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Many Californians are struggling with the ultimate internal battle: Posturing about caring for the homeless while doing everything in their power to prevent hou

Many Californians are struggling with the ultimate internal battle: Posturing about caring for the homeless while doing everything in their power to prevent housing from getting built. Because density "hurts the vibe of the neighborhood." Outsiders make fun of California for being overly progressive, but it's entirely surface level. Most are conservative beyond performative actions.

Fellshard 5y ago
The issue isn't solely lack of housing.
- jeffbee 5y ago
  Abundant housing is a necessary condition for solving homelessness.
  - thepasswordis 5y ago
    Have you spent much time working with the homeless?
    - jeffbee 5y ago
      Yes, I worked to create the most recent census of homelessness in my county. That's why I am aware of the fact that an overwhelming supermajority of current homeless express a wish to live in independent, affordable rental homes, like the rest of us. But you don't have to personally conduct the census to know this; you can just go read the results.
  - rtkwe 5y ago
    It'd help with the working homeless but you need way more than just cheap housing to help all types of homeless people.
  - coding123 5y ago
    There is also an abundant number of second houses that people own that are not rented that could house every single homeless person 25 to 40 times over.
    - jeffbee 5y ago
      This is fallacious thinking. It would be a huge effort, practically and legally, to increase the occupancy rate of existing dwellings from its already extremely high level of over 97% to something like 99%. It is way easier, cheaper, and more practical to attack the denominator instead.
- knownjorbist 5y ago
  Lack of housing is perhaps the most important piece of the puzzle. https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2021/7/13/housing-scarcity-is-a-force-multiplier-for-other-problems#:~:text=Basically%2C%20housing%20scarcity%20is%20a,puts%20more%20stress%20on%20them https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2021/7/13/housing-scarci....
- mdorazio 5y ago
  It’s by far the #1 cause. People lose their job or get priced out of their home and then either can’t afford to move elsewhere or don’t want to leave their support network, so they just… stay. LAHSA tends to provide good data via their annual surveys: 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...
fumar 5y ago
How much housing would need to be built for homelessness resolution?
- jimbob45 5y ago
  +1 I’ve seen nothing to indicate that Californians wouldn’t pay exorbitant sums of money to the first sensible plan to eradicate homelessness in their major cities. There just doesn’t appear to be a surplus of comprehensive and adequate solutions.
- mdorazio 5y ago
  In LA alone we would need over half a million units of affordable housing [1]. Good luck with that when communities fight new development of any kind every chance they possibly can. [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...
  - coding123 5y ago
    ? That article shows 66K homeless people, not half a million?

Fellshard 5y ago

The issue isn't solely lack of housing.

jeffbee 5y ago
Abundant housing is a necessary condition for solving homelessness.
- thepasswordis 5y ago
  Have you spent much time working with the homeless?
  - jeffbee 5y ago
    Yes, I worked to create the most recent census of homelessness in my county. That's why I am aware of the fact that an overwhelming supermajority of current homeless express a wish to live in independent, affordable rental homes, like the rest of us. But you don't have to personally conduct the census to know this; you can just go read the results.
- rtkwe 5y ago
  It'd help with the working homeless but you need way more than just cheap housing to help all types of homeless people.
- coding123 5y ago
  There is also an abundant number of second houses that people own that are not rented that could house every single homeless person 25 to 40 times over.
  - jeffbee 5y ago
    This is fallacious thinking. It would be a huge effort, practically and legally, to increase the occupancy rate of existing dwellings from its already extremely high level of over 97% to something like 99%. It is way easier, cheaper, and more practical to attack the denominator instead.
knownjorbist 5y ago
Lack of housing is perhaps the most important piece of the puzzle. https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2021/7/13/housing-scarcity-is-a-force-multiplier-for-other-problems#:~:text=Basically%2C%20housing%20scarcity%20is%20a,puts%20more%20stress%20on%20them https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2021/7/13/housing-scarci....
mdorazio 5y ago
It’s by far the #1 cause. People lose their job or get priced out of their home and then either can’t afford to move elsewhere or don’t want to leave their support network, so they just… stay. LAHSA tends to provide good data via their annual surveys: 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...

fumar 5y ago

How much housing would need to be built for homelessness resolution?

jimbob45 5y ago
+1 I’ve seen nothing to indicate that Californians wouldn’t pay exorbitant sums of money to the first sensible plan to eradicate homelessness in their major cities. There just doesn’t appear to be a surplus of comprehensive and adequate solutions.
mdorazio 5y ago
In LA alone we would need over half a million units of affordable housing [1]. Good luck with that when communities fight new development of any kind every chance they possibly can. [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...
- coding123 5y ago
  ? That article shows 66K homeless people, not half a million?