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You talk as though all homeless people are in the same category; down on their luck folks who are just having a hard time pulling themselves up by their bootstr

You talk as though all homeless people are in the same category; down on their luck folks who are just having a hard time pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of homeless people who are like that and who really do just need a helping hand and some support for 6mo or a year and they're back to being productive members of society. I won't argue with this because it's absolutely true! But there are also people who are homeless because of untreated mental illness, who "choose" to be homeless because they're too far out there to participate in traditional society. These folks (probably) need help, but just giving them a house and money for food isn't necessarily the answer. And there are also folks who choose to be homeless. People who think society is really effed up and that they don't want to be a part of it. I've met folks like this and talked with them at length and they know full well what they're doing, why, and whatnot. They're not down on their luck and they don't have any kind of debilitating mental illness; they have very well founded reasons for rejecting society and you won't convince them otherwise. They obviously have different values than most, but that doesn't mean they're crazy or wrong. If you give them a house they'll probably just laugh at the "idiots" trash it, spend the money profligately and continue doing whatever makes them happy. Pretending that you've got a one-size-fits-all solution to a problem is either incredibly naive or just downright intellectually dishonest. I'm not terribly interested in people peddling snake oil.

FussyZeus 10y ago
Complaining that a solution is bad because it does not apply to the people who willfully oppose having their problem solved makes no sense. Of course it won't eliminate homelessness in people who WANT to be homeless, I'm not sure how you could solve that problem with all the resources in the world. And as I said above, this doesn't solve the issue of mental illness but none of the current ones do either. I would argue the majority of homeless people are really just regular folks who have had a serious financial issue (the fastest route to the streets is the medical system) and giving them a leg up will not only get them off the street, but would likely get them productive again. I'm not arguing that basic income is the silver bullet solution to our cities' problems. I'm arguing for what we spend on the patchwork crap system we have now, we could use much more effectively via basic income WHILE giving these people at least a passing sense of ownership of their own lives.
- msandford 10y ago
  Asserting that the majority of the homeless are in group X really ought to be accompanied by some kind of citation. Without that I could simply assert that only 10% of homeless want to rejoin traditional society and you'd be powerless to refute me.

FussyZeus 10y ago

Complaining that a solution is bad because it does not apply to the people who willfully oppose having their problem solved makes no sense. Of course it won't eliminate homelessness in people who WANT to be homeless, I'm not sure how you could solve that problem with all the resources in the world. And as I said above, this doesn't solve the issue of mental illness but none of the current ones do either. I would argue the majority of homeless people are really just regular folks who have had a serious financial issue (the fastest route to the streets is the medical system) and giving them a leg up will not only get them off the street, but would likely get them productive again. I'm not arguing that basic income is the silver bullet solution to our cities' problems. I'm arguing for what we spend on the patchwork crap system we have now, we could use much more effectively via basic income WHILE giving these people at least a passing sense of ownership of their own lives.

msandford 10y ago
Asserting that the majority of the homeless are in group X really ought to be accompanied by some kind of citation. Without that I could simply assert that only 10% of homeless want to rejoin traditional society and you'd be powerless to refute me.