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

moneywise.com

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

#51

Post by Tade0 »

wtcactus wrote: post #12

"In a 2020 journal article for the American Society on Aging, Kushel wrote that of all the homeless single adults in the early 1990s, 11% were aged 50 and older. By 2003, she says that percentage grew to 37%." Society has been built for couples. With the major societal changes in the last 2 decades, we had an explosion of single people wanting to live alone, and the infrastructure is simply not prepared for it. My pa…

In my country the number of apartments being built grew along with the prices - just before the pandemic it even beat a 50-year-old record.

It's a textbook case of induced demand(for investment properties) and how construction cannot hope to keep up with it. It took a war in a neighbouring country for the madness to slow down(but not stop).

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

#52

Post by somewhereoutth »

It never ceases to astonish me how the richest country on the planet is still in 'survival mode' where everyone has to justify their claim to, well, anything at all.

In Europe (even as it was largely laid waste after WW2), it is understood that we are all together, and simply by existing we have a right to at least a basic level of living.

Perhaps part of that is that because communism was so close, for so long, it was realised that without addressing the needs of the whole population, Western Europe would also succumb to communism (or indeed fascism again).

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

#53

Post by thsksbd »

tobr wrote: post #7

Unless they had a time machine I don’t think any baby boomers became homeless during the Great Depression, so that should be a low bar to clear!

Now that I re-reaf the headline you're right. How how to fix it in a concise manner ?

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

#54

Post by Kretinsky »

TapWaterBandit wrote: post #31
epistasis wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not only the regulations, but that regulations put Boomers in control of allowing housing locally. The combination of a generation that pulls up the ladder as soon as they have something, plus a government that caters to local homeowners has created a catastrophe for all but the wealthiest. Housing austerity benefits the wealthy (by which I include all homeowners) by extracting economic rent from everyone less w…

It really isn't just the boomers. It is landowners/homeowners of many different generations. The whole "blame the boomers" thing plays into the hands of the landowners shaking down the rest of us. Don't fall for it and focus on the actual problems not attacking a group.

Sorry, but Boomers are the main landlords in the US (and the western world).

https://archive.ph/G3br6

Also, if you look at local democracy, it's mainly boomers voting.

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

#55

Post by Ensorceled »

qznc wrote: post #24
myshpa wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The quote you've posted is missing current numbers. We're now at 50%. "In a 2020 journal article for the American Society on Aging, Kushel wrote that of all the homeless single adults in the early 1990s, 11% were aged 50 and older. By 2003, she says that percentage grew to 37%. Now, the over-50 demographic represents half of the homeless single adults in the U.S. — with no sign of their numbers slowing, leaving baby…

This metric is weird. Is it somehow better if “young” adults were homeless?

No one is implying it's better or worse.

It's important to know because it changes the problem ... if a lot of homeless people are elderly the solutions need to be different than if they are younger.

For instance it's not "job training and introductions into the work force" if these people are past working age.

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

#57

Post by nonrandomstring »

epistasis wrote: post #25
jongjong wrote: post #16

Part of the problem is government regulation. In some places, it's almost impossible to build new houses due to regulations. Some portion of the population wants to see house prices continue to increase and they will vote for politicians who will implement policies which will support that agenda. Of course this happens at the expense of another, also large portion of the population who do not own a house and have to…

It's not only the regulations, but that regulations put Boomers in control of allowing housing locally. The combination of a generation that pulls up the ladder as soon as they have something, plus a government that caters to local homeowners has created a catastrophe for all but the wealthiest. Housing austerity benefits the wealthy (by which I include all homeowners) by extracting economic rent from everyone less w…

You don't need governments to explain it.

> a generation that pulls up the ladder as soon as they have something

This is a generally dangerous catalyst for stagnation. It has happened in technology much more than in the broader economy.

The successful don't want to play by the same rules as the upcoming, even though they were once in the same position. They do this by changing the rules as soon as they have power, to lock out any contenders.

Sure, homeowners have hacked the system to keep their "assets" rising. But tech is a better example. It was very fluid and disruptive in the early days. The victors, the Big-5, got there by quickly realising, as Lessig noted, that code could be used to modify the playing field. Sure, they bought regulatory laws like the DCMA, but even without that, non-interoperability, embrace-extend-extinguish, standards breaking, patent trolling and knowledge destruction, acquisition and mothballing of competition... all part of the same play-book to stop _you_ from doing what _they_ were able to.

I don't think the problem of the pulled-up ladder, of self-modifying code, is given enough attention in dynamic macro-economics.

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

#58

Post by epistasis »

TapWaterBandit wrote: post #31
epistasis wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not only the regulations, but that regulations put Boomers in control of allowing housing locally. The combination of a generation that pulls up the ladder as soon as they have something, plus a government that caters to local homeowners has created a catastrophe for all but the wealthiest. Housing austerity benefits the wealthy (by which I include all homeowners) by extracting economic rent from everyone less w…

It really isn't just the boomers. It is landowners/homeowners of many different generations. The whole "blame the boomers" thing plays into the hands of the landowners shaking down the rest of us. Don't fall for it and focus on the actual problems not attacking a group.

Well, maybe it's different in your area, but the generation currently showing up in the political process is all Boomers.

What happens online doesn't matter for these things. What matters is who shows up and shakes down city council members by being angry and claiming to represent concerted voting blocs.

Well, that and those who are changing the state level regulation of local municipalities to force them to build more housing. But that is a strategy pursued by younger groups advocating for housing (which also includes Boomers!).

But the opposition is nearly uniform in their age, largely due to who has the free time to set city level policy.

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

#60

Post by fnimick »

Ensorceled wrote: post #50
jongjong wrote: post #16

Part of the problem is government regulation. In some places, it's almost impossible to build new houses due to regulations. Some portion of the population wants to see house prices continue to increase and they will vote for politicians who will implement policies which will support that agenda. Of course this happens at the expense of another, also large portion of the population who do not own a house and have to…

This is the standard conservative "big government" and "young people today don't want to work" rant. > The problem is government regulation. In some places, it's almost impossible to build new houses due to regulations. Regulation yes, but it's not the lack of building; we're building like crazy all over North America. Many new homes are "lost" and become second or third homes for the wealthy or airbnb rentals. Regul…

Agreed. We're in this mess because of unregulated capitalism, but sure, removing even more regulations will definitely solve it!

(for the people who are fortunate enough to "have a venture" goes unsaid - the rest will be left poor, and they deserve it, for they weren't good / useful enough)

There is absolutely an argument to be made here about regulatory capture with respect to zoning laws, parking minimums, etc making building dense housing impossible. The parent comment started fine and then devolved into typical libertarian drivel about how if we just remove ALL regulations to business, this will definitely get resolved.

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