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The United States is barbaric when it comes to social support systems. I used to live in the States and I'm happy to now be in Canada for moral reasons. I can

by sysbin 7y ago

The United States is barbaric when it comes to social support systems. I used to live in the States and I'm happy to now be in Canada for moral reasons. I can only speculate from my experience (when I went through hard times as a student working on my CS degree with unsupportive family "me being lgbt and they being religious conservatives") and trying to navigate what was available in my area while living in the USA. I've come to the conclusion that religious ideology is to blame, as similar to rising cost of homes & tuition, and not enough jobs for everyone (when you consider most people have low skillsets); while considering not everyone can become a programmer or whatever in-demand profession because most people just don't have what it takes with age making it increasingly difficult to get into a skilled field with health factoring into the equation. I think homelessness is rarely the outcome of drug abuse. People aren't going to drugs in a great life for no particular reason. In any case deciding to do drugs with life then spiralling downhill to where they're homeless is just ridiculous to assume is the cause. The idea that people do it to themselves is nonsensical. We're living in a harder time than the 90s, 80s, 70s, for the less privileged and the system needs to be revamped to get people into homes that don't cost them anything if they cannot pay for it.

doublement 7y ago
I agree with much of what you said but the religious ideology attribution is a non-sequitur. The Bay Area and Los Angeles are pretty much the opposite of hotbeds for piety, yet they have the most severe homelessness problems.
- sysbin 7y ago
  I'm not from California but a lot of homeless people navigate to California from elsewhere. Homelessness is on the rise in general. Religious ideology creates thinking patterns of the blame is on the victim and not from the system they reside in being unfavourable with the person's genetics & environmental upbringing.
  - petethepig 7y ago
    > a lot of homeless people navigate to California from elsewhere That’s a common misconception. According to this study [0] 70% of people who were homeless in SF in 2019 lived in the city before they became homeless. [0] http://hsh.sfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/FINAL-PIT-Report-2019-San-Francisco.pdf http://hsh.sfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/FINAL-PIT-Report-201...
    - sysbin 7y ago
      30% makes it a common misconception? I did find this part interesting because I can relate somewhat to it. A good portion of the population isn't getting the necessary support in their upbringing is what I get from it. Although much of the self reported data seems to suggest they just cannot afford a home. > survey data reveal that young people who identify as LGBTQ+ represent up to 40% of the approximately 550,000 unaccompanied youth and young adults experiencing homelessness in the United States. It is estimated that 12% of SanFrancisco’s population identifies as LGBTQ+; 27% of survey respondents identified as LGBTQ+. Among survey respondents identifying as LGBTQ+, 55% identified as gay, lesbian, or same-gender loving; 29% as bisexual; 13% as transgender; 3% as genderqueer/gender non-conforming; and 5% as questioning. Compared to respondents who did not identify as LGBTQ+, respondents who identified as LGBTQ+ were more likely to report having experienced domestic violence (48% compared to 27%). Respondents who identified as LGBTQ+ also reported a higher incidence of HIV or AIDS related illness (14% compared to 4%). LGBTQ+ respondents were also more likely to report first experiencing homelessness as a youth or young adult than non-LGBTQ+ survey respondents (58% and 40%, respectively).
    - saltcured 7y ago
      I think this is a difficult topic to assess. The measures are subtle and hard to define clearly for surveys and for our layman discussions. What thresholds are there to define last residency? What duration or level of security must be met for migrants to become local? Does someone having an apartment or other arrangements for 1-18 months count as being a local resident prior to their homelessness? I think local natives see these immigrants differently than those who grow up here and fail to thrive. I don't think most people are imagining that SF or LA homeless are all arriving on a hobo train from the 1930s. But, I think we do see a lot of people who migrate to these regions, attempt to establish themselves, and sometimes fail. More so than there are people migrating out of the regions and then failing at their destination.

by sysbin 7y ago

doublement 7y ago

I agree with much of what you said but the religious ideology attribution is a non-sequitur. The Bay Area and Los Angeles are pretty much the opposite of hotbeds for piety, yet they have the most severe homelessness problems.

sysbin 7y ago
I'm not from California but a lot of homeless people navigate to California from elsewhere. Homelessness is on the rise in general. Religious ideology creates thinking patterns of the blame is on the victim and not from the system they reside in being unfavourable with the person's genetics & environmental upbringing.
- petethepig 7y ago
  > a lot of homeless people navigate to California from elsewhere That’s a common misconception. According to this study [0] 70% of people who were homeless in SF in 2019 lived in the city before they became homeless. [0] http://hsh.sfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/FINAL-PIT-Report-2019-San-Francisco.pdf http://hsh.sfgov.org/wp-content/uploads/FINAL-PIT-Report-201...
  - sysbin 7y ago
    30% makes it a common misconception? I did find this part interesting because I can relate somewhat to it. A good portion of the population isn't getting the necessary support in their upbringing is what I get from it. Although much of the self reported data seems to suggest they just cannot afford a home. > survey data reveal that young people who identify as LGBTQ+ represent up to 40% of the approximately 550,000 unaccompanied youth and young adults experiencing homelessness in the United States. It is estimated that 12% of SanFrancisco’s population identifies as LGBTQ+; 27% of survey respondents identified as LGBTQ+. Among survey respondents identifying as LGBTQ+, 55% identified as gay, lesbian, or same-gender loving; 29% as bisexual; 13% as transgender; 3% as genderqueer/gender non-conforming; and 5% as questioning. Compared to respondents who did not identify as LGBTQ+, respondents who identified as LGBTQ+ were more likely to report having experienced domestic violence (48% compared to 27%). Respondents who identified as LGBTQ+ also reported a higher incidence of HIV or AIDS related illness (14% compared to 4%). LGBTQ+ respondents were also more likely to report first experiencing homelessness as a youth or young adult than non-LGBTQ+ survey respondents (58% and 40%, respectively).
  - saltcured 7y ago
    I think this is a difficult topic to assess. The measures are subtle and hard to define clearly for surveys and for our layman discussions. What thresholds are there to define last residency? What duration or level of security must be met for migrants to become local? Does someone having an apartment or other arrangements for 1-18 months count as being a local resident prior to their homelessness? I think local natives see these immigrants differently than those who grow up here and fail to thrive. I don't think most people are imagining that SF or LA homeless are all arriving on a hobo train from the 1930s. But, I think we do see a lot of people who migrate to these regions, attempt to establish themselves, and sometimes fail. More so than there are people migrating out of the regions and then failing at their destination.