71–80 of 94 posts
Short answer: CA has been underbuilding housing for close to 50 years ( https://techcrunch.com/2014/04/14/sf-housing/ ) and now has a severe housing shortage, to the point where a parodic response, like "California will try absolutely anything to reduce homelessness, except build more housing" ( https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-will-do-anything-to-en... ) is the only reasonable one. I've worked on Prop HHH and o…
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Most homeless people can build their own houses/shelters. But cities should provide access points for water, electricity and other utilities. And it should be illegal to bulldoze structure where somebody lives!
> it should be illegal to bulldoze structure where somebody lives! If you buy an empty lot as an investment, and then the city grows and you want to sell that lot so that a developer can build a high-rise, you want to stop them? I mean unless you want to ban ownership of land then you are in a tricky resource. What if someone builds a lean-to in your hedge? If anything, maybe we need to zone areas for improvised hous…
I was once homeless in California, strung out on drugs and alcohol, unable to quit or even think about getting treatment for that and my bipolar disorder. It is my opinion that we need to go back to locking people up and forcing them into treatment for their own good. It is inhumane to leave helpless people out on the street because of some abstract concept of personal rights. I understand the motivation of mental he…
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I'm not going to pretend I know a solution to this, but wasn't part of the reason it became hard to involuntarily commit people because it was being abused? Like, fathers were getting their daughters committed for being "too promiscuous"? If that's a serious risk, I don't know that the "solution" to this problem by committing people is worth it. That said, it's a hard problem. I know it's extremely hard for people wi…
Is mental health treatment not covered in a lot of health plans? I'm not a fan of involuntarily committing people. But I do want to make it as easy (and as cheap) as possible to get good mental treatment if they need it. I've seen the results of good therapists, and it is no less impactful than a good surgeon.
There are free clinics for it, and of course those are good things and the doctors there are doing the lord's work, but they're extremely backed up. I looked to make an appointment at the time, and the soonest one was four months away. Compare this to the two-day wait I had when I finally did manage to get better insurance.
I was once homeless in California, strung out on drugs and alcohol, unable to quit or even think about getting treatment for that and my bipolar disorder. It is my opinion that we need to go back to locking people up and forcing them into treatment for their own good. It is inhumane to leave helpless people out on the street because of some abstract concept of personal rights. I understand the motivation of mental he…
I'm not from the States and that's probably why I have this impression that the States talk a lot about respecting their veterans yet do very little to actually support them. I mean, stuff beyond thoughts and prayers.
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> A lot of the homeless are on disability due to some physical issue that prevents working , or are seniors. The social security checks do not pay the bills and you need an under the table side hustle in the bay to afford a room and be on social security checks. Naive follow-up question: why does such a person need to live in the bay area? If you're living off disability, why would you try to do it in the most expens…
If you're homeless, what else do you have?
I realize this line of inquiry sounds callous ("why can't they just save some money?"), but I genuinely don't follow why somebody with a regular income who's not tied to the bay area by a) drug addiction, or b) a job would put up with homelessness to stay there.
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Is mental health treatment not covered in a lot of health plans? I'm not a fan of involuntarily committing people. But I do want to make it as easy (and as cheap) as possible to get good mental treatment if they need it. I've seen the results of good therapists, and it is no less impactful than a good surgeon.
In a sister reply apparently it's not hard to get mental health treatment in California, so I won't speak to that. Where I lived (and currently live) in NYC, it was hard for me to find cheap therapy, as it does not appear they require mental health plans in the insurance (though I'm not a lawyer, so maybe there's more recent legislation). There are free clinics for it, and of course those are good things and the doct…
California decided it liked Obamacare and the idea of Medicare for all, so I think that's when they made Covered California available for people who couldn't otherwise afford it. It might actually save money because there are less emergency room visits.
There are three kinds of people experiencing homelessness in SF: Drug addicts, who settle in the Bay Area because it is Paradise On Earth for drug addiction. Drugs are cheap and plentiful. Dealers transact unmolested in broad daylight in front of apathetic cops. Needles are provided by the government free of charge. Tents can be pitched on just about any sidewalk. Drug use does not even need to be discreet -- anyone…
Saas_sam is exactly right. Why is it so unbearable to deal with this truth.
When was "experiencing homelessness" term established as the norm? what's wrong with just "homeless"?
Nothing is really “wrong” with it. However the change reframes homelessness as a temporary state a person experiences rather than a persistent identity of the individual.