5 ms·

My first question is, which I think you missed, is why do they need to be given housing in the most expensive city in the world? There is a lot of space in this

My first question is, which I think you missed, is why do they need to be given housing in the most expensive city in the world? There is a lot of space in this country. My second question is, how exactly do you propose rent be lowered? Do you just think that rent is made up on the spot by evil rich white people, and we should have the government force them to charge less? The reason rent is so high in the first place is largely to do with government restrictions on new developments...Rent is also high here because there is a large concentration of high paying work in the area. Are these high earning people going to be allowed to benefit from your proposed arbitrary lowering of rent, so that we only disproportionately punish the wealthy landlords but not the wealthy tech workers? If not, how many tech workers would you like to displace to make room for homeless residents, and how do you determine which? I feel foolish for not realizing how simple of a solution it was that you were proposing, but not all of us operate in the intellectual 4th dimension.

pasabagi 8y ago
Look, don't believe me. Just look at the history of public housing. It's expensive. It works. People like to pretend there's a lot of complexity to issues like these because they couldn't really care less about homeless people, and they'd rather not spend the money to give them homes. Talking about complex social issues is a great way to come across as both clever and caring. Paying more taxes, however, is a pain in the ass.
- DougN7 8y ago
  Naive, but honest quesrion: why don’t homeless move to where housing costs less? That’s what I do if I can’t afford something: I find an alternative. It seems to me something else is going on that pulls homeless people into San Francisco. But I readily admit I don’t understand it all very well.
  - pasabagi 8y ago
    I think generally speaking, lowering housing costs isn't to allow a homeless person to save up for a deposit and rent an apartment. It's to increase the likelyhood that the sibling they always got along with will have a spare room, or to increase the buffer between losing a job and being on the streets, or to make it so the old friend doesn't mind it that much that somebody is sleeping in their spare room, since they have a spare room. On the individual level, I expect the reason why people stay is that being homeless makes you very dependent on local knowledge and social network. Knowing what bins contain food, where is good shelter, which police officers are dangerous, and so on - is very important. If you move city, you're not suddenly going to have the kind of money to pay a deposit. You'll just be homeless in a place you don't know. That, and a lot of homeless people have jobs.
eldavido 8y ago
Somewhat cynical but true answer: Because practicality is not a priority with SF politics. You can understand quite a lot about this place if you really internalize that realization.
sfrancisco 8y ago
Brilliant point. Homeless people don't care where they live. Raise awareness at a national governmental level. Remove the homeless to mental hospitals built for the purpose in a remote area. Many businesses that employed 100's of people have relocated to the midwest. Other businesses from the midwest have opened manufacturing facilities in SF for the cheap Asian labor. Pres. Trump is rumored to want to move 50,000 undocumented immigrants to Concord, a suburban sanctuary city near SF where there already is a burden of crime gangs made up of teenage immigrants, an excessive population of welfare recipient residents and a drug problem and housing shortage and excessive rate of teen pregnancy.

pasabagi 8y ago

Look, don't believe me. Just look at the history of public housing. It's expensive. It works. People like to pretend there's a lot of complexity to issues like these because they couldn't really care less about homeless people, and they'd rather not spend the money to give them homes. Talking about complex social issues is a great way to come across as both clever and caring. Paying more taxes, however, is a pain in the ass.

DougN7 8y ago
Naive, but honest quesrion: why don’t homeless move to where housing costs less? That’s what I do if I can’t afford something: I find an alternative. It seems to me something else is going on that pulls homeless people into San Francisco. But I readily admit I don’t understand it all very well.
- pasabagi 8y ago
  I think generally speaking, lowering housing costs isn't to allow a homeless person to save up for a deposit and rent an apartment. It's to increase the likelyhood that the sibling they always got along with will have a spare room, or to increase the buffer between losing a job and being on the streets, or to make it so the old friend doesn't mind it that much that somebody is sleeping in their spare room, since they have a spare room. On the individual level, I expect the reason why people stay is that being homeless makes you very dependent on local knowledge and social network. Knowing what bins contain food, where is good shelter, which police officers are dangerous, and so on - is very important. If you move city, you're not suddenly going to have the kind of money to pay a deposit. You'll just be homeless in a place you don't know. That, and a lot of homeless people have jobs.

eldavido 8y ago

Somewhat cynical but true answer: Because practicality is not a priority with SF politics. You can understand quite a lot about this place if you really internalize that realization.

sfrancisco 8y ago

Brilliant point. Homeless people don't care where they live. Raise awareness at a national governmental level. Remove the homeless to mental hospitals built for the purpose in a remote area. Many businesses that employed 100's of people have relocated to the midwest. Other businesses from the midwest have opened manufacturing facilities in SF for the cheap Asian labor. Pres. Trump is rumored to want to move 50,000 undocumented immigrants to Concord, a suburban sanctuary city near SF where there already is a burden of crime gangs made up of teenage immigrants, an excessive population of welfare recipient residents and a drug problem and housing shortage and excessive rate of teen pregnancy.