberger.

I have never met a left wing person who is pro landlord, is this some weird American spin on "the left"?

Re: We can reduce homelessness if we follow the science on what works

#28

Post by LarryMullins »

pessimizer wrote: post #9
epicureanideal wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guarantee I could produce a program that would be acceptable to conservatives and provide free housing. Note also that Utah, a very conservative state, solves homelessness in exactly this way. It just might be that the housing would not be provided by funneling huge amounts of tax dollars to the rentier class, and might involve constructing more houses, and therefore would be opposed by the left.

Socialism becomes a lot more palatable to majority populations as long as minority populations are kept to a minimum. With a reasonable expectation that the recipients of help look like you, helping starts to seem more like an obligation than an imposition.

Amazon is known to track low workplace diversity as a unionization risk. Diverse work forces are less likely to unionize.

Re: We can reduce homelessness if we follow the science on what works

#29

Post by trynewideas »

Portland, cited in the article, announced it's beginning yet another sweep of homeless encampments yesterday. At the press conference announcing it, the mayor - who's been ordering sweeps his entire tenure - admits they don't and haven't ever helped the people being swept.

He's also still pushing his plan to establish city-run outdoor camps for homeless people, and to criminalize rejecting those city-run camps when swept - but the city-run camps' locations haven't even been announced, much less started.

https://www.portlandmercury.com/news/2023/01/27/46321180/cit...

Re: We can reduce homelessness if we follow the science on what works

#30

Post by chimeracoder »

SCdF wrote: post #27
epicureanideal wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes that’s exactly what I’m saying. More precisely, they’re for public housing only if they can capture a lot of the funds to enrich themselves and their supporters and friends. See also the book “SanFranSicko” by Michael Schellenberger.

I have never met a left wing person who is pro landlord, is this some weird American spin on "the left"?

> I have never met a left wing person who is pro landlord, is this some weird American spin on "the left"?

It's a variant of a straw man that right wing people sometimes use. Which makes sense given that OP is forming their perceptions of the left from a book subtitled "How Progressives Destroy Cities".

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