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I call it the Homeless Industrial Complex

truthonthestreets.substack.com

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Re: I call it the Homeless Industrial Complex

#11

Post by woah »

shuntress wrote: post #3

This skirts pretty close to saying that homelessness is an issue of "personal responsibility" while claiming to be apolitical. Homelessness is a complicated issue but the core of the solution is very simple: Provide housing. Whether that is a short term stay in a shelter or a lifelong stay in permanent housing is going to depend on the individual. But either way, you need a safe place to sleep and live before you can…

I don’t think this piece is apolitical at all. It is stating the author’s political opinion on homeless treatment, apparently formed over a long career working with the homeless.

Re: I call it the Homeless Industrial Complex

#12

Post by jupp0r »

EatingWithForks wrote: post #6

Funny, this guy protests that he wasn't asked to return after saying they needed specific metrics and measurable results, but doesn't provide any metrics or results for alternatives to Housing First-- which does actually have studies. He also talks about how he has witnessed the rise of homelessness and scoffs at the notion that the economic system (capitalism) is squeezing people into losing their homes, but provide…

There are plenty of capitalist societies without any homeless. Maybe it's the inadequate social safety net after all.

Re: I call it the Homeless Industrial Complex

#13

Post by acover »

shuntress wrote: post #3

This skirts pretty close to saying that homelessness is an issue of "personal responsibility" while claiming to be apolitical. Homelessness is a complicated issue but the core of the solution is very simple: Provide housing. Whether that is a short term stay in a shelter or a lifelong stay in permanent housing is going to depend on the individual. But either way, you need a safe place to sleep and live before you can…

Housing costs have sky rocketed and vacancy rates for rentals are often under 1%. A 1 bedroom apartment often costs more than minimum wage earns. How is this not a failure of housing policy? The home owning majority have voted for restricted supply.

Re: I call it the Homeless Industrial Complex

#16

Post by giraffe_lady »

NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #4

As I've said before, there is a counter-intuitive meta-problem with homelessness. Fixing homelessness doesn't require love, or honesty, or any other virtue. Like most problems, it requires money. But no matter how much money is allocated to fix the problem of homelessness, fixing it attracts more homeless. Their feet aren't nailed to the ground on the other side of the continent... if they hear of a magical place tha…

The idea of homeless people as rootless resource consumers free and willing to migrate any distance for services is completely alien to the actual experiences and issues.

Almost half of homeless people have jobs. The "street homeless" are the visible tip of the iceberg but not representative. And even more importantly, almost all homeless people have family and friends, churches, AA meetings, coffee shops where they are welcome on rainy days, etc. These ties are just as important to them as they are to you, and they are just as reluctant to break them as you would be.

Surely people do move only for better access to services but I have never seen numbers on how many. More interestingly, in years of my own homelessness and later ties to those communities, I never met one who had.

Re: I call it the Homeless Industrial Complex

#17

Post by avgcorrection »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #7

Author positions himself as an authority on homelessness by proximity to the people experiencing the issue. But nowhere in this is there the voice of homeless people themselves, or even a recognition that they are an authority as well. I was homeless on and off for many years. The cause of my homelessness was not having enough money to afford a home; not having enough money to afford the healthcare that would allow m…

> I was homeless on and off for many years. The cause of my homelessness was not having enough money to afford a home; not having enough money to afford the healthcare that would allow me to work consistently enough to afford a home. I find "capitalism" an effective, useful, and accurate enough shorthand for that cycle.

It's not terribly surprising that a lack of money could cause homelessness directly. But perhaps to the author.

Re: I call it the Homeless Industrial Complex

#18

Post by _mxdo »

All of the land is 100% owned, even the land that nobody ever uses. Nobody can use it - zoned off. There are no spots left to find and build a house somewhere. You're also not allowed to set up in a city - that's homelessness. You're not even allowed to plant seeds of food, that's illegal. The only way you are allowed to have a roof over your head or have food is when you pay someone for it, and it's all 100% already owned, you can't just go get it. How much should it cost? Hm, thousands of dollars every 30 days. Or you can get out of that if you pay hundreds of thousands up front for a mortgage and then property tax forever.

Re: I call it the Homeless Industrial Complex

#19

Post by Ajay-p »

I don't agree with this author at all. Housing First has proven to be very successful when implemented on the local and state level.[0] This author seems to be taking a strange economic view that just because it has worked doesn't it mean it will continue to work, or work on a national level.

I hate to say it but he sounds very bitter and thinks this is just throwing good money after bad. IMO if it gets people off the streets and into a safety net, then we should try, and if it works keep doing it.

https://www.npr.org/2015/12/10/459100751/utah-reduced-chroni...

Re: I call it the Homeless Industrial Complex

#20

Post by EatingWithForks »

jupp0r wrote: post #12
EatingWithForks wrote: post #6

Funny, this guy protests that he wasn't asked to return after saying they needed specific metrics and measurable results, but doesn't provide any metrics or results for alternatives to Housing First-- which does actually have studies. He also talks about how he has witnessed the rise of homelessness and scoffs at the notion that the economic system (capitalism) is squeezing people into losing their homes, but provide…

There are plenty of capitalist societies without any homeless. Maybe it's the inadequate social safety net after all.

Sure! That could definitely be true. I'm just pointing out the essay is lacking in real alternatives to what the essay is critiquing.
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