9 ms·

The problem is so severe that a single city or even a large city, like Los Angeles, is basically helpless to stop it. This is a federal issue and needs to be ha

The problem is so severe that a single city or even a large city, like Los Angeles, is basically helpless to stop it. This is a federal issue and needs to be handled on the federal level.

aksss 3y ago
I don't even know what that means. It's a like a "move it along" policy to your problems. I hesitate to even ask: what tools do you imagine the feds have to fix homelessness, outside of driving a good economy, and perhaps protectionist measures to build low-skill industries back in the US (and all that entails)?
- xenospn 3y ago
  From my vantage point, a combined strategy of mental health facilities with accessible healthcare and a social safety net is a good starting point. (Most likely will never happen in the US) I seriously doubt that affordable housing or better employment opportunities are going to do anything, specifically because even people making six figures are struggling to find housing here (LA) so I doubt any amount of subsidized housing is going to solve or even make a dent in the number of homeless people.
- asdff 3y ago
  It's just a matter of sizing the scale of the problem to the correct budget so it can actually be solved. City of LA has 45,000 homeless people in it. Recent audits put the cost at half a million per unit, all services roped in with that number I believe, for a new shelter bed and staff. That's almost 23 billion dollars provided you have the land for this UCLA sized project cleared already, a whole lot more if you don't. City of LA's entire budget is 13 billion dollars; all it can do is fight the tide with a leaky bucket essentially. Federal government budget, on the other hand, is 6.1 trillion dollars, and they own the world money printer too, along with a huge amount of acreage all over the american west. The homeless crisis could be solved with a pen stroke from DC today.
- mulmen 3y ago
  Jobs aren’t a complete solution. Especially not low-skill industrial jobs. Some of these people are incapable of employment. They need full time professional care. It is a mental healthcare issue. Since the feds gutted mental healthcare under Reagan they can fix it too. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_Health_Systems_Act_of_1980 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_Health_Systems_Act_of...
epistasis 3y ago
All of these problems are downstream of California cities refusing to build enough housing to meet demand. The homeless population is not fixed, it's a continuous stream of people becoming homeless, and some finding housing or leaving the area or dying. The inflow rate of people entering homelessness is a regional problem; once you're homeless it's hard to go very far. So regional areas in charge of determining housing levels (the Regional Housing Needs Allocation process) has been messed up for a long time. It's finally getting fixed by state level policy. Until California decides to build enough housing in order to house a person on minimum wage, then we will continue to have this people. Its not every state that has this problem, only those with housing so much more expensive than wages.
- xenospn 3y ago
  I know life is hard and shit happens, but I refuse to believe that, except for very few edge cases, people who are staring down homelessness just decide to stay in one of the most expensive places in the world and live on the street rather than move somewhere cheaper And find a cheap apartment. It makes absolutely no sense. I think if you do decide to stay in Los Angeles, when you have no job, no prospects, no family, no money and no place to live, you should be declared as someone who is unable to care for themselves.
  - CapstanRoller 3y ago
    Do you believe uprooting and finding a new job and apartment is easy for the average person? Have you ever talked to someone outside of the FAANG crowd who makes normal wages?
  - epistasis 3y ago
    Say you have a job, friends, a small support network, and are living on the edge, paycheck to paycheck. You don't have $800 in the bank to travel to a cheaper area and try to find a job and an apartment. You are just struggling to get by. Then your car breaks down, and you can't get to work, and you have less pay, or maybe even lose your job. You lose your apartment, and are stuck with no money, and no way to travel. What do you do? Leave everything you know? Is this really so implausible? This is the story of so many people who are homeless. Not everyone, but many. There are a thousand paths into homelessness, but falling into it though unexpected expenses is extremely common

The problem is so severe that a single city or even a large city, like Los Angeles, is basically helpless to stop it. This is a federal issue and needs to be handled on the federal level.

aksss 3y ago

I don't even know what that means. It's a like a "move it along" policy to your problems. I hesitate to even ask: what tools do you imagine the feds have to fix homelessness, outside of driving a good economy, and perhaps protectionist measures to build low-skill industries back in the US (and all that entails)?

xenospn 3y ago
From my vantage point, a combined strategy of mental health facilities with accessible healthcare and a social safety net is a good starting point. (Most likely will never happen in the US) I seriously doubt that affordable housing or better employment opportunities are going to do anything, specifically because even people making six figures are struggling to find housing here (LA) so I doubt any amount of subsidized housing is going to solve or even make a dent in the number of homeless people.
asdff 3y ago
It's just a matter of sizing the scale of the problem to the correct budget so it can actually be solved. City of LA has 45,000 homeless people in it. Recent audits put the cost at half a million per unit, all services roped in with that number I believe, for a new shelter bed and staff. That's almost 23 billion dollars provided you have the land for this UCLA sized project cleared already, a whole lot more if you don't. City of LA's entire budget is 13 billion dollars; all it can do is fight the tide with a leaky bucket essentially. Federal government budget, on the other hand, is 6.1 trillion dollars, and they own the world money printer too, along with a huge amount of acreage all over the american west. The homeless crisis could be solved with a pen stroke from DC today.
mulmen 3y ago
Jobs aren’t a complete solution. Especially not low-skill industrial jobs. Some of these people are incapable of employment. They need full time professional care. It is a mental healthcare issue. Since the feds gutted mental healthcare under Reagan they can fix it too. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_Health_Systems_Act_of_1980 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_Health_Systems_Act_of...

epistasis 3y ago

All of these problems are downstream of California cities refusing to build enough housing to meet demand. The homeless population is not fixed, it's a continuous stream of people becoming homeless, and some finding housing or leaving the area or dying. The inflow rate of people entering homelessness is a regional problem; once you're homeless it's hard to go very far. So regional areas in charge of determining housing levels (the Regional Housing Needs Allocation process) has been messed up for a long time. It's finally getting fixed by state level policy. Until California decides to build enough housing in order to house a person on minimum wage, then we will continue to have this people. Its not every state that has this problem, only those with housing so much more expensive than wages.

xenospn 3y ago
I know life is hard and shit happens, but I refuse to believe that, except for very few edge cases, people who are staring down homelessness just decide to stay in one of the most expensive places in the world and live on the street rather than move somewhere cheaper And find a cheap apartment. It makes absolutely no sense. I think if you do decide to stay in Los Angeles, when you have no job, no prospects, no family, no money and no place to live, you should be declared as someone who is unable to care for themselves.
- CapstanRoller 3y ago
  Do you believe uprooting and finding a new job and apartment is easy for the average person? Have you ever talked to someone outside of the FAANG crowd who makes normal wages?
- epistasis 3y ago
  Say you have a job, friends, a small support network, and are living on the edge, paycheck to paycheck. You don't have $800 in the bank to travel to a cheaper area and try to find a job and an apartment. You are just struggling to get by. Then your car breaks down, and you can't get to work, and you have less pay, or maybe even lose your job. You lose your apartment, and are stuck with no money, and no way to travel. What do you do? Leave everything you know? Is this really so implausible? This is the story of so many people who are homeless. Not everyone, but many. There are a thousand paths into homelessness, but falling into it though unexpected expenses is extremely common