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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 natio
by 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 agoThe 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-...