The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression • Hacker News Board

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#361

Post by ceejayoz » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 2:36 PM UTC

nnadams wrote: post #272

thejackgoode wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>given all the videos online of kids beating up teachers and getting away with it I don't think I heard of a single such story in my life. Is it a thing?

Yes unfortunately. There are TikTok "challenges" go slap your teacher for example. Similar to the "challenges" where you should eat a spoon of cinnamon, eat a Tide pod, etc. There's an air of do this and film it for clout. Most kids roll their eyes as well of course, but there are people who follow along.

> There are TikTok "challenges" go slap your teacher for example.

These are mostly of the "razor blades / drugs in Halloween candy" sort, where there's a lot of breathless coverage but very little actual evidence of it happening in the real world.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#362

Post by mgolawala » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 2:37 PM UTC

peyton wrote: post #233

packetlost wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We, IMO, need a progressive tax system for every home controlled by an entity that isn't their primary residence. You don't want to hurt small individuals trying to build up wealth, but we need to stop allowing large corporations to turn basic necessities into investment vehicles.

I don’t think houses should be used by anybody to build up wealth.

Thank you for pointing this out.

Houses can be cheap, or they can be a good investment. Not both.

I think I read that here on hacker news a few years ago, and it has stuck with me.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#363

Post by JumpCrisscross » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 2:37 PM UTC

skeeter2020 wrote: post #261

spir wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You only perceive corporate landlords as the greater problem because we're not living in the counterfactual reality where there are millions of new apartments that are inexpensive, tiny, safe, quiet, modern, clean, dignified, and well-located. In pretty much every major city in North America, it is illegal or there is too much red tape to build the affordable housing people actually want. Why is it that living in a t…

Maybe? Or how about they are in no-way comparable.Unless you are talking mass subsidization there is an absolute floor for providing housing, not to mention finite capacity for both tent cities and affordable apartments.

> Unless you are talking mass subsidization there is an absolute floor for providing housing

Sure. We are nowhere close to that floor. Voters who reject supply and demand pay the consequence for their ignorance.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#364

Post by bombcar » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 2:37 PM UTC

kelipso wrote: post #313

wyager wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> her landlord suddenly raised her rent by $500. That shouldn't be legal. GP: "Government regulation is preventing the construction of more housing" You: "So true. For example, we need more regulation that make housing a legally encumbered asset with uniquely constrained and inflexible financial properties" What is your thought process here? Do you think this kind of thing will encourage the provision of more houses?…

A lot of the problems would fix themselves if it was a lot harder for people to own a second home. Would make housing cheaper for one.

There's about 10 million "second homes" in the USA by some estimates, but that doesn't necessary say how they're actually used - some are vacation homes that are empty when not used (and are in locations that are effectively "worthless" except for vacationing) whereas others will be a technically owned second home but actually inhabited by a child or relative of the owner.

The mortgage interest lack-of-deduction for most (because of the increase in the standard deduction) also affects things. What we likely should be doing is making it easier to build second homes and "dump" them on the market even for a bit of a profit, so as to increase supply.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#365

Post by incahoots » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 2:37 PM UTC

Ah yes, apathy my old friend.

We can recognize the various problems that got us here, but when it comes to resolving them, well that’s simply a bridge too far.

Take note: we absolutely have the resources to defeat homelessness and hunger, it’s just not a profitable model.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#366

Post by Hates_ » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 2:38 PM UTC

beretguy wrote: post #281

silenced_trope wrote: post #122

My mom was homeless for years, thankfully she got stable housing right before covid took off. - in shelters/churches-with-cots there would be crazed drug-users, she was threatened numerous times in them and the shelter can't do anything - I wasn't financially able to help her much but managed to buy her a "clunker" of a car which she later slept in before getting housing - she's entirely dependent on getting social s…

> My mom was homeless for years > I wasn't financially able to help her much but managed to buy her a "clunker" of a car which she later slept in before getting housing Ah… So… If you had a place to live couldn’t you let her live in that same place too, instead of her being homeless? My parents lost their jobs due to covid, and even though they treated me bad when I was a kid I still let them in my house. How can you…

It's one thing to be curious as to why they couldn't have housed their mother, but it's possible to ask with empathy and compassion rather than assumptions and judgment.

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#367

Post by m3kw9 » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 2:38 PM UTC

Tough af problem because capitalism is so powerful which a country needs to thrive but can cause great inequality

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#368

Post by nkrisc » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 2:38 PM UTC

beretguy wrote: post #281

silenced_trope wrote: post #122

My mom was homeless for years, thankfully she got stable housing right before covid took off. - in shelters/churches-with-cots there would be crazed drug-users, she was threatened numerous times in them and the shelter can't do anything - I wasn't financially able to help her much but managed to buy her a "clunker" of a car which she later slept in before getting housing - she's entirely dependent on getting social s…

> My mom was homeless for years > I wasn't financially able to help her much but managed to buy her a "clunker" of a car which she later slept in before getting housing Ah… So… If you had a place to live couldn’t you let her live in that same place too, instead of her being homeless? My parents lost their jobs due to covid, and even though they treated me bad when I was a kid I still let them in my house. How can you…

If you’re renting an apartment, you would likely need permission from the landlord to add a new tenant, or possibly risk having the lease terminated and both ending up homeless. Additionally, if you’re renting with roommates, just bring someone another person in may not be an option.

Don’t you think if having their mother move in with them was a possibility, they’d have done it?

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#369

Post by Ajedi32 » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 2:38 PM UTC

peyton wrote: post #233

packetlost wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We, IMO, need a progressive tax system for every home controlled by an entity that isn't their primary residence. You don't want to hurt small individuals trying to build up wealth, but we need to stop allowing large corporations to turn basic necessities into investment vehicles.

I don’t think houses should be used by anybody to build up wealth.

So apartments shouldn't exist? Or...?

I understand your perspective; there's a reason the term "rent-seeking" has a negative connotation. But I don't really see an alternative that wouldn't be worse. Different tax rates for primary residences sounds like a potentially okay compromise (though it would make renting more expensive, by design).

Re: The elderly are becoming homeless at a rate not seen since the Great Depression

#370

Post by seanmcdirmid » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 2:38 PM UTC

shiftpgdn wrote: post #282

packetlost wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We, IMO, need a progressive tax system for every home controlled by an entity that isn't their primary residence. You don't want to hurt small individuals trying to build up wealth, but we need to stop allowing large corporations to turn basic necessities into investment vehicles.

Singapore does this very well. Almost no property tax or land value tax for primary residence for Singapore citizens. Up to 30% property/LVT for corporations and foreigners.

Given how much Singapore relies on foreign labor, this makes housing those foreigners tricky. The non-migrant worker foreigners who aren’t put in dorms face a very expensive housing market, Singapore companies have to pay larger salaries to compensate (and if you are American, you have to lean heavily on your housing exemption to avoid double taxation because Singapore taxes are also low).