4 ms·

The main cause of homelessness is a lack of political will to fix the issues. When Utah does a better job on a social issue than California or even Oregon, it's

by olefoo 13y ago

The main cause of homelessness is a lack of political will to fix the issues. When Utah does a better job on a social issue than California or even Oregon, it's not because of a lack of resources ( CA, OR and WA all have greater GDP ) it's because we can't for all our vaunted liberality bring the resources together with the people who need them. Whether it's providing "wet beds" for people who aren't able to stay clean or just a straight up housing subsidy until everyone who needs a place is taken care of; it's not that hard. Except at the level of convincing voters to approve it. In many cases a direct housing subsidy would save taxpayers money on multiple levels, but we have large segments of the electorate that are emotionally driven by a refusal to help the indigent. Often framed as a disgust for moochers. A disgust which oddly never gets applied to bankers and lawyers the real parasites on the body politic.

bayesianhorse 13y ago
Actually it's not as easy as that. Granted, subsidies do help. But for example in Germany, where virtually anybody could get a social welfare which covers housing, we still have homeless people. Homelessness is also quite often a problem of mental health, which prevents them to seek help they are entitled to, or to improve their situations on their own, when they are otherwise capable of that.
- eli_gottlieb 13y ago
  >Homelessness is also quite often a problem of mental health Provided that you've already set up a system to help the people who merely need economic assistance. Germany vs America right now are two very different situations, precisely because Germany provides more economic assistance for the mentally sound.
- bertil 13y ago
  After living in France for most of my life, I can confirm this is true: underinvestment remains the main choke-point though. Homeless shelters can be violent and unsanitary places; before making them psychiatrically sound, you need to increase their ability to separate visitors. I am not in Scandinavia, were homelessness can not be a year-long issue (-30°C day round). There are far less beggars even in Summer because the State is not just more generous, but seemingly a lot less focused on red-tape. Most cases of denying help that I’ve heard (from charity work and working at a teacher in jail) were related to not ticking the right boxes, something for which mental health is a big handicap, but being sane isn’t remotely enough. For instance, what appears to be the main trigger for homelessness is a couple separation: the less motivated employee, gets fired and can’t pay for his temporary accommodation anymore. That is a classic case where leniency in proving you can’t live in the house in which you are registered helps.
deleted 13y ago
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by olefoo 13y ago

bayesianhorse 13y ago

Actually it's not as easy as that. Granted, subsidies do help. But for example in Germany, where virtually anybody could get a social welfare which covers housing, we still have homeless people. Homelessness is also quite often a problem of mental health, which prevents them to seek help they are entitled to, or to improve their situations on their own, when they are otherwise capable of that.

eli_gottlieb 13y ago
>Homelessness is also quite often a problem of mental health Provided that you've already set up a system to help the people who merely need economic assistance. Germany vs America right now are two very different situations, precisely because Germany provides more economic assistance for the mentally sound.
bertil 13y ago
After living in France for most of my life, I can confirm this is true: underinvestment remains the main choke-point though. Homeless shelters can be violent and unsanitary places; before making them psychiatrically sound, you need to increase their ability to separate visitors. I am not in Scandinavia, were homelessness can not be a year-long issue (-30°C day round). There are far less beggars even in Summer because the State is not just more generous, but seemingly a lot less focused on red-tape. Most cases of denying help that I’ve heard (from charity work and working at a teacher in jail) were related to not ticking the right boxes, something for which mental health is a big handicap, but being sane isn’t remotely enough. For instance, what appears to be the main trigger for homelessness is a couple separation: the less motivated employee, gets fired and can’t pay for his temporary accommodation anymore. That is a classic case where leniency in proving you can’t live in the house in which you are registered helps.

deleted 13y ago

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