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The article's "solution to homelessness" is giving homeless people homes. The article says they have to pay rent or they get kicked out, but doesn't explain ho

by 0898 7y ago

The article's "solution to homelessness" is giving homeless people homes. The article says they have to pay rent or they get kicked out, but doesn't explain how these homeless people can suddenly afford rent.

AnssiH 7y ago
Probably housing allowance (https://www.kela.fi/web/en/housing-benefits https://www.kela.fi/web/en/housing-benefits) and/or basic social assistance (https://www.kela.fi/web/en/social-assistance https://www.kela.fi/web/en/social-assistance), the latter of which covers essential daily expenses if you cannot afford them. Kela is the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (https://www.kela.fi/web/en https://www.kela.fi/web/en).
TaylorAlexander 7y ago
Maybe they can’t afford market rate rent by they can afford a subsidized rent? I’m just speculating.
Qwertystop 7y ago
More homes means higher supply means rents fall? And the three-month trial period, additional support services, and near-guaranteed contract in perpetuity would help get people into homes who might previously have had difficulty holding down a job, or might previously have been evicted for reasons other than rent.
TallGuyShort 7y ago
It's a classic problem of mistaking the symptom of homelessness for the problem. If a person simply has a life event that wipes out their finances and they get evicted, okay sure - providing cheap housing just for people in their situation is great. But as much as we don't like stereotypes, a lot of homeless people do actually end up in that situation because of behavioral cycles that still need to be broken. What makes it worse is that homelessness changes a person - and sometimes they are unable to be a part of society right away for more reasons than money (and sometimes they don't even want to). My family operates a hotel that will sell off excess hotel rooms to various homeless groups in the winter - and many times the homeless don't want to be complete inside, so they open windows, etc. and only be as "inside" as they absolutely need to be to survive. That does cause problems if you share infrastructure with other people.
- Fronzie 7y ago
  and yet there's a large variation in homelessness per country, so somehow it can be affected: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_homeless_population https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_homeless_...
  - mc32 7y ago
    I suspect the estimates Wikipedia lists are quite off. I think they may be good enough to give you "an idea" regarding homelessness, but I think those are very rough numbers in many cases.
- zackmorris 7y ago
  No, what you're saying is a fallacy. After the housing bubble popped around 2008, millions of people around the world found themselves homeless. It can happen to anyone at any time for almost any reason, but often for things like healthcare costs or work accidents leading to unemployment and even bankruptcy. And it will happen again, and still nobody will remember, because of this mantra that homelessness is a lack of personal responsibility. In fact, I would go as far as to say that your labelling of homelessness as a behavioral problem is the cause of homelessness. Repeated all around the world by countless people and politicians. If we really want to solve poverty and homelessness, we need to start by separating the financial aspect from the behavioral aspect. The financial aspect involves everything from vast wealth inequality, to lack of urban planning, to the divergence of wealth and automation, to regressive taxation and extortive healthcare programs. This is basically represented by 40 years of trickle down economics and complete disregard for externalities like environmental damage or displaced populations. The behavior aspect centers mostly around mental health issues like anxiety, depression, schizophrenia and yes addiction. Things which are all present in the wealthy but properly managed by therapy, medication and a large support network made possibly by the possession of money. There's absolutely no reason we can't offer treatment to the poor. And indeed we used to, before Ronald Reagan began defunding mental health programs in the US: https://sites.psu.edu/psy533wheeler/2017/02/08/u01-ronald-reagan-and-the-federal-deinstitutionalization-of-mentally-ill-patients/comment-page-1/ https://sites.psu.edu/psy533wheeler/2017/02/08/u01-ronald-re... Personally, I vote to maintain the separation of church and state in the US, which means that the government shouldn't have a say in what appropriate personal behavior is. Which means as a culture, we have a responsibility to pay into a system which is concerned with the care of people who need it. Churches can still feed and house the homeless, but they shouldn't be the only ones tasked with that responsibility. For anyone reading this, if you haven't thought about how your personal moral and religious beliefs play into the problem of homelessness, now is the time.
vinceguidry 7y ago
Literally in the same sentence you're referring to, in the very next clause, it states they can apply for housing benefits to take care of the rent.
- gnode 7y ago
  I'd add to this, that your eligibility for housing benefits is not coupled to your eligibility for housing. You could be in the situation of losing your benefit eligibility because you got a new private income, and refuse to pay your rent (or squander your income as to be unable to pay).
gnode 7y ago
I think the word "solution" is being used offhandedly here, to mean a mitigating response. They claim that homelessness is dropping in Finland (contrary to other EU countries), but don't go so far as to say nobody is homeless. Being homeless doesn't necessarily mean you are unable to afford accommodation; even if you have no private income, this may be covered by welfare benefits. In many cases psychological issues, drug addiction and criminal history are barriers to renting in the private market, which result in homelessness. Being "moved" out of this accomodation may not imply being made homeless again, in some cases the destination may be a more managed form of accommodation (e.g. rehab; prison).
logfromblammo 7y ago
Article also says they apply for a housing benefit. I would hazard a guess that the rent is calibrated to the size of that housing benefit.
sampo 7y ago
> how these homeless people can suddenly afford rent. General housing allowance [1] + unemployment benefits [2] + last resort social assistance [3] [1] https://www.kela.fi/web/en/housing-benefits https://www.kela.fi/web/en/housing-benefits [2] https://www.kela.fi/web/en/quick-guide-to-unemployment-benefits https://www.kela.fi/web/en/quick-guide-to-unemployment-benef... [3] https://www.kela.fi/web/en/social-assistance https://www.kela.fi/web/en/social-assistance

by 0898 7y ago

AnssiH 7y ago

Probably housing allowance (https://www.kela.fi/web/en/housing-benefits https://www.kela.fi/web/en/housing-benefits) and/or basic social assistance (https://www.kela.fi/web/en/social-assistance https://www.kela.fi/web/en/social-assistance), the latter of which covers essential daily expenses if you cannot afford them. Kela is the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (https://www.kela.fi/web/en https://www.kela.fi/web/en).

TaylorAlexander 7y ago

Maybe they can’t afford market rate rent by they can afford a subsidized rent? I’m just speculating.

Qwertystop 7y ago

More homes means higher supply means rents fall? And the three-month trial period, additional support services, and near-guaranteed contract in perpetuity would help get people into homes who might previously have had difficulty holding down a job, or might previously have been evicted for reasons other than rent.

TallGuyShort 7y ago

It's a classic problem of mistaking the symptom of homelessness for the problem. If a person simply has a life event that wipes out their finances and they get evicted, okay sure - providing cheap housing just for people in their situation is great. But as much as we don't like stereotypes, a lot of homeless people do actually end up in that situation because of behavioral cycles that still need to be broken. What makes it worse is that homelessness changes a person - and sometimes they are unable to be a part of society right away for more reasons than money (and sometimes they don't even want to). My family operates a hotel that will sell off excess hotel rooms to various homeless groups in the winter - and many times the homeless don't want to be complete inside, so they open windows, etc. and only be as "inside" as they absolutely need to be to survive. That does cause problems if you share infrastructure with other people.

Fronzie 7y ago
and yet there's a large variation in homelessness per country, so somehow it can be affected: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_homeless_population https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_homeless_...
- mc32 7y ago
  I suspect the estimates Wikipedia lists are quite off. I think they may be good enough to give you "an idea" regarding homelessness, but I think those are very rough numbers in many cases.
zackmorris 7y ago
No, what you're saying is a fallacy. After the housing bubble popped around 2008, millions of people around the world found themselves homeless. It can happen to anyone at any time for almost any reason, but often for things like healthcare costs or work accidents leading to unemployment and even bankruptcy. And it will happen again, and still nobody will remember, because of this mantra that homelessness is a lack of personal responsibility. In fact, I would go as far as to say that your labelling of homelessness as a behavioral problem is the cause of homelessness. Repeated all around the world by countless people and politicians. If we really want to solve poverty and homelessness, we need to start by separating the financial aspect from the behavioral aspect. The financial aspect involves everything from vast wealth inequality, to lack of urban planning, to the divergence of wealth and automation, to regressive taxation and extortive healthcare programs. This is basically represented by 40 years of trickle down economics and complete disregard for externalities like environmental damage or displaced populations. The behavior aspect centers mostly around mental health issues like anxiety, depression, schizophrenia and yes addiction. Things which are all present in the wealthy but properly managed by therapy, medication and a large support network made possibly by the possession of money. There's absolutely no reason we can't offer treatment to the poor. And indeed we used to, before Ronald Reagan began defunding mental health programs in the US: https://sites.psu.edu/psy533wheeler/2017/02/08/u01-ronald-reagan-and-the-federal-deinstitutionalization-of-mentally-ill-patients/comment-page-1/ https://sites.psu.edu/psy533wheeler/2017/02/08/u01-ronald-re... Personally, I vote to maintain the separation of church and state in the US, which means that the government shouldn't have a say in what appropriate personal behavior is. Which means as a culture, we have a responsibility to pay into a system which is concerned with the care of people who need it. Churches can still feed and house the homeless, but they shouldn't be the only ones tasked with that responsibility. For anyone reading this, if you haven't thought about how your personal moral and religious beliefs play into the problem of homelessness, now is the time.

vinceguidry 7y ago

Literally in the same sentence you're referring to, in the very next clause, it states they can apply for housing benefits to take care of the rent.

gnode 7y ago
I'd add to this, that your eligibility for housing benefits is not coupled to your eligibility for housing. You could be in the situation of losing your benefit eligibility because you got a new private income, and refuse to pay your rent (or squander your income as to be unable to pay).

gnode 7y ago

I think the word "solution" is being used offhandedly here, to mean a mitigating response. They claim that homelessness is dropping in Finland (contrary to other EU countries), but don't go so far as to say nobody is homeless. Being homeless doesn't necessarily mean you are unable to afford accommodation; even if you have no private income, this may be covered by welfare benefits. In many cases psychological issues, drug addiction and criminal history are barriers to renting in the private market, which result in homelessness. Being "moved" out of this accomodation may not imply being made homeless again, in some cases the destination may be a more managed form of accommodation (e.g. rehab; prison).

logfromblammo 7y ago

Article also says they apply for a housing benefit. I would hazard a guess that the rent is calibrated to the size of that housing benefit.

sampo 7y ago

> how these homeless people can suddenly afford rent. General housing allowance [1] + unemployment benefits [2] + last resort social assistance [3] [1] https://www.kela.fi/web/en/housing-benefits https://www.kela.fi/web/en/housing-benefits [2] https://www.kela.fi/web/en/quick-guide-to-unemployment-benefits https://www.kela.fi/web/en/quick-guide-to-unemployment-benef... [3] https://www.kela.fi/web/en/social-assistance https://www.kela.fi/web/en/social-assistance