6 ms·

I grew up in Toronto, took the TTC (transit) all the time. Heck I would sleep on it for extended periods of time. Then I moved to a smaller city for college. A

I grew up in Toronto, took the TTC (transit) all the time. Heck I would sleep on it for extended periods of time. Then I moved to a smaller city for college. After almost a decade away I moved back to Toronto in 2022 and I was really disturbed by the level of violence, mental health disorders and drug use I witnessed every day. I couldn't even take 1 year of it, broke my lease and moved the hell away. Something has gone very wrote with Toronto and it is a very uncomfortable place to live.

jmoak3 4y ago
I felt the same way about Portland - I lived there 2016-2018, moved back for 6mo in 2021 to reconnect with friends and possibly settle down World of difference in what I saw. When it comes to mental health and homelessness crisis, I’ve always wondered if this is why the issue is becoming so exacerbated: (US data, sorry) The median baby boomer retirement is what, 200k-300k [1] total? So half have even less? What are they gonna do when they’re 65 and aged out of their line of work and have no money to live on? If I were in that situation I’d wander into any city that would have me as well. Take the low savings with the possibility that people who deal with the trauma of being poor are also more likely to abuse drugs [2] and you have a recipe for a mental health homelessness crisis in major cities. The truly worrying thing for me is that in the past we could afford to care for people such as this. With changing demographics I’m just not sure we can support them like we used to. I’m on my phone so I can’t do this, but I’d love to see data on homeless populations and their growth, I hypothesize that it’s growing in tandem with aging baby boomers. Edit: Looks like it’s well within historical numbers but ticking up, with a rather large increase in unsheltered: https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness/ https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homeless... [1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/average-retirement-savings-baby-boomers-125500443.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/average-retirement-savings-ba... [2] https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/low-income-americans/ https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/low-income-america...

jmoak3 4y ago

I felt the same way about Portland - I lived there 2016-2018, moved back for 6mo in 2021 to reconnect with friends and possibly settle down World of difference in what I saw. When it comes to mental health and homelessness crisis, I’ve always wondered if this is why the issue is becoming so exacerbated: (US data, sorry) The median baby boomer retirement is what, 200k-300k [1] total? So half have even less? What are they gonna do when they’re 65 and aged out of their line of work and have no money to live on? If I were in that situation I’d wander into any city that would have me as well. Take the low savings with the possibility that people who deal with the trauma of being poor are also more likely to abuse drugs [2] and you have a recipe for a mental health homelessness crisis in major cities. The truly worrying thing for me is that in the past we could afford to care for people such as this. With changing demographics I’m just not sure we can support them like we used to. I’m on my phone so I can’t do this, but I’d love to see data on homeless populations and their growth, I hypothesize that it’s growing in tandem with aging baby boomers. Edit: Looks like it’s well within historical numbers but ticking up, with a rather large increase in unsheltered: https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homelessness-statistics/state-of-homelessness/ https://endhomelessness.org/homelessness-in-america/homeless... [1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/average-retirement-savings-baby-boomers-125500443.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/average-retirement-savings-ba... [2] https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/low-income-americans/ https://www.addictioncenter.com/addiction/low-income-america...