4 ms·

Just to build homes for the homeless. Provide food, water, soap, security. It can't be much more expensive then the millions the government wastes on other thin

Just to build homes for the homeless. Provide food, water, soap, security. It can't be much more expensive then the millions the government wastes on other things.

DanBC 13y ago
plus drug and alcohol rehab, plus mental health treatment.
- chris_mahan 13y ago
  Plus job training. Probably some schooling too.
potatolicious 13y ago
Not quite that simple. Homeless shelters, per resident-wise, are much more expensive to run than an equivalent place housing, well, people like us. Some homeless people avoid shelters even if there are space because they are frequently giant nests of disease and violence. Besides catching some rather unpleasant diseases and pests, your odds of getting stabbed increase dramatically. So you'd have to pay for hygiene, health, and security expenses well above and beyond the norm. And that's just if you want to pursue the "containment" side of housing the chronically homeless. If you want to pursue the "rehabilitation" side it gets even crazier. A large portion of the population suffer from severe mental health problems that prevent them from any meaningful integration into mainstream society, and mental health care ain't cheap. That said I do believe it should be done, but it isn't "oh yeah just levy a tiny tax" territory.
- wehadfun 13y ago
  Give the homeless homes. Homes with lock, bathroom, AC/Heat, kitchen, bedroom, living/dining area, and food. I predict 50-70% of the issues disease and violence would go away if they had homes and not shelters. A security,sanitation crew could probably bring this disease and violence down even further.
  - clarkm 13y ago
    That's what people thought when they first built the projects.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
  - jboggan 13y ago
    I wish it were this simple. Having witnessed two different relatives go through the cycle of homelessness, addiction, and other assorted legal and health problems I can only say that it isn't at all straightforward. I'm not saying that the homeless deserve to be homeless - but there is often a long history of many friends and family members attempting to help to no positive effect. The folks at "Hotel 22" have no lack of truly tragic stories, but the unfortunate truth is that only a subset of them can really be helped, at least helped in a way that we technocrats standing on the street corner with our touch-sensitive radio-linked supercomputers and $6 coffees can be comfortable with. More unfortunate is that those who can be helped look the same as those who can't (to "our" eyes), and including the latter in any blanket scheme to alleviate the suffering of the former can actually exacerbate it - see the history of public housing. I don't think there is any architecture that coders or startups can bring to help this problem overall. I would suggest private charity and learning to identify those who need and truly want help in your personal spheres to be a greater benefit than concocting a grand plan to save everyone.
    - wehadfun 13y ago
      Maybe the word give is the trouble. By 'give the homeless a home' - Provided a safe comfortable home for people that do not have one for FREE.
  - wehadfun 13y ago
    I fail to understand why providing someone a comfortable, safe home to live does NOT fix the problem of people using hotel 22
    - Sanddancer 13y ago
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

Just to build homes for the homeless. Provide food, water, soap, security. It can't be much more expensive then the millions the government wastes on other things.

DanBC 13y ago

plus drug and alcohol rehab, plus mental health treatment.

chris_mahan 13y ago
Plus job training. Probably some schooling too.

potatolicious 13y ago

Not quite that simple. Homeless shelters, per resident-wise, are much more expensive to run than an equivalent place housing, well, people like us. Some homeless people avoid shelters even if there are space because they are frequently giant nests of disease and violence. Besides catching some rather unpleasant diseases and pests, your odds of getting stabbed increase dramatically. So you'd have to pay for hygiene, health, and security expenses well above and beyond the norm. And that's just if you want to pursue the "containment" side of housing the chronically homeless. If you want to pursue the "rehabilitation" side it gets even crazier. A large portion of the population suffer from severe mental health problems that prevent them from any meaningful integration into mainstream society, and mental health care ain't cheap. That said I do believe it should be done, but it isn't "oh yeah just levy a tiny tax" territory.

wehadfun 13y ago
Give the homeless homes. Homes with lock, bathroom, AC/Heat, kitchen, bedroom, living/dining area, and food. I predict 50-70% of the issues disease and violence would go away if they had homes and not shelters. A security,sanitation crew could probably bring this disease and violence down even further.
- clarkm 13y ago
  That's what people thought when they first built the projects.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- jboggan 13y ago
  I wish it were this simple. Having witnessed two different relatives go through the cycle of homelessness, addiction, and other assorted legal and health problems I can only say that it isn't at all straightforward. I'm not saying that the homeless deserve to be homeless - but there is often a long history of many friends and family members attempting to help to no positive effect. The folks at "Hotel 22" have no lack of truly tragic stories, but the unfortunate truth is that only a subset of them can really be helped, at least helped in a way that we technocrats standing on the street corner with our touch-sensitive radio-linked supercomputers and $6 coffees can be comfortable with. More unfortunate is that those who can be helped look the same as those who can't (to "our" eyes), and including the latter in any blanket scheme to alleviate the suffering of the former can actually exacerbate it - see the history of public housing. I don't think there is any architecture that coders or startups can bring to help this problem overall. I would suggest private charity and learning to identify those who need and truly want help in your personal spheres to be a greater benefit than concocting a grand plan to save everyone.
  - wehadfun 13y ago
    Maybe the word give is the trouble. By 'give the homeless a home' - Provided a safe comfortable home for people that do not have one for FREE.
- wehadfun 13y ago
  I fail to understand why providing someone a comfortable, safe home to live does NOT fix the problem of people using hotel 22
  - Sanddancer 13y ago
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]