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This article makes the same tired argument that homeless people are all junkies and crazies which gets used to blame the people on the street. It does so in sp

This article makes the same tired argument that homeless people are all junkies and crazies which gets used to blame the people on the street. It does so in spite of opening with this: California saw its homeless population rise by 31 percent even as the number of homeless declined 18 percent in the rest of the United States between 2010 and 2020. We know that homeless people travel, that some organizations have a policy of solving their local homeless problem by passing out bus tickets and that some states have actively sought to dump their homeless on California. California has a lot of problems, like terrible housing policies, that contribute to the problem. But I believe California has become the dumping ground for America's homeless and it's problematic to act like California's numbers have gone up because California is behaving badly rather than acknowledge that California's numbers have gone up precisely because homelessness is down elsewhere: California is where some of those people ended up. And California has unsheltered homeless because the temperate, dry weather in large parts of the state make it tolerable to sleep outside most of the time and it's a better option than the shelter system for a long list of reasons, from the concentration of poverty to exposure to disease to the prison-like conditions. I think this article is garbage. It contradicts everything I understand about the topic. I spent nearly six years homeless. I've had a college class on the topic. I still write about it. I think I'm more informed than average about such things.

coolspot 6y ago
Did you write up anywhere on how you ended being homeless for 6 years?
- DoreenMichele 6y ago
  There is probably no succinct single article summing it up, but you might be interested in these two of my many blogs: https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/ https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/ https://streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com/ https://streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com/ You might also be interested in this research piece written about me by a college student who interviewed me: http://alexandralindelof.com/story-package/ http://alexandralindelof.com/story-package/
  - nobodyandproud 6y ago
    What bothered me for decades—-terrifies me—-is that there’s a point of no return, where it becomes an unstoppable slide to the bottom. No way to take a shower. No way to be presentable for a job interview. No way to have clean clothes. No way to be reachable. No way to take bathroom breaks. Basically, no way to reintegrate back into society because there is no real safety net. I really, really hate this aspect of the United States.
    - DoreenMichele 6y ago
      Yeah, it's why I run a bunch of related websites: Knowledge is power and it's the only thing I can afford to offer. I'm back in housing but I'm far from financially comfortable.
    - doggodaddo78 6y ago
      The United States is a socioeconomic apartheid that throws away anyone poor, minority, old, or not a celebrity. They're expected to miracle-up a pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, which is a children's parable about an impossible task, not any sort of hyperindividualistic possible feat of self-sufficiency. The US is great if you're rich, but it throws everyone else under the bus.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
mdorazio 6y ago
Thank you for stating this. So many people who write about homelessness don't even want to engage with the actual report findings from the agencies that manage homelessness. For example, here's the key takeaway from LA's 2020 homeless count [1]: > In addition to the enduring impact of systemic racism, an inadequate housing supply, and income inequality drive inflows to homelessness. Homelessness starts rising when median rents in a region exceed 22% of median income and rises even more sharply at 32%; in Los Angeles, the median rent is 46.7% or nearly half of median income. Beyond the above, about 22% of our homeless population in CA came from outside the state (see the full presentation). If you actually want to tackle homelessness in CA, the solutions have been known for years, we just don't have the collective willpower to do any of them. 1) make other states actually deal with their own homeless problems instead of just exporting them to CA, 2) fix the absolute insanity of the housing market, 3) implement an actual social safety net so that people losing their job or priced out of their homes don't immediately land on the street. THEN we can talk about things like drug abuse, mental health management, etc. [1] https://www.lahsa.org/news?article=726-2020-greater-los-angeles-homeless-count-results https://www.lahsa.org/news?article=726-2020-greater-los-ange...
- DoreenMichele 6y ago
  Yes, there is a known and direct connection between the availability of affordable housing -- which I mean in the most literal fashion possible of "market rate housing that a poor person can afford on their budget" -- and homelessness. We have torn down a million SROs and largely zoned out of existence the ability to create a lot of standard historical housing forms, currently known in some circles as Missing Middle Housing. And then we act like we just cannot understand why people are sleeping in the streets. It's such a mystery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_room_occupancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_room_occupancy There are other factors, but I desperately wish we would remedy the known dearth of affordable housing stock across the country.
flatline 6y ago
And California gives out bus tickets to New Mexico, or so the rumor has it, we are attractive for similar reasons. It’s why the movie industry is here too. I have always wondered about the homeless in colder climes - I know that I would rather be in Southern California than Michigan if I was going to be on the street. Plus California is wealthy, so there could be a perception that you have better resources, even if that is not really the case. New Mexico not so much.
- coliveira 6y ago
  Many homeless people in NYC live in the subway. I guess other large cities have similar informal systems.
- eesmith 6y ago
  The film industry is in NM because of subsidies. Here's an editorial on the topic, "Excessive subsidies, not politics, are the reason film is booming in NM" - https://www.abqjournal.com/1334849/excessive-subsidies-not-politics-are-the-reason-film-is-booming-in-nm-ex-the-new-mexico-film-tax-credit-are-nothing-more-than-a-government-giveaway.html https://www.abqjournal.com/1334849/excessive-subsidies-not-p... Another opinion piece at https://eu.lcsun-news.com/story/opinion/2019/05/20/film-subsidies-money-loser-new-mexico/3743061002/ https://eu.lcsun-news.com/story/opinion/2019/05/20/film-subs... quoting: "film credit changes are estimated to cost $500 million to the general fund over the next five years (in addition to the $250 million that would have been paid out under the existing cap). Also, they note that the revised film program is “likely the most significant state investment ever in a single industry … despite evidence of about a 40 percent return on the dollar.”"
- doggodaddo78 6y ago
  Do you have evidence of this?
CityOfThrowaway 6y ago
Do you have any data to back up the claim that CA’s homeless problem is driven by in-migration? The data quite resoundingly shows that the “tired argument” that many homeless people have addiction and mental health issues is correct. Nobody is claiming that ALL homeless people have these issues, but acting like it’s not a significant driver because some homeless people are simply down are their luck is not productive.
- DoreenMichele 6y ago
  From another comment in this discussion: about 22% of our homeless population in CA came from outside the state https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27126756 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27126756
neartheplain 6y ago
>This article makes the same tired argument that homeless people are all junkies and crazies which gets used to blame the people on the street. I'm confused. On your blog which you linked below, you wrote (in 2017) [0]: >Most people who are on the street have intractable personal problems, such as health issues, mental health issues or addiction. These difficult or impossible to resolve issues are always a major contributing factor to the fact that their lives have come unraveled. Doesn't that point to the same root causes and solutions expressed in the link? It's true that other states ship their homeless to California, but unless California just ships them back, then the solutions proposed in the link seem reasonable: >The way every other developed nation solves homelessness is through assertive case management, mandatory psychiatric care and drug treatment, and sufficient facilities of different kinds for different populations, from psychiatric hospitals to homeless shelters to permanent supportive housing. [0] https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/2017/10/creating-future-for-yourself-from-street.html https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/2017/10/c...
- DoreenMichele 6y ago
  Doesn't that point to the same root causes and solutions expressed in the link? Addiction and mental health issues tend to grow out of other problems. There are plenty of addicts with well paid jobs. It's common knowledge that rock stars are often heavy drug users. No one concludes that this must mean that the way to become a rock star is to snort cocaine all the live long day because, obviously, that's the source of their creativity. But when a homeless person has an addiction, we blame their lack of housing on the addiction and we feel they first need to get clean before they deserve housing and a decent life. It is unfortunately true that it is easiest to reach an audience if you meet them halfway on some of their assumptions. It's hard enough to get anyone to listen to anything useful and constructive even with that approach. I've been writing about such subjects for years and I think it is reasonable to say I'm a Subject Matter Expert. I have very little traction. People mostly prefer to hear the same rehashed nonsense from larger news sources rather than promoting someone like me. So I may never get much traction and that means I have little choice but to use some of the same language that is commonly used while wholly disagreeing with the way other people frame the problem overall.
doggodaddo78 6y ago
I lived in a vehicle for 9 years. There is no real social safety net in America: social workers and assistance are a joke. There are many sane, elderly homeless people who's only fault is being poor or experiencing an unfortunate situation leaving them without housing, perpetuating homelessness.

coolspot 6y ago

Did you write up anywhere on how you ended being homeless for 6 years?

DoreenMichele 6y ago
There is probably no succinct single article summing it up, but you might be interested in these two of my many blogs: https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/ https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/ https://streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com/ https://streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com/ You might also be interested in this research piece written about me by a college student who interviewed me: http://alexandralindelof.com/story-package/ http://alexandralindelof.com/story-package/
- nobodyandproud 6y ago
  What bothered me for decades—-terrifies me—-is that there’s a point of no return, where it becomes an unstoppable slide to the bottom. No way to take a shower. No way to be presentable for a job interview. No way to have clean clothes. No way to be reachable. No way to take bathroom breaks. Basically, no way to reintegrate back into society because there is no real safety net. I really, really hate this aspect of the United States.
  - DoreenMichele 6y ago
    Yeah, it's why I run a bunch of related websites: Knowledge is power and it's the only thing I can afford to offer. I'm back in housing but I'm far from financially comfortable.
  - doggodaddo78 6y ago
    The United States is a socioeconomic apartheid that throws away anyone poor, minority, old, or not a celebrity. They're expected to miracle-up a pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, which is a children's parable about an impossible task, not any sort of hyperindividualistic possible feat of self-sufficiency. The US is great if you're rich, but it throws everyone else under the bus.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

mdorazio 6y ago

Thank you for stating this. So many people who write about homelessness don't even want to engage with the actual report findings from the agencies that manage homelessness. For example, here's the key takeaway from LA's 2020 homeless count [1]: > In addition to the enduring impact of systemic racism, an inadequate housing supply, and income inequality drive inflows to homelessness. Homelessness starts rising when median rents in a region exceed 22% of median income and rises even more sharply at 32%; in Los Angeles, the median rent is 46.7% or nearly half of median income. Beyond the above, about 22% of our homeless population in CA came from outside the state (see the full presentation). If you actually want to tackle homelessness in CA, the solutions have been known for years, we just don't have the collective willpower to do any of them. 1) make other states actually deal with their own homeless problems instead of just exporting them to CA, 2) fix the absolute insanity of the housing market, 3) implement an actual social safety net so that people losing their job or priced out of their homes don't immediately land on the street. THEN we can talk about things like drug abuse, mental health management, etc. [1] https://www.lahsa.org/news?article=726-2020-greater-los-angeles-homeless-count-results https://www.lahsa.org/news?article=726-2020-greater-los-ange...

DoreenMichele 6y ago
Yes, there is a known and direct connection between the availability of affordable housing -- which I mean in the most literal fashion possible of "market rate housing that a poor person can afford on their budget" -- and homelessness. We have torn down a million SROs and largely zoned out of existence the ability to create a lot of standard historical housing forms, currently known in some circles as Missing Middle Housing. And then we act like we just cannot understand why people are sleeping in the streets. It's such a mystery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_room_occupancy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_room_occupancy There are other factors, but I desperately wish we would remedy the known dearth of affordable housing stock across the country.

flatline 6y ago

And California gives out bus tickets to New Mexico, or so the rumor has it, we are attractive for similar reasons. It’s why the movie industry is here too. I have always wondered about the homeless in colder climes - I know that I would rather be in Southern California than Michigan if I was going to be on the street. Plus California is wealthy, so there could be a perception that you have better resources, even if that is not really the case. New Mexico not so much.

coliveira 6y ago
Many homeless people in NYC live in the subway. I guess other large cities have similar informal systems.
eesmith 6y ago
The film industry is in NM because of subsidies. Here's an editorial on the topic, "Excessive subsidies, not politics, are the reason film is booming in NM" - https://www.abqjournal.com/1334849/excessive-subsidies-not-politics-are-the-reason-film-is-booming-in-nm-ex-the-new-mexico-film-tax-credit-are-nothing-more-than-a-government-giveaway.html https://www.abqjournal.com/1334849/excessive-subsidies-not-p... Another opinion piece at https://eu.lcsun-news.com/story/opinion/2019/05/20/film-subsidies-money-loser-new-mexico/3743061002/ https://eu.lcsun-news.com/story/opinion/2019/05/20/film-subs... quoting: "film credit changes are estimated to cost $500 million to the general fund over the next five years (in addition to the $250 million that would have been paid out under the existing cap). Also, they note that the revised film program is “likely the most significant state investment ever in a single industry … despite evidence of about a 40 percent return on the dollar.”"
doggodaddo78 6y ago
Do you have evidence of this?

CityOfThrowaway 6y ago

Do you have any data to back up the claim that CA’s homeless problem is driven by in-migration? The data quite resoundingly shows that the “tired argument” that many homeless people have addiction and mental health issues is correct. Nobody is claiming that ALL homeless people have these issues, but acting like it’s not a significant driver because some homeless people are simply down are their luck is not productive.

DoreenMichele 6y ago
From another comment in this discussion: about 22% of our homeless population in CA came from outside the state https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27126756 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27126756

neartheplain 6y ago

>This article makes the same tired argument that homeless people are all junkies and crazies which gets used to blame the people on the street. I'm confused. On your blog which you linked below, you wrote (in 2017) [0]: >Most people who are on the street have intractable personal problems, such as health issues, mental health issues or addiction. These difficult or impossible to resolve issues are always a major contributing factor to the fact that their lives have come unraveled. Doesn't that point to the same root causes and solutions expressed in the link? It's true that other states ship their homeless to California, but unless California just ships them back, then the solutions proposed in the link seem reasonable: >The way every other developed nation solves homelessness is through assertive case management, mandatory psychiatric care and drug treatment, and sufficient facilities of different kinds for different populations, from psychiatric hospitals to homeless shelters to permanent supportive housing. [0] https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/2017/10/creating-future-for-yourself-from-street.html https://sandiegohomelesssurvivalguide.blogspot.com/2017/10/c...

DoreenMichele 6y ago
Doesn't that point to the same root causes and solutions expressed in the link? Addiction and mental health issues tend to grow out of other problems. There are plenty of addicts with well paid jobs. It's common knowledge that rock stars are often heavy drug users. No one concludes that this must mean that the way to become a rock star is to snort cocaine all the live long day because, obviously, that's the source of their creativity. But when a homeless person has an addiction, we blame their lack of housing on the addiction and we feel they first need to get clean before they deserve housing and a decent life. It is unfortunately true that it is easiest to reach an audience if you meet them halfway on some of their assumptions. It's hard enough to get anyone to listen to anything useful and constructive even with that approach. I've been writing about such subjects for years and I think it is reasonable to say I'm a Subject Matter Expert. I have very little traction. People mostly prefer to hear the same rehashed nonsense from larger news sources rather than promoting someone like me. So I may never get much traction and that means I have little choice but to use some of the same language that is commonly used while wholly disagreeing with the way other people frame the problem overall.

doggodaddo78 6y ago

I lived in a vehicle for 9 years. There is no real social safety net in America: social workers and assistance are a joke. There are many sane, elderly homeless people who's only fault is being poor or experiencing an unfortunate situation leaving them without housing, perpetuating homelessness.