Why can't we stop homelessness? why there's no end in sight
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Re: Why can't we stop homelessness? why there's no end in sight
#2Our economy has taken a hit and made things worse for sure. I’d be in rough shape if I didn’t have my pre inflation house mortgage. But it seems like a decent subset of people simply don’t want help if it means needing to take any responsibility themselves. Mental illness plays a role in some, others I’m not sure. It’s almost a shift of thinking leading towards entitlement. Offered someone a bottle of water around here and he refused it saying he only wanted money or soda. If mental illness was part of that picture, it wasn’t obvious in speaking with the individual. How do you help that kind of attitude?
Re: Why can't we stop homelessness? why there's no end in sight
#3Our economy has taken a hit and made things worse for sure. I’d be in rough shape if I didn’t have my pre inflation house mortgage. But it seems like a decent subset of people simply don’t want help if it means needing to take any responsibility themselves. Mental illness plays a role in some, others I’m not sure. It’s almost a shift of thinking leading towards entitlement. Offered someone a bottle of water around he…
It rarely is - only 1/4th of homeless adults in LA suffer from a severe mental illness [1].
The sad reality is that the difference between the folks you pass by on the street and you is often just a little bit of bad luck and no support system.
Go listen to interviews with the folks that live in the sewers in Vegas, most of them want to work but can't get a government ID because they've had their old Ids and birth certificates stolen a long time ago.
I met a woman in her 60s in Oakland who was homeless and worked three (part-time) jobs. Couldn't afford to rent even the cheapest of apartments, couldn't work her way out of debt, was unmarried and had no living relatives.
Ol' Uncle Sam tends to not take kindly to those that can't pay to play.
1. https://siepr.stanford.edu/publications/policy-brief/homeles....
Re: Why can't we stop homelessness? why there's no end in sight
#4Overturning O'Connor v Donaldson would be a start.
Re: Why can't we stop homelessness? why there's no end in sight
#5Aside from drugs and mental issues, it seems like letting people live in the streets invites others to the lifestyle. Locally we had a man build a home on the sidewalk and brag about what a great job he had done. He thought that the public sidewalk was a place where he could build as he pleased. Some people believe that it's ok to do whatever they want in the common areas of out cities. There's also the constant problems that are associated with sharing a space with others. We, as a society, have made it unpopular for large families to live in one place. So, the less one lives with others the less likely you will ever want to live with someone in general. It's much better to live on your own even if it means living on the street for some.
It's next to impossible to give everyone their own home in large cities so we have to think about building homes in the outskirts of cities and ban people from living in the common areas of our cities.
Los Angeles is spending millions to house people in hotels. Spending that much tax money can't continue forever not to mention the fact that it's not fixing the problem. Living alone in your own home where ever you want is not something the taxpayers can or will fund forever. We need to make some hard decisions and it's not providing a forever home for everyone that wants to live alone.
Re: Why can't we stop homelessness? why there's no end in sight
#6Our economy has taken a hit and made things worse for sure. I’d be in rough shape if I didn’t have my pre inflation house mortgage. But it seems like a decent subset of people simply don’t want help if it means needing to take any responsibility themselves. Mental illness plays a role in some, others I’m not sure. It’s almost a shift of thinking leading towards entitlement. Offered someone a bottle of water around he…
It rarely is - only 1/4th of homeless adults in LA suffer from a severe mental illness [1]. The sad reality is that the difference between the folks you pass by on the street and you is often just a little bit of bad luck and no support system. Go listen to interviews with the folks that live in the sewers in Vegas, most of them want to work but can't get a government ID because they've had their old Ids and birth ce…
To clarify, roughly 46% suffer from mental illness or substance abuse, and 25% from severe mental illness alone.
- SAMHSA, 2019
Re: Why can't we stop homelessness? why there's no end in sight
#7Aside from drugs and mental issues, it seems like letting people live in the streets invites others to the lifestyle. Locally we had a man build a home on the sidewalk and brag about what a great job he had done. He thought that the public sidewalk was a place where he could build as he pleased. Some people believe that it's ok to do whatever they want in the common areas of out cities. There's also the constant prob…
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Re: Why can't we stop homelessness? why there's no end in sight
#8Lack of universal healthcare and lack of laws requiring drug users and mentally ill to get treatment or go to jail. Most democratic run states have just given up enforcing drug laws or decriminalized drugs. If you are mentally ill or addicted to a substance, no one can really force you to get treatment. As a result, most never get better and just get worse and worse. There is also just less housing overall, so if someone is going to get displaced first--it's going to be the folks on heroin and meth first.
Re: Why can't we stop homelessness? why there's no end in sight
#9Our economy has taken a hit and made things worse for sure. I’d be in rough shape if I didn’t have my pre inflation house mortgage. But it seems like a decent subset of people simply don’t want help if it means needing to take any responsibility themselves. Mental illness plays a role in some, others I’m not sure. It’s almost a shift of thinking leading towards entitlement. Offered someone a bottle of water around he…
The physical economy and the gamble economy are almost decoupled. Some Wallstreet scam artist running a cryptoshedd in the Cambodian djungle producing virtual wealth is not helping some unlearned sod living under a bridge in any meaningful way. He might produce some more in the long run though.
Its a miracle anyone of the libertarian priest caste is still alive to discuss this. Back in French king times, when a system failed it's people thoroughly, the mob roughing it in the streets would put the upper echelons on a wagon to the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_de_la_Nation. The American citoyens are extremely docile, even going through the proper democratic channels with righteous anger.
Re: Why can't we stop homelessness? why there's no end in sight
#10This is an important topic, but why post it here on HN? More and more posts are general news now. There are so many places for these discussions other than a technology oriented message board.