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

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

#651

Post by lapetitejort »

nomel wrote: post #634
cornercasechase wrote: post #610

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public transit is much safer than driving in your car. Someone skipping fare does not compare to even a light fender bender.

> Someone skipping fare This, obviously, isn't what raises fear in people. "Safer" for some statistics, like a car crash, but also much less safe for things like getting stabbed, spit on, confronted. Sure, it's somewhat rare on public transport, but they're exactly zero in my car, at freeway speeds. edit: A quick google search shows two stabbings, one slit throat, and a page full of fights, in my area, over the last…

I may never get stabbed in my car, but I will get brake-checked, cut off, buzzed, rammed, and shot at [0]. Driving is stressful and I dread every getting on the highway.

[0]: https://everytownresearch.org/reports-of-road-rage-shootings...

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

#652

Post by gottorf »

Zpalmtree wrote: post #599
giantrobot wrote: post #584

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those damn public schools. Schools ought to be private so only the wealthy can afford them. That way the lessers know their place and can get their kids cleaning toilets and digging ditches sooner!

Are we not allowed to question any increase to taxation when its related to education?

Especially when the US public education system spends more per pupil than almost every other country on the planet[0], with appalling results. In fact, as spending increased 30% over the past decade, student achievements flatlined, then fell precipitously after Covid[1].

[0]: https://educationdata.org/public-education-spending-statisti...

[1]: https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=38

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

#653

Post by snowpid »

dagw wrote: post #506
snowpid wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ar-right inclinations, ultra-nationalism is far more spreaded in US than just say Germany.

I'm just not sure that is true. Have you been seeing what is happening in German politics recently? And Germany is a fairly moderate country all things considered. There are plenty of European countries where 'alt'-right ultranationalism is very prevalent

I am aware of Germany as I live there. I am not sure what you are referring to.

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

#654

Post by mattnewton »

cogman10 wrote: post #478
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…

What government policy would allow for a 2k apartment building and not a $500 apartment building? I just don't buy this argument. The reason there's not a $500 apartments being built is because by expanding the residence out just a tiny bit you can charge $2000 for the same space that 2 $500 apartments would occupy. I'm seeing this play out where I live that has practically no zoning laws or regulations (LOTS of buil…

> What government policy would allow for a 2k apartment building and not a $500 apartment building?

Basically all of them? All you need is minimum parking + a height limit. Since the ROI of the lot is a function of units *average price, and a height limit + parkinng requirements caps the # of units per lot, the average price has to be higher for it to make sense to an investor.

Also it’s worth noting that supply is just incredibly constrained vs demand in nearly every major American city. Anything to help the supply side decreases housing costs across the board, even if it’s luxury housing.

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

#655

Post by mywittyname »

fnimick wrote: post #640
jimt1234 wrote: post #611

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been told since childhood that the main obstacle to inexpensive public transit in the the majority of US is racism - keep those people in their neighborhood . I've never done any sort of research or anything, and even though it's depressing, it sounds plausible.

It's very true. Look at the way "urban" is used as a dog whistle for certain groups of people. A bit of local history from where I live: Boston rapid transit was intended to extend to the northwest a considerable distance, putting more communities on the system and allowing easy, car-free commutes. It saw vociferous neighborhood opposition from groups who "didn't like the idea of increased traffic and certain urban e…

These neighborhoods also happen to be the ones that enforce "driving while black" rules.

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

#656

Post by rcarr »

mym1990 wrote: post #644
beretguy wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

You are just taking OPs situation and putting your loved ones into it, that is not empathy. Family dynamics can be incredibly complex, and more so when drugs, lack of resources, or abuse is involved(that is just a few examples, and often the situation has many points of strain).

Most of the time, but not all the time. If you're an only child and your grandparents are dead, your parents are dead, and they too didn't have any brothers or sisters, or they were on bad terms with them, then you've probably got no social net whatsoever. And some people are orphans. People with large families don't often realise how difficult life can be for people with small families or no family.

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

#657

Post by digging »

cogman10 wrote: post #565
rmk wrote: post #545

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't Boise, ID have an influx of better-off people from the coasts during the Pandemic? If plenty of luxury housing is being built it was likely in response to that. Ultimately those houses will get rented or otherwise occupied, which should free up housing at the lower end. Compare this to places in the Bay Area, where it's not practical to spread out any farther (no good public transport because of a dozen or mor…

> Didn't Boise, ID have an influx of better-off people from the coasts during the Pandemic? Yup > What's better? Some housing being built or none at all? Loads of housing is getting built but what we've not seen is subsequent drops in housing prices (the opposite in fact). This speaks to problems beyond a housing shortage. Who knows, maybe in 10 years that will reverse and the market will correct back to pre-pandemic…

> Loads of housing is getting built but what we've not seen is subsequent drops in housing prices (the opposite in fact). This speaks to problems beyond a housing shortage.

No it doesn't. The only thing that would indicate a problem beyond a shortage would be if total supply was greater than and increasing greater than total demand. Building "loads" doesn't bear any of that data.

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

#658

Post by brandall10 »

hifromLA wrote: post #621
cornercasechase wrote: post #610

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public transit is much safer than driving in your car. Someone skipping fare does not compare to even a light fender bender.

Psychological safety matters just as much as physical safety. If you think that you won’t see some shit on public transit I welcome you to come to LA and take the red line for a day.

Having spent 6 months in NYC over the past year, you see shit on the subway lines all of the time, but normal people use it all the time.

I think the latter is the important thing. It's not normalized as a viable means of transport in the land of the automobile.

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

#659

Post by lambdasquirrel »

jimt1234 wrote: post #611
gavin_gee wrote: post #594

Some good commentary in this thread, however one topic thats never raised in the topic of affordable housing is fast cheap public transit. I could never imagine being able to buy a house in London. but the train network makes it possible to live in a more affordable neighbourhood and commute as needed. In the US we seem to think that cities can continue to have affordable housing in the most desireable areas. this is…

I've been told since childhood that the main obstacle to inexpensive public transit in the the majority of US is racism - keep those people in their neighborhood . I've never done any sort of research or anything, and even though it's depressing, it sounds plausible.

In the SF Bay Area, I think that crowd basically went to, let’s block any and all development, period.

There is a serious NIMBY/xenophobic component up and down the West Coast though.

As an example that I can talk about, I once took voice classes from a teacher in Berkeley, and the neighbors made her apply for a business license from the city and limit the hours of operation… not that there were ever more than 3 of us and we were already finishing up by 8. To be clear, she was born across the Bay, and I emphasize was not of a skin tone that is associated with recent immigrants. For me, coming from NYC, it never ceased to amaze me how spiteful a certain set of long-timers can be.

Another example I can talk about, all the old people in Mountain View who complained about the new restaurants that were coming up, like that brewery that was just off of Castro like 15 years ago. I’ve since concluded that some folks are just angry and spiteful and need to be the absolute center of their world. A long time ago, the West Coast must have attracted a lot of them because there was a whole lot of room for them to live out that life.

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

#660

Post by csomar »

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…

We don't know the circumstances of the OP. Maybe he's been living out of hostels and saving to get his mother a car.
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