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Skid Row

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Re: Skid Row

#11

Post by thebradbain »

What struck me reading this is all the issues SF and LA have had around housing and homelessness are not new — and, more importantly, the knee-jerk reaction of “cleaning the streets” (a nicer way to say incarceration) every-other city council has tried simply does not work.

The real solution is potentially more expensive, less immediate, and less politically feasible. Build more housing: build more public housing, more market rate housing, more publicly-subsidized private housing, affordable housing, luxury housing, social housing, mixed-income housing — just build!

But don’t stop there, the city should provide support not just to those currently living on skid row, but to private caretakers, nonprofits, churches, property developers, business owners, everyone in the area.

The solution won’t be cheap by any measure, so why cut corners? Go all the way.

Re: Skid Row

#12

Post by ASVVVAD »

lorejs wrote: post #6
TheChaplain wrote: post #2

My disappointment when the article wasn't about the demo/cracking-scene group Skid Row. :/

Anyone who ever owned an Amiga probably remembers the group. Their cracktros were really cool.

I used some of their PC game cracks! Their cool cracktros is what made me remember their name

Re: Skid Row

#13

Post by RobertRoberts »

thebradbain wrote: post #11

What struck me reading this is all the issues SF and LA have had around housing and homelessness are not new — and, more importantly, the knee-jerk reaction of “cleaning the streets” (a nicer way to say incarceration) every-other city council has tried simply does not work. The real solution is potentially more expensive, less immediate, and less politically feasible. Build more housing: build more public housing, mo…

More housing won't help if they don't _want_ housing.

I lived on the streets for awhile and _many_ people did not want homes, they wanted comfort, food, happiness, forget their pain, booze, drugs, entertainment.... a house? Nope.

Now what do you do with those people?

Re: Skid Row

#14

Post by [deleted] »

thebradbain wrote: post #11

What struck me reading this is all the issues SF and LA have had around housing and homelessness are not new — and, more importantly, the knee-jerk reaction of “cleaning the streets” (a nicer way to say incarceration) every-other city council has tried simply does not work. The real solution is potentially more expensive, less immediate, and less politically feasible. Build more housing: build more public housing, mo…

[deleted]

Re: Skid Row

#15

Post by peer2pay »

RobertRoberts wrote: post #13
thebradbain wrote: post #11

What struck me reading this is all the issues SF and LA have had around housing and homelessness are not new — and, more importantly, the knee-jerk reaction of “cleaning the streets” (a nicer way to say incarceration) every-other city council has tried simply does not work. The real solution is potentially more expensive, less immediate, and less politically feasible. Build more housing: build more public housing, mo…

More housing won't help if they don't _want_ housing. I lived on the streets for awhile and _many_ people did not want homes, they wanted comfort, food, happiness, forget their pain, booze, drugs, entertainment.... a house? Nope. Now what do you do with those people?

I think thebradbrain is talking more about a longer timeframe here. Nobody is born with the goal to become homeless and therefore eliminating the factors that cause homelessness before the people actually end up on the street should be the focus.

Re: Skid Row

#16

Post by DoreenMichele »

RobertRoberts wrote: post #13
thebradbain wrote: post #11

What struck me reading this is all the issues SF and LA have had around housing and homelessness are not new — and, more importantly, the knee-jerk reaction of “cleaning the streets” (a nicer way to say incarceration) every-other city council has tried simply does not work. The real solution is potentially more expensive, less immediate, and less politically feasible. Build more housing: build more public housing, mo…

More housing won't help if they don't _want_ housing. I lived on the streets for awhile and _many_ people did not want homes, they wanted comfort, food, happiness, forget their pain, booze, drugs, entertainment.... a house? Nope. Now what do you do with those people?

We don't really need to worry about those people. Let's just build enough housing for those who want housing. That at least shrinks the problem.

Let's do what reasonably can be done and follow the 80/20 rule and take care of the majority of the problem that is relatively easily resolved, thereby freeing up more resources for the short list of really, really hard cases.

Re: Skid Row

#17

Post by 7373737373 »

peer2pay wrote: post #15
RobertRoberts wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More housing won't help if they don't _want_ housing. I lived on the streets for awhile and _many_ people did not want homes, they wanted comfort, food, happiness, forget their pain, booze, drugs, entertainment.... a house? Nope. Now what do you do with those people?

I think thebradbrain is talking more about a longer timeframe here. Nobody is born with the goal to become homeless and therefore eliminating the factors that cause homelessness before the people actually end up on the street should be the focus.

The factors that cause homelessness are not only material, but psychological and social as well.

A mentally ill or socially isolated or outcast person won't be necessarily less so just because they have a roof over their head.

I once met a man who's only social contacts were other homeless people around him. He shared his food with them, although this might have not been reciprocated. This feeling of giving something was important to him, even though it seems one cannot be friends with other homeless people. Other than this, he had absolutely no one who cared about him. He got into psychotic episodes and had a criminal record.

I met another man who once had it all, and then lost it, money, purpose, love, meaning. These people are utterly lost, forgotten, neglected at a spiritual, psychological and physical level. Drugs rob them of their agency. They were forced to see behind the memeplex that is society, with its values and ideals and virtues that only exist when one is privileged enough to live away from the chaos that is reality.

They have personalities or had experiences that are not compatible with a civilized society, their human desires cannot be constrained by teachings of morality or even the abstract threat of state violence. They are extreme risk takers, or have sociopsychological differences/difficulties, different modes of thought, sometimes temporary, sometimes induced due to traumatizing life circumstances or drug use.

Re: Skid Row

#18

Post by vardump »

CleanCoder wrote: post #8
lorejs wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who ever owned an Amiga probably remembers the group. Their cracktros were really cool.

They still exist and are as good as they used to be! The only caveat these days is downloading 60GB ISO is not as appealing.

Why not? People using Steam download that much or even more all the time.

Re: Skid Row

#19

Post by gridlockd »

peer2pay wrote: post #15
RobertRoberts wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More housing won't help if they don't _want_ housing. I lived on the streets for awhile and _many_ people did not want homes, they wanted comfort, food, happiness, forget their pain, booze, drugs, entertainment.... a house? Nope. Now what do you do with those people?

I think thebradbrain is talking more about a longer timeframe here. Nobody is born with the goal to become homeless and therefore eliminating the factors that cause homelessness before the people actually end up on the street should be the focus.

For some people the only way to live free is to become "homeless", which is really just a consequence of not living up to anyone else's standards.

Re: Skid Row

#20

Post by polalavik »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #16
RobertRoberts wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More housing won't help if they don't _want_ housing. I lived on the streets for awhile and _many_ people did not want homes, they wanted comfort, food, happiness, forget their pain, booze, drugs, entertainment.... a house? Nope. Now what do you do with those people?

We don't really need to worry about those people. Let's just build enough housing for those who want housing. That at least shrinks the problem. Let's do what reasonably can be done and follow the 80/20 rule and take care of the majority of the problem that is relatively easily resolved, thereby freeing up more resources for the short list of really, really hard cases.

But we do need to worry about those people when those people may be a large percentage of the people on the streets. These people are deep into the throws of mental illness, addiction, or both. What do you do to help people who don’t want to help themselves? It’s a very difficult problem and I don’t know if there is an easy solution that doesn’t infringe on people’s rights. You can’t make being homeless illegal and state conservatorship seems dystopian.
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