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How Utah Reduced Chronic Homelessness

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Re: How Utah Reduced Chronic Homelessness

#51

Post by jonknee »

nsnick wrote: post #25
austenallred wrote: post #8

I'm confused by this. My brother has an office in downtown SLC near the Rio Grande building, and it's pretty clear when I visit him that there are hundreds of homeless people living in that neighborhood alone. Pioneer Park is also covered in homeless people. If that is less than 200 people either I don't understand what "homeless" means or something is... off. How does one define "chronic homelessness?" I really want…

Salt Lake City has a lot of seasonal homeless, people who come for the summer and leave for the winter. Seasonal homeless are not counted as chronic homeless. There are no homeless people anywhere else in the state so the ones you see in Salt Lake are it. Not all panhandlers are homeless. Most of the homeless in Salt Lake City seem to disappear at night. There are no massive homeless camps like you see in San Francis…

Having Winter weather that will kill people sure makes not counting seasonal homeless a great way to say you don't have any homeless problems.

Re: How Utah Reduced Chronic Homelessness

#53

Post by TheGRS »

broAhmed wrote: post #15
austenallred wrote: post #8

I'm confused by this. My brother has an office in downtown SLC near the Rio Grande building, and it's pretty clear when I visit him that there are hundreds of homeless people living in that neighborhood alone. Pioneer Park is also covered in homeless people. If that is less than 200 people either I don't understand what "homeless" means or something is... off. How does one define "chronic homelessness?" I really want…

_Chronic_ homelessness is what's been reduced. From the article: "As of 2015, the state can just about declare victory: The population of chronically homeless people has dropped by 91 percent." ... "In fact, Utah still has a substantial homeless problem. The overall homeless population is around 14,000." "The chronically homeless, on the other hand, are a subset of the homeless population that is often the most vulne…

Yes thank you, the article does contain a lot more info than just the headline. Homelessness is a more complex issue than it appears at the surface. There a many stages of homelessness and different demographics of it.

A shelter I contribute to here in Portland focuses specifically on homeless families who have recently fell on hard times and tries to address getting them back on their feet and into sustainable jobs before they enter a vicious circle and are unable to get back into the system at all. I don't believe those families would have counted toward the chronic homeless number.

Re: How Utah Reduced Chronic Homelessness

#54

Post by [deleted] »

broAhmed wrote: post #15
austenallred wrote: post #8

I'm confused by this. My brother has an office in downtown SLC near the Rio Grande building, and it's pretty clear when I visit him that there are hundreds of homeless people living in that neighborhood alone. Pioneer Park is also covered in homeless people. If that is less than 200 people either I don't understand what "homeless" means or something is... off. How does one define "chronic homelessness?" I really want…

_Chronic_ homelessness is what's been reduced. From the article: "As of 2015, the state can just about declare victory: The population of chronically homeless people has dropped by 91 percent." ... "In fact, Utah still has a substantial homeless problem. The overall homeless population is around 14,000." "The chronically homeless, on the other hand, are a subset of the homeless population that is often the most vulne…

[deleted]

Re: How Utah Reduced Chronic Homelessness

#55

Post by pmiller2 »

ekianjo wrote: post #22
ktRolster wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not every homeless person is chronically homeless. A lot of homeless people have skills (so don't look down on them), but they're going through a rough time. After a while, they pick themselves up, go into rehab or whatever, and become non-homeless again.

> Not every homeless person is chronically homeless. That's completely biased though. You can only know who is chronically homeless AFTER the fact. So this whole celebration of reducing chronic homelessness is more likely just a PR piece.

I don't know what you're saying here. The definition of "chronically homeless" is perfectly clear; it's just that you can't look at someone and say "yep, that person fits the definition."

Re: How Utah Reduced Chronic Homelessness

#56

Post by st3v3r »

douche wrote: post #16
Karunamon wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing that sticks in my mind after a business trip to SLC (SaltConf last year) were the ubiquitous red signs urging people to turn away panhandlers. If people actually take notice, I'd be willing to bet this results in the problem being hidden a lot more than it is in some other cities. The admittedly surface impression I got was that the city is hostile to the homeless.

I was very disappointed that ordinances to restrict panhandling in medians were overturned in Portland, ME in recent years. There's no need of that. If you are willing to work, there is always work to be done for a decent wage, (although possibly less than the absurd level minimum wage has climbed to).

Anyone who claims the minimum wage level is absurd has clearly never tried to live on it.

Re: How Utah Reduced Chronic Homelessness

#57

Post by jtedward »

douche wrote: post #44
mabbo wrote: post #42

The 'Housing First' model was really pushed hard by Stephen Harper as Prime Minister of Canada. It was weird because he is such a staunch right-wing kind of guy, yet here he was putting money towards what seems like a very left-wing socialist idea. But he, like Lloyd Pendleton in this article, apparently figured out that it saves a lot of money, ideology be damned. Maybe that's a good example of how to get right-wing…

Would that it would be possible for the reverse to happen. Never will left-wing politicians lower tax rates.

Obama lowered taxes, in fact no Democratic president has raised taxes during my lifetime (I'm 25). It's pretty strange people always claim this is a thing when it's just flat false.

Re: How Utah Reduced Chronic Homelessness

#58

Post by st3v3r »

wyldfire wrote: post #6

> For Joe Ortega, it means ... getting used to being alone. I would not have figured that moving off the street would be more isolating than living on the street. Don't these housing options mean that someone else is living just in an adjacent room or across the hall?

When you're used to them laying right next to you, with no walls between, then adding walls is going to be more isolating.

Re: How Utah Reduced Chronic Homelessness

#59

Post by nsnick »

jonknee wrote: post #51
nsnick wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Salt Lake City has a lot of seasonal homeless, people who come for the summer and leave for the winter. Seasonal homeless are not counted as chronic homeless. There are no homeless people anywhere else in the state so the ones you see in Salt Lake are it. Not all panhandlers are homeless. Most of the homeless in Salt Lake City seem to disappear at night. There are no massive homeless camps like you see in San Francis…

Having Winter weather that will kill people sure makes not counting seasonal homeless a great way to say you don't have any homeless problems.

Its actually even better than that. Because the tourist season in Salt Lake City is winter, there are no homeless when the tourists are there.
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