4 ms·

I honestly, genuinely, fail to understand the meaning of that. It can't possibly be true that homeless people didn't exist before the 1980s. What does this actu

by AlanSE 3y ago

I honestly, genuinely, fail to understand the meaning of that. It can't possibly be true that homeless people didn't exist before the 1980s. What does this actually mean?

loeg 3y ago
Possibly a reference to deinstitutionalization in the 1970s.
PKop 3y ago
Crimes and harassment were punished, not put up with and subsidized.
treis 3y ago
The mentally ill were confined to institutions. The more functioning homeless put enough scratch together to get a place at a flophouse. I think it's also policing. There was a time that a bum who got caught in the wrong place got the crap kicked out of them by the cops. Obviously problematic for so many reasons but violence does have its way of modifying behavior. Also drugs. Just way easier to get and more powerful than before. Back then it was mostly alcohol. While that takes a terrible toll on one's body most alcoholics are functional to a reasonable extent. Not so much for crack or heroin or meth addicts.
Animats 3y ago
First, there were more big housing projects [1], and more welfare. Those created their own problems - third generation welfare moms, gangs, etc. Second, more crazies were institutionalized. Santa Clara County used to have "The Great Asylum for the Insane.", opened in 1885. This was a huge complex of buildings in a rural setting. The place was later renamed to Agnews State Mental Hospital, later Agnews Developmental Center.[2] Beginning in 1972 this was gradually shut down. The last patient was kicked out in 1998. The remaining buildings are now owned by Oracle, and you can go look at some of them if you want. Third, vagrancy used to be be illegal. Cops arrested people for it, and they were sorted out into "too lazy to work", "unable to work", or "crazy". This peaked during the Great Depression, when the Works Progress Administration was created to give unemployed people jobs.[3] At peak, the Federal government employed 3 million people, mostly doing construction work. There was some really nice construction. Rincon Annex, the old post office in San Francisco, is one of the finer local examples. As the demand for unskilled labor declined, finding some place to send the "too lazy to work" people became difficult. Fourth, drugs. There are too many burned-out people who aren't coming back. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Taylor_Homes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Taylor_Homes [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnews_Developmental_Center https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnews_Developmental_Center [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Progress_Administration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Progress_Administration
- jl6 3y ago
  > "The Great Asylum for the Insane.", […] now owned by Oracle The modern world is terrifying and confusing, but every so often some small nugget of information comes along that makes profound sense.
- morkalork 3y ago
  How would rounding up, arresting and forcing to work the "too lazy to work" fly these days? Seems like like it would be antithetical to the small government, person freedom types?
  - mixmastamyk 3y ago
    Freedom ends at the next person's nose and often doorstep.
    - fragmede 3y ago
      which has interesting implications, legally, when that doorstep is a tent.
lapcat 3y ago
One thing to keep in mind is that the article is about Canada, not the United States.
1970-01-01 3y ago
Twas always a problem. The Great Depression is worth remembering. https://www.thoughtco.com/hoovervilles-homeless-camps-of-the-great-depression-4845996 https://www.thoughtco.com/hoovervilles-homeless-camps-of-the...
- chrisco255 3y ago
  Indeed, can even go back for evidence from London in the 1800s / early 1900s: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheWayWeWere/comments/9r8lzk/street_children_in_london_during_the_industrial/ https://www.reddit.com/r/TheWayWeWere/comments/9r8lzk/street... Kids growing up on the streets used to be extremely common.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

by AlanSE 3y ago

I honestly, genuinely, fail to understand the meaning of that. It can't possibly be true that homeless people didn't exist before the 1980s. What does this actually mean?

loeg 3y ago

Possibly a reference to deinstitutionalization in the 1970s.

PKop 3y ago

Crimes and harassment were punished, not put up with and subsidized.

treis 3y ago

The mentally ill were confined to institutions. The more functioning homeless put enough scratch together to get a place at a flophouse. I think it's also policing. There was a time that a bum who got caught in the wrong place got the crap kicked out of them by the cops. Obviously problematic for so many reasons but violence does have its way of modifying behavior. Also drugs. Just way easier to get and more powerful than before. Back then it was mostly alcohol. While that takes a terrible toll on one's body most alcoholics are functional to a reasonable extent. Not so much for crack or heroin or meth addicts.

Animats 3y ago

First, there were more big housing projects [1], and more welfare. Those created their own problems - third generation welfare moms, gangs, etc. Second, more crazies were institutionalized. Santa Clara County used to have "The Great Asylum for the Insane.", opened in 1885. This was a huge complex of buildings in a rural setting. The place was later renamed to Agnews State Mental Hospital, later Agnews Developmental Center.[2] Beginning in 1972 this was gradually shut down. The last patient was kicked out in 1998. The remaining buildings are now owned by Oracle, and you can go look at some of them if you want. Third, vagrancy used to be be illegal. Cops arrested people for it, and they were sorted out into "too lazy to work", "unable to work", or "crazy". This peaked during the Great Depression, when the Works Progress Administration was created to give unemployed people jobs.[3] At peak, the Federal government employed 3 million people, mostly doing construction work. There was some really nice construction. Rincon Annex, the old post office in San Francisco, is one of the finer local examples. As the demand for unskilled labor declined, finding some place to send the "too lazy to work" people became difficult. Fourth, drugs. There are too many burned-out people who aren't coming back. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Taylor_Homes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Taylor_Homes [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnews_Developmental_Center https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnews_Developmental_Center [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Progress_Administration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Works_Progress_Administration

jl6 3y ago
> "The Great Asylum for the Insane.", […] now owned by Oracle The modern world is terrifying and confusing, but every so often some small nugget of information comes along that makes profound sense.
morkalork 3y ago
How would rounding up, arresting and forcing to work the "too lazy to work" fly these days? Seems like like it would be antithetical to the small government, person freedom types?
- mixmastamyk 3y ago
  Freedom ends at the next person's nose and often doorstep.
  - fragmede 3y ago
    which has interesting implications, legally, when that doorstep is a tent.

lapcat 3y ago

One thing to keep in mind is that the article is about Canada, not the United States.

1970-01-01 3y ago

Twas always a problem. The Great Depression is worth remembering. https://www.thoughtco.com/hoovervilles-homeless-camps-of-the-great-depression-4845996 https://www.thoughtco.com/hoovervilles-homeless-camps-of-the...

chrisco255 3y ago
Indeed, can even go back for evidence from London in the 1800s / early 1900s: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheWayWeWere/comments/9r8lzk/street_children_in_london_during_the_industrial/ https://www.reddit.com/r/TheWayWeWere/comments/9r8lzk/street... Kids growing up on the streets used to be extremely common.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]