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I would bet against the US ending up with third-world-style slums. My understanding is that those tend to develop when the rural population moves en masse to t

I would bet against the US ending up with third-world-style slums. My understanding is that those tend to develop when the rural population moves en masse to the cities for better opportunity. The people in those slums are mostly "normal" and have familial support networks; they're just really poor and there aren't enough houses for them. Also, third-world countries have much less state capacity to clear the slums and enforce order. The problem in the US is quite different. The US has already urbanized, so there isn't a flood of internal migration to the cities. Instead, homeless people are either mentally ill or are "normal" but can't afford the cost of housing. The "normal" people are usually able to access assistance like shelters and eventually get back on their feet, maybe moving to a lower cost-of-living area, or maybe moving in with family. The chronically homeless are usually mentally ill. Also, the US has very high state capacity to clear encampments and slums when it chooses to do so. You can generally bet on the US government to enforce the property rights of landowners and evict encampments on private land. There are "a lot" of chronically homeless in the US, but there are orders of magnitude more slum dwellers in the third-world. The types of people are very different in each situation, and the relationship between these people and the government are very different as well. There's simply no way for large-scale slums to develop in the US.

onemoresoop 2y ago
You have some points, we're not at the third-world-style slums level and yet there are people with jobs (sometimes two) who live in their car. That should give you some pondering to do. The situation is worse than it seems, there are more and more people living from paycheck to paycheck mainly due to very high cost of housing, some of them very close to becoming homeless at any time without having any drug problems or serious mental health problems. Some are depressed, yes, but you would to if you were in a similar situation with no hope of things getting better, because things are actually getting worse...
bb88 2y ago
> There's simply no way for large-scale slums to develop in the US. In one sense, that's correct. If there were a slum in the US, the cities could buy back the land through eminent domain and resell it to a developer to build economy apartments. And who would fight it? On the other hand you have Portland, OR, where a lot of people are living on the streets in tents. No matter where you go, you'll see the tents downtown. I was last there this summer, and downtown Portland is just not a city that I'd enjoy. If the cops move them, they'll just move someplace else. Also, it's worth noting, that Portland, OR has a map for the homeless encampments reported to the city. https://pdx.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/c68d1d2e29e444a7b70f20aaafcbfbeb https://pdx.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/c68d1d2e29e444a7...

onemoresoop 2y ago

You have some points, we're not at the third-world-style slums level and yet there are people with jobs (sometimes two) who live in their car. That should give you some pondering to do. The situation is worse than it seems, there are more and more people living from paycheck to paycheck mainly due to very high cost of housing, some of them very close to becoming homeless at any time without having any drug problems or serious mental health problems. Some are depressed, yes, but you would to if you were in a similar situation with no hope of things getting better, because things are actually getting worse...

bb88 2y ago

> There's simply no way for large-scale slums to develop in the US. In one sense, that's correct. If there were a slum in the US, the cities could buy back the land through eminent domain and resell it to a developer to build economy apartments. And who would fight it? On the other hand you have Portland, OR, where a lot of people are living on the streets in tents. No matter where you go, you'll see the tents downtown. I was last there this summer, and downtown Portland is just not a city that I'd enjoy. If the cops move them, they'll just move someplace else. Also, it's worth noting, that Portland, OR has a map for the homeless encampments reported to the city. https://pdx.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/c68d1d2e29e444a7b70f20aaafcbfbeb https://pdx.maps.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/c68d1d2e29e444a7...