4 ms·

I am sorry to hear you feel like that. To offer a counter perspective: I found the article to be unusually well-balanced. It was sympathetic to both her and the

by eshvk 13y ago

I am sorry to hear you feel like that. To offer a counter perspective: I found the article to be unusually well-balanced. It was sympathetic to both her and the landlord. Also, I don't know if the author's detailed description (probably of artistic intent) of one homeless person's life impugns on the reputation of all people who are down on their luck and temporarily homeless. I feel like you are conflating your personal experience with hers. You may very well be morally justified in actions you have taken in your life but it is not clear to me how an article on her is an attack on you or any action you took (say remove carpets) is roughly equivalent to hers (make threats to burn down a building).

Mz 13y ago
a) These articles and discussions of them routinely talk about homeless people in very negative terms that are akin to racism, sexism, or similar. I find that personally frustrating because my status as a homeless person gets used as an excuse to be dismissive of me personally. I feel that is one of my biggest issues as a person on the street. I can manage to keep myself safe, fed, etc. But the stigma when people realize I am homeless causes me problems. I get looked upon with suspicion, etc. This is true both online and off. (Yes, I realize I could in theory keep my big mouth shut about my housing situation online. I have my reasons why I don't.) b) There is no similarity between me ripping out carpets and her threats to burn the building down. The similarity in my mind is that the housing itself was problematic for reasons that are largely out of the hands of both tenant and landlord. In her case, she was in an illegal rental, without proper egress, it's own electric bill, etc. According to the article, such places may account for 10% of the rental stock in SF. To me, that indicates a systemic problem, not specifically about this woman or her landlord. I was training at one time to be an urban planner. I think this is an issue of local laws and policies as well as federal laws and policies.

by eshvk 13y ago

Mz 13y ago

a) These articles and discussions of them routinely talk about homeless people in very negative terms that are akin to racism, sexism, or similar. I find that personally frustrating because my status as a homeless person gets used as an excuse to be dismissive of me personally. I feel that is one of my biggest issues as a person on the street. I can manage to keep myself safe, fed, etc. But the stigma when people realize I am homeless causes me problems. I get looked upon with suspicion, etc. This is true both online and off. (Yes, I realize I could in theory keep my big mouth shut about my housing situation online. I have my reasons why I don't.) b) There is no similarity between me ripping out carpets and her threats to burn the building down. The similarity in my mind is that the housing itself was problematic for reasons that are largely out of the hands of both tenant and landlord. In her case, she was in an illegal rental, without proper egress, it's own electric bill, etc. According to the article, such places may account for 10% of the rental stock in SF. To me, that indicates a systemic problem, not specifically about this woman or her landlord. I was training at one time to be an urban planner. I think this is an issue of local laws and policies as well as federal laws and policies.