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Is there a clear solution to homelessness that only requires people in power to have a heart in order to be effective?

DoreenMichele 7y ago
No. You need a heart and some minimal level of competence. If you have that, there are developed countries doing a good job of reducing the incidence of homelessness. In the US, we spend insane amounts of money on care programs for the homeless, so much so it would literally be cheaper to just pay their rent. At least one hospital decided to do that (for some of their most expensive cases) as a means to lower its expenses. https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-hospitals-house-homeless-0114-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-hospitals-hou... Two things that would help enormously in the US: 1. A healthcare system that works. 2. A housing supply that meets the needs of our current demographic instead of being designed to only serve upper class nuclear families.
- sooheon 7y ago
  Re: 2. I've heard there's a huge surplus of vacant/dilapidated homes selling for a dollar in the rust belt. Is it really a problem of housing supply, or lack of demand, i.e. desire to live in, well, undesirable locations? I find it hard to believe it's an economic matter of not meeting a certain low-cost customer segment of demand if all these empty houses are sitting around. The deeper issue may be structural unemployment, which isn't going to get any better.
  - DoreenMichele 7y ago
    While homeless, I looked into getting a dollar home. They all had a minimum of several hundred dollars in closing costs. They typically also had very expensive defects, such as fire damage or flood damage and black mold because of it. In recent decades, we've torn down around a million SROs. In the 1950s, the average new house was about 1200 sqft and held about 3.5 people. Today, it's over 2400 sqft and holds about 2.5 people. We've largely zoned out of existence the creation of small homes in walking distance of amenities, like jobs and shopping. A car is practically a requirement to make life work for most Americans. For most Americans, housing is their biggest expense and a car is their second biggest. I've lived without a car for over a decade. If I had to buy a car to access affordable housing, that would substantially cut into my housing budget. It just made more sense to find housing in a walkable community to make my life work.
    - sooheon 7y ago
      Won't argue with you on the point about car obsession--cities prioritizing cars over humans is a clear problem. I'd like to understand the incentives better--if SROs work well to put roofs over homeless, and lead to some level of economic activity where there would have been just unfulfilled need (all seem like big wins), what are the countervailing forces that prevent this from happening?
      - DoreenMichele 7y ago
        We've largely zoned them out of existence. I think this is strongly influenced by housing policies post-WW2 that helped create modern suburbs. In a nutshell, Americans have a mental model of "proper housing" as housing designed for a fairly upper class nuclear family. We had a fairly high percentage of such just after WW2. Since then, our demographics have diversified away from that, but our housing stock has narrowed towards even more of that. I'm hoping to figure out how to reverse that trend. https://americanhomeworks.blogspot.com/2019/07/modern-american-suburbs.html https://americanhomeworks.blogspot.com/2019/07/modern-americ... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_room_occupancy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_room_occupancy
  - 4ntonius8lock 7y ago
    Housing in places without jobs is not really housing, it's a structure. Here in SoCal there are 'free' abandoned houses out in the middle of the desert. Hours from the nearest service station or employment. Even just getting in and out of them requires dozens of dollars in gasoline.
    - sooheon 7y ago
      > Housing in places without jobs is not really housing, it's a structure. Great way to put what I was trying to say. Another way to think of it is that there are tons of abandoned houses due to lack of opportunity, but no jobs left unfilled purely for lack of housing. The problem isn't that there isn't enough housing, the problem is there aren't enough jobs.
- 4ntonius8lock 7y ago
  I would add: 3. A shift in our attitudes toward mental health issues, and systems in place to help people with mental health issues. Right now in the US, people considering suicide can't even talk about it or they will be locked up for 48 hours.
  - DoreenMichele 7y ago
    Agreed. I just tend to not make a clear distinction between health and mental health. I have something of a tendency to lump them together.

No. You need a heart and some minimal level of competence. If you have that, there are developed countries doing a good job of reducing the incidence of homelessness. In the US, we spend insane amounts of money on care programs for the homeless, so much so it would literally be cheaper to just pay their rent. At least one hospital decided to do that (for some of their most expensive cases) as a means to lower its expenses. https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-hospitals-house-homeless-0114-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-hospitals-hou... Two things that would help enormously in the US: 1. A healthcare system that works. 2. A housing supply that meets the needs of our current demographic instead of being designed to only serve upper class nuclear families.

sooheon 7y ago
Re: 2. I've heard there's a huge surplus of vacant/dilapidated homes selling for a dollar in the rust belt. Is it really a problem of housing supply, or lack of demand, i.e. desire to live in, well, undesirable locations? I find it hard to believe it's an economic matter of not meeting a certain low-cost customer segment of demand if all these empty houses are sitting around. The deeper issue may be structural unemployment, which isn't going to get any better.
- DoreenMichele 7y ago
  While homeless, I looked into getting a dollar home. They all had a minimum of several hundred dollars in closing costs. They typically also had very expensive defects, such as fire damage or flood damage and black mold because of it. In recent decades, we've torn down around a million SROs. In the 1950s, the average new house was about 1200 sqft and held about 3.5 people. Today, it's over 2400 sqft and holds about 2.5 people. We've largely zoned out of existence the creation of small homes in walking distance of amenities, like jobs and shopping. A car is practically a requirement to make life work for most Americans. For most Americans, housing is their biggest expense and a car is their second biggest. I've lived without a car for over a decade. If I had to buy a car to access affordable housing, that would substantially cut into my housing budget. It just made more sense to find housing in a walkable community to make my life work.
  - sooheon 7y ago
    Won't argue with you on the point about car obsession--cities prioritizing cars over humans is a clear problem. I'd like to understand the incentives better--if SROs work well to put roofs over homeless, and lead to some level of economic activity where there would have been just unfulfilled need (all seem like big wins), what are the countervailing forces that prevent this from happening?
    - DoreenMichele 7y ago
      We've largely zoned them out of existence. I think this is strongly influenced by housing policies post-WW2 that helped create modern suburbs. In a nutshell, Americans have a mental model of "proper housing" as housing designed for a fairly upper class nuclear family. We had a fairly high percentage of such just after WW2. Since then, our demographics have diversified away from that, but our housing stock has narrowed towards even more of that. I'm hoping to figure out how to reverse that trend. https://americanhomeworks.blogspot.com/2019/07/modern-american-suburbs.html https://americanhomeworks.blogspot.com/2019/07/modern-americ... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_room_occupancy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_room_occupancy
- 4ntonius8lock 7y ago
  Housing in places without jobs is not really housing, it's a structure. Here in SoCal there are 'free' abandoned houses out in the middle of the desert. Hours from the nearest service station or employment. Even just getting in and out of them requires dozens of dollars in gasoline.
  - sooheon 7y ago
    > Housing in places without jobs is not really housing, it's a structure. Great way to put what I was trying to say. Another way to think of it is that there are tons of abandoned houses due to lack of opportunity, but no jobs left unfilled purely for lack of housing. The problem isn't that there isn't enough housing, the problem is there aren't enough jobs.
4ntonius8lock 7y ago
I would add: 3. A shift in our attitudes toward mental health issues, and systems in place to help people with mental health issues. Right now in the US, people considering suicide can't even talk about it or they will be locked up for 48 hours.
- DoreenMichele 7y ago
  Agreed. I just tend to not make a clear distinction between health and mental health. I have something of a tendency to lump them together.