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I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

mcsweeneys.net

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Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#311

Post by furyofantares »

danaris wrote: post #251
furyofantares wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are being sarcastic.

They are, however, falling afoul of the generalized version of Poe's Law [0]. If you want to satirize positions like this on the internet, you really need to leave some indication that that's what you're doing. If you just remain committed to the bit, you will look exactly like the very real assholes who believe these things unironically. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law

Sarcasm also doesn't work very well on HN generally. In this case though, it's more of a continuation of TFA which is overtly sarcastic/satirical.

Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#312

Post by fragmede »

edude03 wrote: post #284
takinola wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been closely involved with one of the largest shelter providers in the Pacific Northwest for the last couple of years and I can say this is not true for the vast majority of people we serve. The primary causes of homelessness for those people are getting evicted because of a temporary financial crunch (health issue, lost a job, etc), domestic issues (leaving a domestic violence situation) or legal issues (refuge…

> However, what people miss are the tons of people living in their cars, wearing regular clothes, not panhandling and showing up to work best they can. Sure, this is what I'm talking about when I say there is a gradient. But for argument sake/illustrative purposes though - what would housing have to cost to end homeless? And bonus question - what would zoning laws have to look like to get to this price? I imagine the…

At the extreme end, with absolutely zero zoning restrictions, you could build capsule hotels for people to live in, driving the price for a tiny tiny room to, say $300/month. With a minimum wage of $15, you'd need to only work 20 hours a month to afford that. Double it to account for taxes. Figure they have EBT for food. Assume they're able to use a platform like Reflex to pick up retail shifts (like driving for Uber but for retail).

With zero zoning, there's no telling how bad the capsule to bathroom ratio would be, which would make them unlivable, but as a thought experiment, it says that there is some price point where it's possible, so the real question is to find what's practical. If the choice is between a plastic tent exposed to the elements with no water, sewage or heating/AC, electricity, and an uncomfortably small hotel room with a shared bathroom, I'd rather the hotel room.

Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#313

Post by RajT88 »

aqme28 wrote: post #184
18172828286177 wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Often, the reason they are unstable is because they are homeless I think a more common situation is that they are on the street because they are unstable, but being on the street makes it much worse.

Yeah I buy that to some extent. But according to the studies I've read, the primary driver of homelessness is rising rent, not mental health issues. See e.g. https://www.statista.com/chart/32585/change-in-median-rent-a...

Yes, a big chunk of the homeless are referred to as "invisible" because they seem normal and may even have jobs.

Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#314

Post by CrossVR »

danaris wrote: post #261
derelicta wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are no leftists in the US. The people you are refering to a liberals, who are defacto identical to conservatives

Hi there! I live in the US. I am a leftist. I am in favor of prison abolition, universal basic income, massively increased taxation of the rich, and voting reform. Care to explain why I either don't count or don't really exist?

> prison abolition

Can we stop calling reform abolishment? I know it's more fun to call it abolishment because it triggers the people you disagree with, but it's entirely counter-productive.

I'm just getting so tired of these constant motte and bailey fallacies in US political discourse.

Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#316

Post by casey2 »

I never understood these posts as if the average homeowner has any power at all over zoning laws. You are just scapegoating the people who show up to townhalls and the hypothetical voter that will vote out politicians who lower property values.

In reality it's always the fault of the politician who refuses to make necessary change because it will hurt their personal career. This entire article reeks of christian self flagellation.

Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#317

Post by [deleted] »

danaris wrote: post #248
foldr wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The concept of humanizing homelessness fascinates me. It really does seem that the cultural default in the US is to view homeless people as subhumans who deserve to lead miserable lives. I’m not saying that this is what you yourself consciously believe(d), but it seems to be the implicit belief underlying much of the discourse around homelessness on HN and in the US more broadly. Normally when we talk about “humanizi…

The US has a very strong thread of Calvinist/Puritan/Protestant theology and thought running through its cultural foundations. One of the effects of this is a cultural predisposition to believe in something approximating the Just World theory—that is, that if someone is rich, it is because they are a better person (or blessed by God, or destined to be rich), while if they are poor it is because they are inferior peop…

[deleted]

Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#318

Post by casey2 »

comrade1234 wrote: post #19

I live in Zurich - the tightest rental market in the world (.7% availability) but don't really have a homeless problem for some reason. I have met a lot of people that have had to move to neighboring cities though.

There is definitely a large homelessness problem in Zurich. Maybe you just don't go outside?

Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#319

Post by meheleventyone »

tim333 wrote: post #269
rich_sasha wrote: post #190

UK has a chronic shortage of houses, as in, if you count the people in the country and how many houses you need, that's a bigger number than what you've got. Building in the UK is also hard. England, which is like 90% of the population, is very densely inhabited. Cities are sprawling, their road and transit infrastructure barely support their current size, never mind bigger population. Plus, with the housing bubble,…

A lot of the issue in the UK is getting permission to build anything. My dad had a 160 acre farm near london, you can get nordic type cabins for ~£50k ( https://www.quick-garden.co.uk/log-cabins/homes/ ) and you could stick loads there for little money but can you get permission? On no. I can understand not wanting to give windfall profits to folks like my dad who did nothing but the government could buy land and dev…

The cost goes beyond the mere material cost of the house itself but if you have a sizable new development how does it fit within the infrastructure where it would be built. Everything from providing services to having adequate road infrastructure. No doubt there is some wonky things in planning but it's also not a case of YOLO'ing up a bunch of cabins. Not to mention that small single homes aren't a very efficient use of new builds.

Re: I will do anything to end homelessness except build more homes (2018)

#320

Post by anovikov »

In a democratic society, it is natural that building new houses becomes incredibly hard once a bit more than 50% of voters are happy with their housing situation. In a way, it may be a sign of democratic backslide when housing is still built in large quantities then: capitalism (developers' profits) trumps democracy (people wishing to keep and increase value of their homes).
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