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Housing is not a market that should be governed by capitalism. I honestly don't care if the ultra-rich trade 30 million dollar homes and speculate on their valu

Housing is not a market that should be governed by capitalism. I honestly don't care if the ultra-rich trade 30 million dollar homes and speculate on their value, but the fact that homelessness is even a problem in the first world is a travesty. Our children will look back upon a time when there were 6 (SIX!) empty homes for every homeless person in the United States and weep. Obviously those homes aren't all where the homeless people are, but that's another problem itself: Why on earth are developers building homes in the middle of nowhere, why are they building luxury condos, and who the hell is buying them?

cheerlessbog 7y ago
As I understand it, homelessness has more complex causes than simply not having access to affordable housing.
- supergauntlet 7y ago
  Sure, but the majority of it comes down to "money": https://i.imgur.com/aUvpH0S.png https://i.imgur.com/aUvpH0S.png The fact that we can't solve homelessness "just" by giving everyone easy access to affordable housing isn't an argument against affordable housing. It's an argument for better mental health services and a wider safety net.
  - tathougies 7y ago
    The count in that graph also includes people living in temporary, public shelters. In my opinion, that makes it slightly less useful when attempting to determine the cause of people on the streets, which is what most people refer to as homelessness. It does seem silly to me to include those living in currently available public housing as 'homeless'. It's perfectly possible that most of those who lost jobs are currently housed in existing public options, and the majority of those on the streets are there due to addiction. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a breakdown of self-reported reasons for homelessness once those already sheltered were removed. Source: http://allhomekc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019-Report_KingCounty_FINAL.pdf http://allhomekc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019-Report_..., Methodology Section, point 3, saying they include those living in shelters.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
dymk 7y ago
Homelessness is a problem of addiction and mental illness. Cheap highly regulated housing in the middle of expensive cities don't fix that. Social workers and detox programs help, but there is no easy fix (other than "finance their life") for people who can't kick a drug habit, or are mentally incapable of holding down a job.
- SomeOldThrow 7y ago
  > Homelessness is a problem of addiction and mental illness. Have you never spent time with homeless people? You are delusional.
  - dymk 7y ago
    I spend time with them every day. Hello from Seattle!

cheerlessbog 7y ago

As I understand it, homelessness has more complex causes than simply not having access to affordable housing.

supergauntlet 7y ago
Sure, but the majority of it comes down to "money": https://i.imgur.com/aUvpH0S.png https://i.imgur.com/aUvpH0S.png The fact that we can't solve homelessness "just" by giving everyone easy access to affordable housing isn't an argument against affordable housing. It's an argument for better mental health services and a wider safety net.
- tathougies 7y ago
  The count in that graph also includes people living in temporary, public shelters. In my opinion, that makes it slightly less useful when attempting to determine the cause of people on the streets, which is what most people refer to as homelessness. It does seem silly to me to include those living in currently available public housing as 'homeless'. It's perfectly possible that most of those who lost jobs are currently housed in existing public options, and the majority of those on the streets are there due to addiction. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a breakdown of self-reported reasons for homelessness once those already sheltered were removed. Source: http://allhomekc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019-Report_KingCounty_FINAL.pdf http://allhomekc.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019-Report_..., Methodology Section, point 3, saying they include those living in shelters.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

dymk 7y ago

Homelessness is a problem of addiction and mental illness. Cheap highly regulated housing in the middle of expensive cities don't fix that. Social workers and detox programs help, but there is no easy fix (other than "finance their life") for people who can't kick a drug habit, or are mentally incapable of holding down a job.

SomeOldThrow 7y ago
> Homelessness is a problem of addiction and mental illness. Have you never spent time with homeless people? You are delusional.
- dymk 7y ago
  I spend time with them every day. Hello from Seattle!