4 ms·

It's so infuriating to see big cities completely incapable of dealing with homeless people as if they are delicate creatures that can't be touched, and then hav

by proc0 7y ago

It's so infuriating to see big cities completely incapable of dealing with homeless people as if they are delicate creatures that can't be touched, and then have the majority of people ignore them even though they are assholes that make a scene every single time. Most of these people act that way because no one has taught them any better and therefore they have no incentive to act otherwise.

nimbius 7y ago
>Most of these people act that way because no one has taught them any better Have you seen homeless people? they are elderly invalids and the mentally ill who were brought upon us by Reagans neoliberal policy of deinstitutionalization. They are destitute former criminals barred from any future gainful employment by the checkbox on the job application. They are addicts who since Nixon have been stacked like cordwood as casualties of the US war on drugs, and since the stabilization act of 1942 unable to afford treatment. These arent people who've simply forgotten the golden fucking rule, they are the last rungs of society that America as a whole has chosen to intentionally ignore. Investment housing in the US and NIMBY laws basically mean sidewalks in the summer and busses in the winter to keep from freezing to death, as no city is daring enough to cross the third rail of homeless housing to which their constituents so ardently object. On the rare chance these homeless people are just loud and rude, this is possible. In a world where you have to scrape dumpsters for meals and risk getting mugged on the streets you call home...in a world where you're in constant filth and every passer-by has collectively decided to shun you instead of help you...yeah, you can lose a bit of your sense of civic duty in the process.
- proc0 7y ago
  It actually sounds like you haven't met homeless people. I have lived in SF and LA for most of my life, and I can assure you, I know MANY homeless people PERSONALLY. What you are describing is how it used to be prior to 2010. Right now there's rising population of relatively young, relatively healthy people who are choosing to make sacrifices. Sure it can be tough but you can't complain if you actually have options and your choice is to sacrifice some shelter for extra money. The problem is these places with homelessness crisis actually have law enforcement crisis and this increases the incentive for people to live on the sidewalk instead of moving to a cheaper city. There are hundreds of options of cheaper places to live. If you can work why choose to stay in a super expencive city that demands high skill labor?
  - gamblor956 7y ago
    Ditto. The parent comment to yours ignores that a huge part of CA's homeless problem is that they aren't CA's homeless. They're the homeless problems of more than a dozen other states too selfish to take care of their own homeless. CA doesn't do a great job of dealing with the homeless, but we'd have enough shelter beds for all of our own homeless if people from other states weren't taking those spots.
jMyles 7y ago
Having the spent almost the entire past 5 years living happily houseless, I need neither your judgment nor your support. I do think you are being malicious, though, and I think you know that you are just totally incorrect.
- proc0 7y ago
  Sorry, didn't mean to be abrasive, was just responding to the general situation. I think we can't group all of them in one bucket, I understand some are older and/or disabled people etc., and are in a bad situation, but that's not the only bucket, is what I was trying to say.

by proc0 7y ago

nimbius 7y ago

>Most of these people act that way because no one has taught them any better Have you seen homeless people? they are elderly invalids and the mentally ill who were brought upon us by Reagans neoliberal policy of deinstitutionalization. They are destitute former criminals barred from any future gainful employment by the checkbox on the job application. They are addicts who since Nixon have been stacked like cordwood as casualties of the US war on drugs, and since the stabilization act of 1942 unable to afford treatment. These arent people who've simply forgotten the golden fucking rule, they are the last rungs of society that America as a whole has chosen to intentionally ignore. Investment housing in the US and NIMBY laws basically mean sidewalks in the summer and busses in the winter to keep from freezing to death, as no city is daring enough to cross the third rail of homeless housing to which their constituents so ardently object. On the rare chance these homeless people are just loud and rude, this is possible. In a world where you have to scrape dumpsters for meals and risk getting mugged on the streets you call home...in a world where you're in constant filth and every passer-by has collectively decided to shun you instead of help you...yeah, you can lose a bit of your sense of civic duty in the process.

proc0 7y ago
It actually sounds like you haven't met homeless people. I have lived in SF and LA for most of my life, and I can assure you, I know MANY homeless people PERSONALLY. What you are describing is how it used to be prior to 2010. Right now there's rising population of relatively young, relatively healthy people who are choosing to make sacrifices. Sure it can be tough but you can't complain if you actually have options and your choice is to sacrifice some shelter for extra money. The problem is these places with homelessness crisis actually have law enforcement crisis and this increases the incentive for people to live on the sidewalk instead of moving to a cheaper city. There are hundreds of options of cheaper places to live. If you can work why choose to stay in a super expencive city that demands high skill labor?
- gamblor956 7y ago
  Ditto. The parent comment to yours ignores that a huge part of CA's homeless problem is that they aren't CA's homeless. They're the homeless problems of more than a dozen other states too selfish to take care of their own homeless. CA doesn't do a great job of dealing with the homeless, but we'd have enough shelter beds for all of our own homeless if people from other states weren't taking those spots.

jMyles 7y ago

Having the spent almost the entire past 5 years living happily houseless, I need neither your judgment nor your support. I do think you are being malicious, though, and I think you know that you are just totally incorrect.

proc0 7y ago
Sorry, didn't mean to be abrasive, was just responding to the general situation. I think we can't group all of them in one bucket, I understand some are older and/or disabled people etc., and are in a bad situation, but that's not the only bucket, is what I was trying to say.