5 ms·

In Salt Lake City they gave their homeless peeps homes and many of them ended up going right back to work once their living situation was stabilized.

ticviking 9y ago
And attracted every homeless person from 3 states around. The situation is so bad(both in terms of crime, and total population) that our state legislators are non-ironically talking about calling the national guard. To clear out camps where violence is becoming a problem. They already totally cut to the ground the shrubbery near one major camp because there were multiple assaults and a rape using those bushes as cover.
- TimPC 9y ago
  If the biggest problem with the program is a prisoner's dilemma issue like this it seems we need to figure out how to get everyone to cooperate instead of defect. We've done it for other issues.
  - mjevans 9y ago
    It would require taking the evidence gleaned from a local trial and applying it at a federal (nation wide) level (since that's where the immigration bounds are). Sadly that would be "socialism" so it's not politically popular... damned legacy of the red scare.
- AnimalMuppet 9y ago
  North of 4th North, just east of the tracks? I saw that all the trees disappeared there, and didn't know why.
  - ticviking 9y ago
    Yep. And also a section of the Jordan River Trail a bit farther west in rose park.
- intended 9y ago
  So basically the solution works - the local solution was fixed. The extra local issue - national homelessness - ended up suffocating the resources made to solve a much smaller program. So the solution seems to be to scale up this system in other cities and distribute the load. Again, assuming that people make a genuine effort to do this, as opposed to deciding "lets put a homeless housing center in the middle of nowhere. We can then say that homeless don't work while discrediting the idea and earning political points with my base"
  - ticviking 9y ago
    There are a few other complications, but you're right in general. And the rat park experiments tend to suggest that improving quality of life will reduce the temptation to use, so when I share this anecdote I'm not saying it's hopeless, I'm trying to find a route out of a local bad state. What does one do about people who want to abuse drugs, and will not move into housing with a no-drug use clause attached? I recently helped a guy move out of his free housing because dope was more important to him than a roof over his head. Cleaned out his whole appt, and moved dropped him off a block from the camps I mentioned above. I help feed this guy most weeks, and when he's sober he's really cool, but he's consciously choosing dope over a better life. I can't really force him into treatment, nor do I really think it would help unless he wanted them.

ticviking 9y ago

And attracted every homeless person from 3 states around. The situation is so bad(both in terms of crime, and total population) that our state legislators are non-ironically talking about calling the national guard. To clear out camps where violence is becoming a problem. They already totally cut to the ground the shrubbery near one major camp because there were multiple assaults and a rape using those bushes as cover.

TimPC 9y ago
If the biggest problem with the program is a prisoner's dilemma issue like this it seems we need to figure out how to get everyone to cooperate instead of defect. We've done it for other issues.
- mjevans 9y ago
  It would require taking the evidence gleaned from a local trial and applying it at a federal (nation wide) level (since that's where the immigration bounds are). Sadly that would be "socialism" so it's not politically popular... damned legacy of the red scare.
AnimalMuppet 9y ago
North of 4th North, just east of the tracks? I saw that all the trees disappeared there, and didn't know why.
- ticviking 9y ago
  Yep. And also a section of the Jordan River Trail a bit farther west in rose park.
intended 9y ago
So basically the solution works - the local solution was fixed. The extra local issue - national homelessness - ended up suffocating the resources made to solve a much smaller program. So the solution seems to be to scale up this system in other cities and distribute the load. Again, assuming that people make a genuine effort to do this, as opposed to deciding "lets put a homeless housing center in the middle of nowhere. We can then say that homeless don't work while discrediting the idea and earning political points with my base"
- ticviking 9y ago
  There are a few other complications, but you're right in general. And the rat park experiments tend to suggest that improving quality of life will reduce the temptation to use, so when I share this anecdote I'm not saying it's hopeless, I'm trying to find a route out of a local bad state. What does one do about people who want to abuse drugs, and will not move into housing with a no-drug use clause attached? I recently helped a guy move out of his free housing because dope was more important to him than a roof over his head. Cleaned out his whole appt, and moved dropped him off a block from the camps I mentioned above. I help feed this guy most weeks, and when he's sober he's really cool, but he's consciously choosing dope over a better life. I can't really force him into treatment, nor do I really think it would help unless he wanted them.