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

An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

jonb.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 216 posts

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#141

Post by ekimia87 »

frozenport wrote: post #136
bcantrill wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want a glimpse into San Francisco's hardcore homeless, read this excellent Chronicle series from 2003: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/SHAME-OF-THE-CITY-HOMELES... This problem is in no way unique to San Francisco; our engineering team has offices in San Francisco, Seattle (Pioneer Square) and Vancouver (Gastown) -- and we can collectively report that there are large, hardcore homeless populations in all th…

Is it a West Coast thing?

Im from NYC, and it does seem like there is a bigger problem here. (or at least more apparent)

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#142

Post by corwinstephen »

sebastianmarr wrote: post #139
hristov wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main cause is pretty simple. The police in San Francisco just do not bother them in certain neighborhoods. In most other cities police routinely pick up the homeless and dump them some place far. So the absence of homeless is usually not a sign of better humanity, it is usually a sign of cruelty. This is especially the case in the US. There are other countries where they have better treatment for poverty and ment…

most homeless are mentally ill to some extent I'd love to see some numbers on that.

I used to believe this based purely on having heard it all my life. But a friend of mine recently made an interesting point: he asked me what race homeless people are. My answer (at least here in LA) was that they're almost unanimously black or white. Never Asian. Never indian. Rarely Mexican.

I countered that it could be due to Asian and Mexican cultures being more culturally inclined to take care of their own, but I haven't fully convinced myself that that's the case.

My friend who made this point happens to be black, and his explanation was that having grown up in a black neighborhood, he noticed that black and white people have a sense of entitlement that other races don't often have, both for reasons that don't need explaining, and that that type of attitude begets unfortunate circumstances. I don't know whether I entirely agree with this point either, but it certainly makes you think.

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#143

Post by SilasX »

bitcartel wrote: post #79
irollboozers wrote: post #33

I don't know what it is, but posts like this make me feel like HN is waking up and realizing the world isn't just 'social networks for dogs', and that there are real social problems out there needing to be fixed. There is a trend happening. This post is powerful because it's recognition. The act was powerful because it was recognition, which then led to real action. If judging by recent posts on HN, hopefully posts l…

I posted this a few months ago. Worth watching. VIDEO: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/social-issues/poor-k... San Francisco is the most expensive place in America to find a home, but that doesn’t deter the 400,000 people coming each year to the Bay Area in search of a new home and a new life. Eleven-year-old Sera, her sister and her mother moved to San Francisco in 2009. But when the economy collapsed, her m…

That came up on reddit too. Why are we paying insane prices to house these people in the most valuable real estate in the world, when you could help 10x as many by housing them in some place that actually affordable?

It boggles the mind.

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#144

Post by mct »

akaru wrote: post #118
iamwil wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it because the homeless shelters provide food? Where do you get food from?

Some shelters are associated with a parent (church etc.) that also provides food, but they're typically separate. Seriously, the only people who could possibly be hungry are invalids or children that can't get to the food banks. Any person that can walk around begging for change could easily walk a few blocks for a healthy hot meal. "Help, I'm hungry" is an outright lie---every time--plain and simple.

I make a point of carrying a few Cliff Bars in my backpack, to offer to people who ask for money. Some people turn them down, but a number also happily accept them.

There are no good solutions, but this is the best compromise I've come up with so far.

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#145

Post by gtani »

frozenport wrote: post #136
bcantrill wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want a glimpse into San Francisco's hardcore homeless, read this excellent Chronicle series from 2003: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/SHAME-OF-THE-CITY-HOMELES... This problem is in no way unique to San Francisco; our engineering team has offices in San Francisco, Seattle (Pioneer Square) and Vancouver (Gastown) -- and we can collectively report that there are large, hardcore homeless populations in all th…

Is it a West Coast thing?

I remember the Cleveland Plain Dealer had an article a few years back that said the October count of homeless they (some city or Ohio government entity) did every year, the numbers had dwindled to essentially zero, because there were so many unoccupied houses to take shelter in.

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#146

Post by petekp »

milesf wrote: post #130

I have a friend who's a realtor who told me the story of a local homeless man in our town. "Toonie for some soup" he would ask people (I live in Canada, a Toonie is a $2.00 coin). He was always polite, and made regular appearances all around town for years. One day this homeless guy came to visit my realtor friend. "I'd like to buy a house" he said. After years of asking for Toonies, he managed to amass $84,000.00 My…

$84,000 in Toonies:

• is 42,000 coins

• would weigh 648lbs / 294 kilos

• at a rate of 10 a day, would take ~11.5 years to amass

/stats :)

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#147

Post by bherms »

njoubert wrote: post #84
rosser wrote: post #11

This is just me, and my approach to the homeless or destitute, but if someone asks me for money, the answer is some form of no (if I even acknowledge the asker). Yeah, you tell me you're hungry or whatever, but I'm not going to risk participating in your next fix. If they ask me for food , however, it's always a yes, assuming I can do it right then (not late for something, have money or my card on me or whatever). Yo…

I used to subscribe to this idea as well, until a friend of mine told me this: "Have you thought of the fact that you're enabling people to be homeless, thereby making the problem worse rather than better?". This really struck me, since I agreed... I'd rather work on the causes than the symptoms.

"If you can heal the symptom, but not affect the cause, it's quite a bit like tryin' to heal a gunshot wound with gauze." -- Phish, __Sand__

Had to plug my favorite group :)

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#148

Post by rdouble »

corwinstephen wrote: post #142
sebastianmarr wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

most homeless are mentally ill to some extent I'd love to see some numbers on that.

I used to believe this based purely on having heard it all my life. But a friend of mine recently made an interesting point: he asked me what race homeless people are. My answer (at least here in LA) was that they're almost unanimously black or white. Never Asian. Never indian. Rarely Mexican. I countered that it could be due to Asian and Mexican cultures being more culturally inclined to take care of their own, but…

Latinos make up the 2nd largest homeless demographic in Los Angeles.

Re: An Unremarkable Event in the Tenderloin

#150

Post by bherms »

SilasX wrote: post #143
bitcartel wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I posted this a few months ago. Worth watching. VIDEO: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/social-issues/poor-k... San Francisco is the most expensive place in America to find a home, but that doesn’t deter the 400,000 people coming each year to the Bay Area in search of a new home and a new life. Eleven-year-old Sera, her sister and her mother moved to San Francisco in 2009. But when the economy collapsed, her m…

That came up on reddit too. Why are we paying insane prices to house these people in the most valuable real estate in the world, when you could help 10x as many by housing them in some place that actually affordable? It boggles the mind.

I don't understand it either. If I live in a mansion and lose my job, I don't ask for money to pay for my mansion, I move to an apartment. People who stick around here aren't helping themselves at all, but a lot of that could be why they're homeless in the first place.
Post reply on HN