6 ms·
One problem of applying this to the American cities that have a homeless problem is that housing in those cities is prohibitively expensive. Go to a city like
by com2kid 7y ago
One problem of applying this to the American cities that have a homeless problem is that housing in those cities is prohibitively expensive.
Go to a city like Seattle and a 1 bed 1 bath is going to cost 300k+ to construct at density. (The city doesn't have enough land to build enough tiny houses at 30k or so a pop, so fixing the entire housing problem that way isn't doable.)
- Qwertystop 7y agoIncreased investment in public transportation would make it easier to use land that's not in already-densely-packed urban areas. It's not as though the US has less land than Finland, after all.
- kazinator 7y agoThe other problem of applying this to American cities is that these homes will be used for criminal activity and trashed.
- rhacker 7y agoShould we just install cameras and watch them? It's not like they had privacy before. Privacy would be earned over time with trust.
- kurthr 7y agoWhile I agree with you, in most cases that's only because they won't be policed... which also makes it a terrible place for all the other folks who need housing, when bullies move in. There are real on going labor/maintenance costs with providing housing to many homeless... even beyond the standard social services that are required.
- AstralStorm 7y agoI suspect these homes would be more policed even than any general "rough area". In fact, this might cut on crime in general, much like honeypot stings.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- eveningcoffee 7y agoThe Finnish solution is to have a support team inside these facilities. There is also a trial period and substance usage is restricted (though per article there are places where it is more relaxed).
- snegu 7y agoI recently served on a jury in Seattle. The trial involved a man who was living in a facility similar to the ones described in this article. Many of the people living there continued to use drugs heavily in their apartments, and in this case that led to a murder. It was pretty depressing to see that even with significant intervention, people's personal choices led to disaster.
- AstralStorm 7y agoCalling it personal choice is disingenuous and not compassionate. Hard drugs are a real hard trap...
- refurb 7y agoUsing drugs may not be a 100% voluntary choice, but I would argue murder is.
- knolax 7y agoWhy wouldn't that be the case for Helsinki?
- linuxftw 7y agoIt will be, give it time. They seem to be working overtime in Europe to create a welfare class, and that's going to inherit all the problems the US has. It's simply the law of economics.
- alistairSH 7y agoCitation? Salt Lake City used to have a similar program as Helsinki that was widely lauded. Of course, as funding has dried up and real estate prices have gone up, the program has faltered and homelessness is once again on the rise in SLC.
- TaylorAlexander 7y agoIt’s my understanding that lots of US cities have more vacant homes than homeless people, so perhaps our solution is not building homes but simply placing people in existing homes.
- eveningcoffee 7y agoFinnish solution is not to put homeless people into random houses. They have created special facilities for this that are supervised by a support team ("At Rukkila, seven staff support 21 tenants.").
- WillPostForFood 7y agoa 1 bed 1 bath is going to cost 300k+ to construct at density This is a problem that can be worked on that will benefit everyone across the income spectrum. No way we should be stuck with $~7500 per square foot construction costs (assuming a small 1 bed 1 bath would be 400sqft).
- pkaye 7y ago> No way we should be stuck with $~7500 per square foot construction costs... I think that should be $750 per square foot...
- sampo 7y agoOf that $750/sq.ft. ($8100/sq.m.) maybe 25% is construction cost. The rest 75% is the value of the land in that location.
- WillPostForFood 7y agoGovernment already owns plenty of land, even in most large cities. If you can get a bunch 30+ story housing cheaply and quickly, you can make a dent in the housing problem. Look at what China is doing.
- com2kid 7y agoNot in Seattle. The city is having huge issues finding places to build low income housing. Whenever they do identify a location, a bunch of lawsuits show up from nearby residents. Sometimes those lawsuits go somewhere, and the city has to start planning all over again.
- redisman 7y agoRight because Helsinki is famous for it's cheap real estate. Oh wait.. Condos are pretty comparable to Seattle and single family homes in the city are very rare and expensive. Seattle has probably built more housing in the last 5 years than Helsinki proper in the last 50.
- WhompingWindows 7y agoIt says in the article: "A leafy green suburb of Helsinki"
- bostik 7y agoThey named it too: Malminkartano. Technically just at the edge of the Helsinki border, touching Vantaa. Funnily enough, I grew up nearby, in Konala.