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It's nice that you've took an actual college class on homelessness. I've logged about 10 years in volunteering for programs to feed the homeless, and have share

by rsj_hn 9y ago

It's nice that you've took an actual college class on homelessness. I've logged about 10 years in volunteering for programs to feed the homeless, and have shared my home with homeless people for almost 7 years (until I stopped). I've talked to many, many homeless people and every single one of them could have stayed in a shelter but chose not to because of the restrictions on personal freedom. Every single one had some sort of serious mental issue, often compounded by physical disabilities, and was simply unable to care for themselves. Every single one had serious attitude problems to where they basically gave up on trying to make it in this society. Here, I am talking about the chronic homeless, which are the root of the problem. Not families that may need to sleep in the car because they are in between housing or people crashing on couches while they straighten themselves out. I mean people with tents. The one person I knew the longest was basically camping out around Palo Alto. The reason why you don't see so many homeless in the suburbs is because the Police are fairly effective at driving them out with beatdowns and destroying their property. This is the reality of not forcing them into group living situations -- let them live on the streets creating a lot of quality of life issues or have an unspoken policy of police brutality. So I would say that what we have now is dystopian. The last homeless man I let live with me I ended up asking to leave, because he was unable to keep steady work. I just asked him to do something, anything -- it didn't have to be full time -- and he could keep the money himself. But he was able bodied and needed to work. I drove him to his job. At the end of the day, he was pretty blunt in telling me that at his age -- he was in his 50s -- he couldn't stand doing menial work and being ordered around by some kid. For him, it was either a high paying job or camping out. So I finally asked him to leave and he's been camping out (assuming he's still alive at this point -- it's been a while). I think it's cute you took a college class and now understand the issue. But housing costs have nothing to do it. You can today find a place to live in the U.S. for a few hundred a month. No, not in San Francisco or Manhattan or Monaco, but most of the country is incredibly cheap. Look at rent prices in the middle of the country. For example, in Phoenix, real rental costs have not increased for 30 years. They've been basically flat. But in Phoenix, the homeless don't have the same access to city services as in San Francisco, or NYC.

dredmorbius 9y ago
FYI, Mz also claims a certain level of direct and personal experience with the problem. You might focus more on what you're sure you know, and not what you think someone else does, doesn't, or ought.
nickthemagicman 9y ago
It's true. Homeless people have no money. The difference between 200 and 2000 a month doesn't matter, they can't afford either.
- Mz 9y ago
  This is not true. Some homeless people have no money. Others have a social security check and nothing else or a military retirement check and nothing else. Some even have jobs. For people like me, if we could find a decent (not hell hole) place for $200, that would absolutely get us off the street. I could afford about $400 a month in the near future. I am trying to find a way to get off the street now that my student loan is paid off and that frees up enough money where I could afford that much for shelter in the near future.
  - nobody64 9y ago
    As the saying goes, “Insanity is repeating the same experiment over and over again, and expecting a different result.” Respectfully, I don’t think you can attain a middle class income in CA by blogging. I pay $15/month for a New York Times subscription – and the NYT is still struggling. As for your resume service, again respectfully, you don’t even provide your own resume (or even a URL to a LinkedIn profile) with your qualifications and education to prospective customers. Instead, you provide a rambling personal account as the basis for why people should hire you. If I did that to a prospective employer, my email would probably get flagged as spam and deleted. Either you, or one of your sons (preferably all 3) needs to get a part-time job. Skimming your blog, you appear well enough to eat at McDonalds, Taco Bell, Starbucks and Dominos Pizza. Why not get a part-time job at one of them? You could probably score free meals, too. More importantly, it would build your (or your son’s) paystub history. Landlords and banks like to see a stable employment income. In essence, you are already doing something that many employers like to see – showing up at the same place (the library) at approximately the same time, every day. Yet, you are getting no credit for this level of accountability. You’ve mentioned that your income is trending upward. Unfortunately, “trending upward” is not enough for most landlords and banks. If you want the path of least resistance, your family needs to establish a regular, incoming paycheck. Look, you've been on this path for 5.5 years. Maybe it's time to consider other ideas.

by rsj_hn 9y ago

dredmorbius 9y ago

FYI, Mz also claims a certain level of direct and personal experience with the problem. You might focus more on what you're sure you know, and not what you think someone else does, doesn't, or ought.

nickthemagicman 9y ago

It's true. Homeless people have no money. The difference between 200 and 2000 a month doesn't matter, they can't afford either.

Mz 9y ago
This is not true. Some homeless people have no money. Others have a social security check and nothing else or a military retirement check and nothing else. Some even have jobs. For people like me, if we could find a decent (not hell hole) place for $200, that would absolutely get us off the street. I could afford about $400 a month in the near future. I am trying to find a way to get off the street now that my student loan is paid off and that frees up enough money where I could afford that much for shelter in the near future.
- nobody64 9y ago
  As the saying goes, “Insanity is repeating the same experiment over and over again, and expecting a different result.” Respectfully, I don’t think you can attain a middle class income in CA by blogging. I pay $15/month for a New York Times subscription – and the NYT is still struggling. As for your resume service, again respectfully, you don’t even provide your own resume (or even a URL to a LinkedIn profile) with your qualifications and education to prospective customers. Instead, you provide a rambling personal account as the basis for why people should hire you. If I did that to a prospective employer, my email would probably get flagged as spam and deleted. Either you, or one of your sons (preferably all 3) needs to get a part-time job. Skimming your blog, you appear well enough to eat at McDonalds, Taco Bell, Starbucks and Dominos Pizza. Why not get a part-time job at one of them? You could probably score free meals, too. More importantly, it would build your (or your son’s) paystub history. Landlords and banks like to see a stable employment income. In essence, you are already doing something that many employers like to see – showing up at the same place (the library) at approximately the same time, every day. Yet, you are getting no credit for this level of accountability. You’ve mentioned that your income is trending upward. Unfortunately, “trending upward” is not enough for most landlords and banks. If you want the path of least resistance, your family needs to establish a regular, incoming paycheck. Look, you've been on this path for 5.5 years. Maybe it's time to consider other ideas.