4 ms·

I don't get the impression that everyone who says they want to end homelessness means they want to give the homeless homes for nothing to do so. Many people ju

I don't get the impression that everyone who says they want to end homelessness means they want to give the homeless homes for nothing to do so. Many people just don't want to see it on the streets. It's ruining their view and social standing having such riff-raff on the streets of their expensive world-class cities. But give them homes? Sure, if they include bars and a keyless lock. That's the impression I get from many Americans. The whole empathic nuanced understanding of homelessness, substance addiction, and mental illness, is a fairly niche perspective and something I only encountered substantially in the SF bay area. And even then, it was mostly just paying lip service to the popular attitude from what I could tell, few actually did anything about the problem.

opportune 7y ago
How is anyone supposed to do anything? We need the federal and state governments to do something, funding mental health services and facilities. That takes huge amounts of money and politicians don’t gaf because liberal cities are going to vote for Democrats anyway. The only solutions other than that are status quo or imprisoning the homeless, where the second is much more expensive than the first. I guess in your mind unless I start trying to provide free addiction treatment on the streets I’m just paying lip service?
- BurningFrog 7y ago
  > We need the federal and state governments to do something Mostly you just need your city government to legalize housing. > politicians don’t gaf because liberal cities are going to vote for Democrats anyway Well, the awkward truth is that non liberal cities mostly don't have this problem. It's mostly created by liberal cities.
- koboll 7y ago
  >That takes huge amounts of money and politicians don’t gaf because liberal cities are going to vote for Democrats anyway. Politicians gaf about primaries. California did away with theirs, so politicians are forced to gaf about the general. "My opponent is doing nothing about homelessness" is a great message for a primary challenger. There are other reasons, like gerrymandering, that give incumbents an advantage, but party doesn't guarantee safety. And there are plenty of issues where an alternative isn't possible because of partisan politics, but homelessness certainly isn't one. No one is in favor of it.
deleted 7y ago
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opportune 7y ago

How is anyone supposed to do anything? We need the federal and state governments to do something, funding mental health services and facilities. That takes huge amounts of money and politicians don’t gaf because liberal cities are going to vote for Democrats anyway. The only solutions other than that are status quo or imprisoning the homeless, where the second is much more expensive than the first. I guess in your mind unless I start trying to provide free addiction treatment on the streets I’m just paying lip service?

BurningFrog 7y ago
> We need the federal and state governments to do something Mostly you just need your city government to legalize housing. > politicians don’t gaf because liberal cities are going to vote for Democrats anyway Well, the awkward truth is that non liberal cities mostly don't have this problem. It's mostly created by liberal cities.
koboll 7y ago
>That takes huge amounts of money and politicians don’t gaf because liberal cities are going to vote for Democrats anyway. Politicians gaf about primaries. California did away with theirs, so politicians are forced to gaf about the general. "My opponent is doing nothing about homelessness" is a great message for a primary challenger. There are other reasons, like gerrymandering, that give incumbents an advantage, but party doesn't guarantee safety. And there are plenty of issues where an alternative isn't possible because of partisan politics, but homelessness certainly isn't one. No one is in favor of it.

deleted 7y ago

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