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0.2% of Americans are homeless. Why is housing always about the homeless? Yes, getting people off the street is important. But there's few other topics where a

by mgfist 1y ago

0.2% of Americans are homeless. Why is housing always about the homeless? Yes, getting people off the street is important. But there's few other topics where a solution that helps 99.8% of people is dismissed because it doesn't help 0.2% of people (I don't even agree that it doesn't help them, but I'll be charitable for the sake of making my point).

MangoToupe 1y ago
> Why is housing always about the homeless? To me, poverty is basically the only thing worth talking about when it comes to politics. Nothing else is going to get me to the voting box—to me, a platform that doesn't focus on poverty reduction doesn't even understand the point of government, the economy, or trying to work together. I suspect other folks who think this way are going to be disproportionately loud.
- spankalee 1y ago
  People in poverty have to pay for housing. Reducing the price of housing helps them, and may even help them climb out of poverty. Building more housing reduces the price of housing.
  - MangoToupe 1y ago
    > People in poverty have to pay for housing. No, they don't have to. That's a decision our society has made, and in my opinion it was a horribly evil one.
    - spankalee 1y ago
      Even if the government is paying for housing for them, cheaper housing means that the government can pay for more people's housing. Building housing reduces the price of housing...
      - MangoToupe 1y ago
        > cheaper housing means that the government can pay for more people's housing. Which we will never do, because it depresses property values. Look "abundance" bullshit would make sense in a continuum of housing policy. But by itself we're just doubling-down on reinforcing homelessness as an american institution.
at-fates-hands 1y ago
Right now in cities homelessness is often associated with addiction or mental illness. We spend billions every year giving these people resources to get off the street, get treatment for addiction or mental illness. Right now? Many, many, many of those people have no desire to get off the streets or get clean or get treatment for their mental illness - despite the copious amounts of safety nets and other programs designed specifically to help those people. I agree, we already have programs designed to help those who need it - focusing on the larger percentage of the population just makes sense if you're concerned about having bigger positive outcomes.

by mgfist 1y ago

MangoToupe 1y ago

> Why is housing always about the homeless? To me, poverty is basically the only thing worth talking about when it comes to politics. Nothing else is going to get me to the voting box—to me, a platform that doesn't focus on poverty reduction doesn't even understand the point of government, the economy, or trying to work together. I suspect other folks who think this way are going to be disproportionately loud.

spankalee 1y ago
People in poverty have to pay for housing. Reducing the price of housing helps them, and may even help them climb out of poverty. Building more housing reduces the price of housing.
- MangoToupe 1y ago
  > People in poverty have to pay for housing. No, they don't have to. That's a decision our society has made, and in my opinion it was a horribly evil one.
  - spankalee 1y ago
    Even if the government is paying for housing for them, cheaper housing means that the government can pay for more people's housing. Building housing reduces the price of housing...
    - MangoToupe 1y ago
      > cheaper housing means that the government can pay for more people's housing. Which we will never do, because it depresses property values. Look "abundance" bullshit would make sense in a continuum of housing policy. But by itself we're just doubling-down on reinforcing homelessness as an american institution.

at-fates-hands 1y ago

Right now in cities homelessness is often associated with addiction or mental illness. We spend billions every year giving these people resources to get off the street, get treatment for addiction or mental illness. Right now? Many, many, many of those people have no desire to get off the streets or get clean or get treatment for their mental illness - despite the copious amounts of safety nets and other programs designed specifically to help those people. I agree, we already have programs designed to help those who need it - focusing on the larger percentage of the population just makes sense if you're concerned about having bigger positive outcomes.