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I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem

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Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem

#301

Post by mbrodersen »

postalrat wrote: post #234
pydry wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Every year it seems like many millions of dollars more are spent on this issue but it keeps getting visibly worse. Because home prices and rents keep going up. Homelessness is an inevitable side effect of that. Funneling money on rehab rather than providing places to actually live cant fix that. It's attacking a symptom not the cause. However, attacking the cause (property prices/rents) would make a lot of very rich…

Why do you favor blaming rent for homelessness instead of lack of jobs that pay well enough? Why can some people afford the rent while others can't? If you are after a single root cause of homelessness you will be disappointed. Unless you only care to push an agenda.

The problem is not lack of jobs. The problems is that a larger and larger % of the population doesn’t have the skills/IQ/whatever to do those jobs. Or the cost (car etc.) of getting the job isn’t covered by the pay.

Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem

#302

Post by mbrodersen »

bitxbitxbitcoin wrote: post #236
postalrat wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you favor blaming rent for homelessness instead of lack of jobs that pay well enough? Why can some people afford the rent while others can't? If you are after a single root cause of homelessness you will be disappointed. Unless you only care to push an agenda.

The thought that there can be enough jobs that pay “well enough” is a myth. There are only so many jobs that can provide the wages needed for rent in a given city, and there are always more people that want it than have it. Of course there is no single root cause but if I had to point one out I would finger the stagnation of real wages.

Also don’t forget that you can have high unemployment and lots of available jobs at the same time if the skills doesn’t match up. It is complete rubbish and false to claim that we can train anybody to do any job.

Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem

#303

Post by mbrodersen »

epistasis wrote: post #42
rubicon33 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm really not convinced that high housing costs accurately depict the source of the homelessness problem in CA. If it does, it certainly isn't describing the homeless people I see. Most of the homeless people I see, the ones who are literally pitching tents on the side walks, sleeping on boxes, defecating anywhere and everywhere, passed out on park benches at 3 in the afternoon, are almost certainly not going to be…

> it certainly isn't describing the homeless people I see. What you see is highly unrepresentative of homelessness. You never see the people trying to scrape by in their cars. You never see the people couch surfing. You never see the people struggling but also struggling to not be known as homeless. Because once you hit that position of being clearly homeless in appearance, all sorts of doors slam shut and getting ou…

Honest question: why do people who can put down 6 months of rent stay instead of moving to a cheaper city? That’s what I would do in that situation.

Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem

#304

Post by mbrodersen »

scruple wrote: post #261
tony0x02 wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you offered an SRO to most of the people that I've come across in the last 10 years, they'd tell you to go fuck yourself. Why? Sorry if question is dumb..

Many of them prefer their perceived freedom living on the street vs. being placed into a living situation they didn't chose. In the handful of cases I am familiar with, including my brother in law, it's owed to untreated/neglected/self-medicated mental illness that manifests itself as a deep paranoia and distrust of authority types.

Other countries (Finland I think?) have had success getting 80% of the homeless population off the street. 80% is a lot better than 0%.

Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem

#305

Post by mbrodersen »

archibaldJ wrote: post #229

I've spent my life mostly in the East (in places where housing is expensive (e.g. Singapore, Sydney, Hong Kong, Shanghai), as well as places with low cost of living in Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia ). I have not been to CA so this may be a silly question: What if there are joint initiatives/collaborations between US and its Eastnern allies to sponsor and help people who are struggling on the street due to homelessn…

Wow. So you think that moving people who can’t cope in their own country to a foreign country with a different language/culture will improve things? And you think that other countries would be interested in importing homeless Americans with mental/health issues? Really? Have you ever lived, worked and paid taxes in any foreign country? Then you would know how hard it is to even get a work permit.

Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem

#306

Post by Johnythree »

j8hn wrote: post #269
AngryData wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about rehab and housing at the same time? Many people didn't become serious addicts until after they became homeless.

In regards to those living on the streets, the main cause of them being homeless is substance abuse and mental illness.

And the main reason for substance abuse is the lack of jobs and the lack of hope.

The reason that most people stay clean is the need to get up and go to work the next day.

And the reason they go to work is because it will give them a better standard of living.

Take away permanent jobs, reasonable wages, affordable housing, and many people will simply give up hope.

Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem

#307

Post by j8hn »

Johnythree wrote: post #306
j8hn wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In regards to those living on the streets, the main cause of them being homeless is substance abuse and mental illness.

And the main reason for substance abuse is the lack of jobs and the lack of hope. The reason that most people stay clean is the need to get up and go to work the next day. And the reason they go to work is because it will give them a better standard of living. Take away permanent jobs, reasonable wages, affordable housing, and many people will simply give up hope.

Is the main reason for substance abuse really lack of jobs and lack of hope?

I'm curious where you got your data from.

Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem

#308

Post by France_is_bacon »

Homelessness? We may have seen nothing yet. With the end of the housing payment moratorium, we may have millions more on the streets.

Will those of you who hate the homeless hate them, too? All the millions that are going to be camping everywhere? You think it's bad now....just wait.

Re: I believe California is the dumping ground for America's homeless problem

#310

Post by jjav »

VelkaMorava wrote: post #289
jjav wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yes, and those 55% wield extremely disproportionate political power. House owners don't have any additional political power than renters. Still one vote per person and politicians don't consult homeowners any more often than anyone else.

One Czech ex-minister of health owns 67 properties. So he probably has a lot of acquintances and relatives among the political elite of my country. To me it seems he has more political power than me, a dude sitting in underwear and ranting on Hackernews.

No doubt high level (ex)politicians are very privileged and operate above most limitations imposed on regular people. But that's moving the goalposts of the discussion pretty far indeed.

The original premise was that the entire "55% [of homeowners] wield extremely disproportionate political power". Sure, a few of those homeowners are also politicians with disproportionate political power. But nearly everyone is just regular people with one vote and no other influence, whether homeowner or renter.

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