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There's a strong disincentive to cast homelessness as a housing problem: property prices. Nobody particularly minds if a bit of money is spent on mental health
by pydry 5y ago
There's a strong disincentive to cast homelessness as a housing problem: property prices.
Nobody particularly minds if a bit of money is spent on mental health services or drug addiction therapy but money spent on new social housing in your area that uses your tax money to reduce the value of your home and potentially bring people you wouldnt want as neighbors?
Yeah, people arent keen on that. Even ordinary, caring "lefty" people hate that idea.
The 1% also dont want to put downward pressure on the value of their property portfolios with extra housing or upward pressure on wages and they own the media and think tanks so mental health/drugs cause homelessness rather than are caused by homelessness when they discuss it.
Or, it gets cast as a lack of personal responsibility for the right wing press.
Either way the only working solution is the least politically palatable, so cities run by people who care end up just building a methadone clinic or something because that's all you'll be allowed to do.
Then the right wing and liberal press will take a shit on them because what little they were able to do on a tiny budget didnt really solve anything.
- ClumsyPilot 5y agoI like how people who talk about personal responsebility always talk about someone else's responsebility to avoid themselves taking on responsebility for the state of the world/society/their neighbourhood and no-one ever calls them out on it!
- BuyMyBitcoins 5y agoHow is this hypocritical? If someone says “[xyz] is your responsibility, not mine”, how is that inconsistent with their worldview on personal responsibility? They don’t just love responsibility for sake of it and don’t simply want as much as they can for themselves.