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> I can understand the perspective that homeless people are better off with some sort of home than the street. But the reality is homelessness is complex, and a

> I can understand the perspective that homeless people are better off with some sort of home than the street. But the reality is homelessness is complex, and a flophouse doesn’t provide the support that people need to get back on their feet. I suspect your argument stops at not wanting to live next to SRO's, and that the rest of it is just post hoc rationalization to an emotional reaction. Seriously it breaks down after that. Your first sentence above for example should clue you in. It's not exactly dripping with magnanimity. Homelessness is complex, but who says that you can't house the homeless and provide them support? In the US, with it's byzantine medical and legal environment, where even 'good people' can end up owing six figures unexpectedly, nearly everyone is in danger of becoming homeless. It's especially true now that our society is so fragmented, with everyone leaving behind all their social support to go make a buck elsewhere.

Spooky23 7y ago
With all due respect, you know nothing about me, and nothing about this issue. I'm not talking about homeless shelters, SRO are modern tenements. I worked in this space, including working to set up pilot programs to transition section-8 voucher recipients into homeowners, and helping to advocate for the rights of families stuck in slumlord situations in unsafe apartments. My family and I fundraise and work a couple of days a week in a food pantry about 500 feet from my home that supports folks in our neighborhood. My disagreement that prompted my post is that the factors that drive people to last resort housing, whether that be scummy hotels or SROs are almost always tied to other things where people need some sort of support. If your idea of humanitarian action is sticking people in a room, I understand that but deeply disagree. SROs aren't social services endeavors. They are private enterprises focused on exploiting the desperate and extracting as much money as possible from these folks in minimally viable buildings. Here's an example of one in Brooklyn preying on young people: https://gothamist.com/news/slumlord-matchmaker-brooklyn-landlord-turns-desperate-strangers-into-sudden-roommates https://gothamist.com/news/slumlord-matchmaker-brooklyn-land...
- gerbilly 7y ago
  If that's your level of experience with the issue why didn't you lead with that then? Your comment above is getting down-voted into oblivion, and when read in isolation I think you will certainly understand why.
  - Spooky23 7y ago
    That's ok. I'll deal with the loss of internet points.
  - lawnchair_larry 7y ago
    One could just as easily ask why did you just assume that he didn’t have more experience than you that was informing his opinion? That demonstrates the problem with the downvoters, not with him. People are pretty naive, and those of a certain ideology in particular have a habit of putting more weight on their uninformed idealistic assumptions than on the real world experience of others, who they promptly dismiss as intolerant/nazi/whateverist, at their own peril. I bet the downvoters haven’t helped struggling people half as much as what he mentioned just in his post.

Spooky23 7y ago

With all due respect, you know nothing about me, and nothing about this issue. I'm not talking about homeless shelters, SRO are modern tenements. I worked in this space, including working to set up pilot programs to transition section-8 voucher recipients into homeowners, and helping to advocate for the rights of families stuck in slumlord situations in unsafe apartments. My family and I fundraise and work a couple of days a week in a food pantry about 500 feet from my home that supports folks in our neighborhood. My disagreement that prompted my post is that the factors that drive people to last resort housing, whether that be scummy hotels or SROs are almost always tied to other things where people need some sort of support. If your idea of humanitarian action is sticking people in a room, I understand that but deeply disagree. SROs aren't social services endeavors. They are private enterprises focused on exploiting the desperate and extracting as much money as possible from these folks in minimally viable buildings. Here's an example of one in Brooklyn preying on young people: https://gothamist.com/news/slumlord-matchmaker-brooklyn-landlord-turns-desperate-strangers-into-sudden-roommates https://gothamist.com/news/slumlord-matchmaker-brooklyn-land...

gerbilly 7y ago
If that's your level of experience with the issue why didn't you lead with that then? Your comment above is getting down-voted into oblivion, and when read in isolation I think you will certainly understand why.
- Spooky23 7y ago
  That's ok. I'll deal with the loss of internet points.
- lawnchair_larry 7y ago
  One could just as easily ask why did you just assume that he didn’t have more experience than you that was informing his opinion? That demonstrates the problem with the downvoters, not with him. People are pretty naive, and those of a certain ideology in particular have a habit of putting more weight on their uninformed idealistic assumptions than on the real world experience of others, who they promptly dismiss as intolerant/nazi/whateverist, at their own peril. I bet the downvoters haven’t helped struggling people half as much as what he mentioned just in his post.