3 ms·
> That reminds of how Salt Lake City recently found out the same thing with its success in curing homelessness. The problem never ends. It's funny that you men
by chimeracoder 3y ago
> That reminds of how Salt Lake City recently found out the same thing with its success in curing homelessness. The problem never ends.
It's funny that you mention Salt Lake City, because that example is commonly misunderstood and actually illustrates the exact opposite of what you're pointing out.
Utah set out to solve chronic homelessness. The causes and effects of chronic homelessness are completely different from transient or episodic homelessness, and the three require different approaches. Utah eliminated 91% of chronic homelessness within ten years, using a Housing First policy. After they ended the policy, total (not chronic) homelessness increased. The majority of that increase was from non-chronic homelessness, which was not targeted by their policy and which was increasing even before that policy ended (because it was, well, independent of a policy that was... not aimed at addressing it). Chronic homelessness has increased in Utah since the end of the program in 2015, but the overwhelming majority of homelessness that's reported on in Utah is still not chronic homelessness, because chronic homelessness makes up less than 20% of the homeless population.
It's odd to look at that as "the problem never ends", because the problem (chronic homelessness), did very nearly end, until the state decided to end the program and go back to their own ways.
- seanmcdirmid 3y agohttps://www.deseret.com/utah/2023/6/29/23771556/report-increase-in-utahns-experiencing-homelessness https://www.deseret.com/utah/2023/6/29/23771556/report-incre... > 2023 report reflects a 96% increase in people experiencing chronic homelessness since 2019, but also indicates Utah is making headway in developing deeply affordable housing For however you define chronic, I guess.
- minkzilla 3y agodefined in the next paragraph >Chronic homelessness refers to people who have experienced homelessness for at least a year, either continuously or in four or more separate instances within the past three years, while also experiencing a disabling condition such as a physical disability, severe mental illness or substance use disorder.
- seanmcdirmid 3y agoSounds like a good definition to me. I just don’t think it increased 96% in four years. It’s much more likely that they were cooking the numbers the previous years and had to come clean eventually.
- chimeracoder 3y ago> I just don’t think it increased 96% in four years. It’s much more likely that they were cooking the numbers the previous years and had to come clean eventually. It's quite a leap of logic to look at an increase in chronic homelessness after ending a program that empirically reduced chronic homelessness using a straightforward mechanism, and conclude that the most probable explanation is "outright fraud, necessitating a decade-long conspiracy involving many people and organizations with opposing goals collaborating with each other, and which somehow has resulted in zero tangible evidence of the conspiracy surfacing even years after the alleged conspiracy fell apart".