3 ms·

You make room for the 5,000...and word spreads and soon you have 10,000 more. Unfortunately with the homeless crisis we have the ones that try to support them

You make room for the 5,000...and word spreads and soon you have 10,000 more. Unfortunately with the homeless crisis we have the ones that try to support them more just end up with more of them. It's really a never ending battle...

khrbrt 5y ago
Then make room for 5000 in every city, and do it with a federal program so individual cities don't have the incentive to cut back on it. Homelessness is a national problem and demands a national solution. The federal government has no problem creating trillions of dollars to prop up the financial system and fight endless wars. It can spare a few billion to get people off the streets and under roofs.
- j_walter 5y ago
  The cost will vary widely. SF currently spends $60K per tent in their encampment program...expand that to house 5K people and you run into problems. Portland spent $58M on a jail built in the 90s that never opened and was then sold a few years back for just a few million (maybe 5 or 6 years ago). The owner said they would donate the site as a homeless shelter if the city ran it since they had a ballooning homeless problem (over 4K as of last count). City leaders felt that because it was formerly a jail and not near services that it would be inhumane to house homeless there. So instead they continue to sleep on the streets, get hit crossing the freeway and shitting on the sidewalks. It finally opened just before winter last year, but mostly because of NGO helping to get it running...the government is completely useless here. Total people currently off the street is only 45 since it still needs a lot of work. https://www.wweek.com/news/2021/06/09/a-homeless-shelter-in-a-never-used-jail-gets-a-government-subsidy-from-well-placed-friends/ https://www.wweek.com/news/2021/06/09/a-homeless-shelter-in-...
zaidf 5y ago
Data doesn't back this actually happening, though. If this were true, homeless people would be rushing to NYC. See https://medium.com/@josefow/new-york-decided-to-end-street-homelessness-and-it-basically-succeeded-ab27f3ec5a65#:~:text=New%20York%20has%20far%20fewer,from%20the%20East%20Coast%20city&text=This%20extensive%20network%20means%20New,almost%2011%20times%20as%20high https://medium.com/@josefow/new-york-decided-to-end-street-h... and https://www.vice.com/en/article/8xzwb5/california-is-desperately-trying-to-hide-homeless-people-critics-say https://www.vice.com/en/article/8xzwb5/california-is-despera...
- j_walter 5y ago
  NYC doesn't have the good weather that LA does. NYC also puts pretty strong limits on the people living in the shelters. There are a large portion of homeless that don't want to give up drugs, pets or other freedoms...so they prefer to just live in tents in nice weather.
  - zaidf 5y ago
    How did we go from comparing NYC with SF to LA? None of your arguments around "good weather" applies to SF. I am struggling to see any insight in your comment that cannot be filed under "common myths people spread about homeless people."

khrbrt 5y ago

Then make room for 5000 in every city, and do it with a federal program so individual cities don't have the incentive to cut back on it. Homelessness is a national problem and demands a national solution. The federal government has no problem creating trillions of dollars to prop up the financial system and fight endless wars. It can spare a few billion to get people off the streets and under roofs.

j_walter 5y ago
The cost will vary widely. SF currently spends $60K per tent in their encampment program...expand that to house 5K people and you run into problems. Portland spent $58M on a jail built in the 90s that never opened and was then sold a few years back for just a few million (maybe 5 or 6 years ago). The owner said they would donate the site as a homeless shelter if the city ran it since they had a ballooning homeless problem (over 4K as of last count). City leaders felt that because it was formerly a jail and not near services that it would be inhumane to house homeless there. So instead they continue to sleep on the streets, get hit crossing the freeway and shitting on the sidewalks. It finally opened just before winter last year, but mostly because of NGO helping to get it running...the government is completely useless here. Total people currently off the street is only 45 since it still needs a lot of work. https://www.wweek.com/news/2021/06/09/a-homeless-shelter-in-a-never-used-jail-gets-a-government-subsidy-from-well-placed-friends/ https://www.wweek.com/news/2021/06/09/a-homeless-shelter-in-...

zaidf 5y ago

Data doesn't back this actually happening, though. If this were true, homeless people would be rushing to NYC. See https://medium.com/@josefow/new-york-decided-to-end-street-homelessness-and-it-basically-succeeded-ab27f3ec5a65#:~:text=New%20York%20has%20far%20fewer,from%20the%20East%20Coast%20city&text=This%20extensive%20network%20means%20New,almost%2011%20times%20as%20high https://medium.com/@josefow/new-york-decided-to-end-street-h... and https://www.vice.com/en/article/8xzwb5/california-is-desperately-trying-to-hide-homeless-people-critics-say https://www.vice.com/en/article/8xzwb5/california-is-despera...

j_walter 5y ago
NYC doesn't have the good weather that LA does. NYC also puts pretty strong limits on the people living in the shelters. There are a large portion of homeless that don't want to give up drugs, pets or other freedoms...so they prefer to just live in tents in nice weather.
- zaidf 5y ago
  How did we go from comparing NYC with SF to LA? None of your arguments around "good weather" applies to SF. I am struggling to see any insight in your comment that cannot be filed under "common myths people spread about homeless people."