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Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

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Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#11

Post by yorwba »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #6
kwhitefoot wrote: post #5

Good for him. It must be a great boon to homeless people to have clean clothes; I know that I would feel very dispirited if I could not wear clean clothes on top of the already horrible situation of being homeless. But how come there are so many homeless people in the richest country in the world?

Because Americans don't have a culture of taking care of each other. They rely on the government to do it, government doesn't always want to, and the citizens don't demand that government does it. Source: am American & formerly homeless

Of course the article is about someone who does take care of others instead of waiting for the government to do it. Hopefully there will be more people like that in the future.

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#12

Post by sonotathrowaway »

pwgentleman wrote: post #10
someperson wrote: post #8

It's sad that one of the most richest places on Earth (the San Francisco Bay Area) is unable to house, feed, clothe and provide drug/alcohol/mental health treatment to a mere 10,000 homeless people. I know homelessness is more than "houselessness", but it seems like a pretty simple problem to solve. Even considering that other states bus their homeless to Calfornia, fixing the 600,000 who sleep outside (and the 1.5 m…

Most problems seem pretty simple until one actively tries to solve them. One thing that _is_ actually simple is simply criticizing. I would argue that a lot more good has been done by individuals that decided to "do something about it" that big government initiatives.

Homelessness and home insecurity is especially pernicious, as it ties into many other issues - income inequality, zoning and city policy, mental health.

That’s why it’s much easier to sit behind a keyboard and make snide remarks about people who actually act.

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#13

Post by spacebear »

someperson wrote: post #8

It's sad that one of the most richest places on Earth (the San Francisco Bay Area) is unable to house, feed, clothe and provide drug/alcohol/mental health treatment to a mere 10,000 homeless people. I know homelessness is more than "houselessness", but it seems like a pretty simple problem to solve. Even considering that other states bus their homeless to Calfornia, fixing the 600,000 who sleep outside (and the 1.5 m…

It's not so much "unable" as "deeply invested in exacerbating the problem".

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#14

Post by willcipriano »

I'd be quite interested how he meets the power requirements, is he using electric dryers? I feel like a vans alternator has no hope of running 1 let alone 2 of them. Also what does the freshwater/wastewater system looks like?

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#15

Post by bayindirh »

willcipriano wrote: post #14

I'd be quite interested how he meets the power requirements, is he using electric dryers? I feel like a vans alternator has no hope of running 1 let alone 2 of them. Also what does the freshwater/wastewater system looks like?

Looks like he has an onboard generator, two tanks for fresh and discarded water.

The video also talks about external connections for power and water if it's available.

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#16

Post by mcculley »

kwhitefoot wrote: post #5

Good for him. It must be a great boon to homeless people to have clean clothes; I know that I would feel very dispirited if I could not wear clean clothes on top of the already horrible situation of being homeless. But how come there are so many homeless people in the richest country in the world?

In terms of GDP per capita, the U.S. is not the richest country in the world.

If one deducts the fraction of GDP spent on propping up terrible regimes, it has even less to spend on citizens.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)...

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#17

Post by bayindirh »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #6
kwhitefoot wrote: post #5

Good for him. It must be a great boon to homeless people to have clean clothes; I know that I would feel very dispirited if I could not wear clean clothes on top of the already horrible situation of being homeless. But how come there are so many homeless people in the richest country in the world?

Because Americans don't have a culture of taking care of each other. They rely on the government to do it, government doesn't always want to, and the citizens don't demand that government does it. Source: am American & formerly homeless

I wonder how American culture evolved for self reliance over time, or what are the underlying causes for it.

This is a question without any prejudice. I'm from another part of pale blue dot where the situation is exact opposite.

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#18

Post by etsimm »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #6
kwhitefoot wrote: post #5

Good for him. It must be a great boon to homeless people to have clean clothes; I know that I would feel very dispirited if I could not wear clean clothes on top of the already horrible situation of being homeless. But how come there are so many homeless people in the richest country in the world?

Because Americans don't have a culture of taking care of each other. They rely on the government to do it, government doesn't always want to, and the citizens don't demand that government does it. Source: am American & formerly homeless

If root cause we're cultural you'd suspect another rich country like France would have better numbers, but they don't: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-homeless-people...

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#19

Post by RegBarclay »

willcipriano wrote: post #14

I'd be quite interested how he meets the power requirements, is he using electric dryers? I feel like a vans alternator has no hope of running 1 let alone 2 of them. Also what does the freshwater/wastewater system looks like?

I was interested in that aspect of the story when I clicked into it, but I'm not really disappointed that it wasn't covered. Turns out it wasn't really the point anyway.

That said, he could easily have a generator rigged up to supply power. A lot of RVs have on-board washers and dryers, so the technology is widely available. If I were going to do something like this, I'd try to find dryers that heated with propane both for efficiency and to limit the electrical draw on the generator.

Re: Engineer Converts Used Van into Mobile Laundromat, Offers Free Loads to Homeless

#20

Post by [deleted] »

RegBarclay wrote: post #19
willcipriano wrote: post #14

I'd be quite interested how he meets the power requirements, is he using electric dryers? I feel like a vans alternator has no hope of running 1 let alone 2 of them. Also what does the freshwater/wastewater system looks like?

I was interested in that aspect of the story when I clicked into it, but I'm not really disappointed that it wasn't covered. Turns out it wasn't really the point anyway. That said, he could easily have a generator rigged up to supply power. A lot of RVs have on-board washers and dryers, so the technology is widely available. If I were going to do something like this, I'd try to find dryers that heated with propane bo…

[deleted]
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