4 ms·

I see your point, but AFAIK, there is ample empty housing to ensure everyone in the United States has a roof over their head, so maybe appropriating dis/misused

I see your point, but AFAIK, there is ample empty housing to ensure everyone in the United States has a roof over their head, so maybe appropriating dis/misused properties toward this end would also be an option?

DoreenMichele 8y ago
I don't know. I've spent years researching this issue. I had a class on Homelessness and Public Policy through SFSU when I was living in Fairfield, CA. This was long before I was homeless. Then I spent nearly six years homeless and researching how to get myself off the street and back into housing and this was very eye opening. I would like to read through the several thousand page Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, but I'm having trouble finding the time. I haven't gotten very far. I am trying to create pilot programs and find things that actually work. I would like to stop just shooting down suggestions that don't work and start saying "Well, we did x, y and z in my small town and that got such and such results and here is how you can try to replicate that." But I'm still struggling to make ends meet myself, and yadda. So it's slow going.
- snthpy 8y ago
  Please excuse my ignorance but I'm just really curious because it's been a few times that I have seen comments on HackerNews by people the were homeless at some point. How does this happen in the US? In my mind if you have the interest to read HackerNews you would have the skills to get a decent job that would get you off the street. I'm clearly unaware of the obstacles that prevent that and would like to learn more. I live in South Africa and the inequality here is horrendous but most of that is due to a disparity of education. There is a shortage of skilled workers so in my mind someone with HN interests wouldn't struggle to find enough work to avoid homelessness.
  - DoreenMichele 8y ago
    I don't have a nutshell answer for you. Part of it is that housing policy here has serious issues. We have changed zoning, etc, such that it is nearly impossible to build the kind of walkable communities that existed in this country before the automobile took over. The New Urbanist movement tried to build walkable communities. They found it very challenging to get such plans approved at all. Another piece is that we don't have good health care policies. Most people on the street in the US have some kind of health issue, whether medical or mental health. Our policies in the US don't do a good job of providing for such people. Most developed countries have much better policies for dealing with people with serious issues of that sort. Here are a couple of my blogs if you want to try to read through them, though I don't know if that will really answer your question: https://streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com/ https://streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com/ https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/ https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/ I would like to see the affordable housing shortage tackled and the health care issue resolved. I think if those issues are not resolved, basic income will likely actually make things worse for poor people who will then get dismissed as not trying hard enough, not managing their UBI, etc. I think giving UBI to people in the current American climate will just mask the real problems and make people who are comfortably well off even more callous about "Not my problem. It's just a personal issue and the world isn't obligated to fix your personal issue." I already get told on a regular basis that the housing crisis isn't really a problem. It isn't a problem for the well-heeled, so they don't see why others find it so monstrous and impossible.

DoreenMichele 8y ago

I don't know. I've spent years researching this issue. I had a class on Homelessness and Public Policy through SFSU when I was living in Fairfield, CA. This was long before I was homeless. Then I spent nearly six years homeless and researching how to get myself off the street and back into housing and this was very eye opening. I would like to read through the several thousand page Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, but I'm having trouble finding the time. I haven't gotten very far. I am trying to create pilot programs and find things that actually work. I would like to stop just shooting down suggestions that don't work and start saying "Well, we did x, y and z in my small town and that got such and such results and here is how you can try to replicate that." But I'm still struggling to make ends meet myself, and yadda. So it's slow going.

snthpy 8y ago
Please excuse my ignorance but I'm just really curious because it's been a few times that I have seen comments on HackerNews by people the were homeless at some point. How does this happen in the US? In my mind if you have the interest to read HackerNews you would have the skills to get a decent job that would get you off the street. I'm clearly unaware of the obstacles that prevent that and would like to learn more. I live in South Africa and the inequality here is horrendous but most of that is due to a disparity of education. There is a shortage of skilled workers so in my mind someone with HN interests wouldn't struggle to find enough work to avoid homelessness.
- DoreenMichele 8y ago
  I don't have a nutshell answer for you. Part of it is that housing policy here has serious issues. We have changed zoning, etc, such that it is nearly impossible to build the kind of walkable communities that existed in this country before the automobile took over. The New Urbanist movement tried to build walkable communities. They found it very challenging to get such plans approved at all. Another piece is that we don't have good health care policies. Most people on the street in the US have some kind of health issue, whether medical or mental health. Our policies in the US don't do a good job of providing for such people. Most developed countries have much better policies for dealing with people with serious issues of that sort. Here are a couple of my blogs if you want to try to read through them, though I don't know if that will really answer your question: https://streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com/ https://streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com/ https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/ https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/ I would like to see the affordable housing shortage tackled and the health care issue resolved. I think if those issues are not resolved, basic income will likely actually make things worse for poor people who will then get dismissed as not trying hard enough, not managing their UBI, etc. I think giving UBI to people in the current American climate will just mask the real problems and make people who are comfortably well off even more callous about "Not my problem. It's just a personal issue and the world isn't obligated to fix your personal issue." I already get told on a regular basis that the housing crisis isn't really a problem. It isn't a problem for the well-heeled, so they don't see why others find it so monstrous and impossible.