Homeless America by Chris Hedges

[::: :::]

Yep. It's actually a pretty solvable problem at the federal level. I saw some estimates suggesting that just renting every hobo an apartment for the year might be a 1 or 2 billion dollar expenditure. That's actually pretty affordable compared to most items in the federal budget. It'd be pretty doable if our country gave a shit.

I have a client who's a doc who sees homeless folks pretty regularly at the hospital.

She had a conversation with this one guy who had burned some bridges with the local facilities that help rehouse people (if only temporarily). He had nowhere to go. And they were talking about this same thing: the US actually has the wherewithal to house everyone that can't afford to find their own, if the will were there. He was all for universal housing at first; he thought it might even be deserving as a right for all. But as the conversation rolled around to voting and paying for such things, he changed his mind; he didn't want to pay for other people's housing. It was an odd disconnect that illustrates a bit about where we are politically.

[Sirshredalot]

Projects like building a wall along our southern border? Or a military parade? Or paying for the family of the President to have security while skiing in Europe?

To be fair, a significant amount of the security detail expenditures are pure graft and corruption being pocketed by Trump. Honest operation of security would come at a
meaningfully lesser cost.

[glademaster]

Just in case I missed a post. Most ignorant post i have seen here. Extermination camps are so 1940. Wife volunteers at the library where the hang out. Sees a middle aged homeless guy and asks how he is doing. "I hurt my back and lost my job. Couldn't make the rent and got evicted. My wife and kids have been living in our car and I don't know what I'm going to do ". My wife told him "I hope things get better for you". He left and then came back in. He said to my wife "Thanks, it's nice to know someone cares." What a wonderful woman I married. Good luck to you in your quest to find a woman. Hope you find a good one. My advice Don't fish in the gutter if you want to catch a rainbow trout.

You need some fresh batteries for your sarcasm meter, or you've lost it. Or a little bit of both.

Also, it was real caring of the library to put up those no overnight parking signs a few weeks ago.

[wooley12]

You need some fresh batteries for your sarcasm meter, or you've lost it. Or a little bit of both.

Also, it was real caring of the library to put up those no overnight parking signs a few weeks ago.

Probably. Like I said, may have missed a post.
Library isn't a camp ground. Could use a dirty needle box in the bathroom.

[dan_pdx]

It is disgusting that here in the US, one of the richest societies in history, we have people camping on the streets in many of our cities. It's embarrassing that in many poorer countries there's much less visible homelessness than you see here.

On the other hand, it seems to me that there's a mix of people in our homeless population - those who are just down on their luck, those who need mental health support, and lifestyle homeless / bike thieves / criddlers (this group may be more visible in Portland than in other towns) - and policies to help the homeless don't seem to distinguish between them.

I think the "moral" argument about not wanting to pay for "lazy people" to be housed and fed could be largely addressed by homeless services that differentiate between those populations: Cadillac support for the first two groups and gulags for the last group. Having some jerkoff who drifted up from California in June and has been stealing bikes and smoking weed in the park all summer housed at public expense when winter comes along is a pretty unappealing visual. Now...if housing the jerkoffs saves money in the end, maybe it's something that we should think about, but given what we see around town, I don't think we would get away with $1,000 a month/person to house this group - there would be a lot of maintenance and likely an ongoing drain on law enforcement.

[Bunion 2020]

It should be illegal to be homeless in this country, public space isn't meant to be a campground.

We have the resources to provide a decent place to live for every US Citizen all we lack is the will.

I don't mean a 1 BR apartment and a stipend, I mean we actively find the homeless, determine why and do what it takes to remedy the problem.

Considering what we spend to support some "shithole" countries and bomb the fuck out of others the funding is there.

[PNWbrit]

But what about the American Dream and picking yourself up by your bootstraps? Surely if you can't manage that, regardless of your lot in life, you don't deserve to live. Welcome to Dickensian America.

I mean we actively find the homeless, determine why and do what it takes to remedy the problem.

That''s nearly exactly the opposite of

It should be illegal to be homeless in this country

[Kenny Satch]

Considering what we spend to support some "shithole" countries and bomb the fuck out of others the funding is there.

This....

[GeezerSteve]

It should be illegal to be homeless in this country, public space isn't meant to be a campground.

It was illegal in many localities per vagrancy laws, most of which once made it illegal to "have no visible means of support" and/or similarly broad and vague tests. In other words, in many places it was illegal to be poor. Many of those laws were applied unequally, usually against minorities, and in the 1970s were struck down as "void for vagueness" on the theory that the laws were so vague and inconsistently applied that they provided insufficient notice and were thus unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment due process clause. Those kind of laws have been reemerging as anti-panhandling laws.

In the old days, the vagrants were often taken to the city limits or county line.

We have the resources to provide a decent place to live for every US Citizen all we lack is the will.

It's more than a lack of political will. This is America, where one political party thrives on blaming poor and powerless scapegoats for the problems caused by the rich and powerful.

[dunfree]

Any meaningful discussion re homelessness in America starts requires discussion of Ronnie Reagan's termination of federal aid to mental health facilities. 1,000 points of light aint cutting it.

Yes. As well as the ongoing societal failure in the US to humanely deal with mental illness and substance abuse.

does #vanlife count as "homeless"? Or do the trustafari get a pass because they are rich, white and online?

[glademaster]

Probably. Like I said, may have missed a post.
Library isn't a camp ground. Could use a dirty needle box in the bathroom.

Agreed, it was a bit of a mess out there, but I see those same folks dispersed around town now, and that isn't a solution either. Stop over and say hi sometime you're putzing around the library. My deadpan sarcasm translates (slightly) better in person that it does via TGR.

[Bunion 2020]

That''s nearly exactly the opposite of

Yeah, glad you caught that.

It was intentional.

It was illegal in many localities per vagrancy laws, most of which once made it illegal to "have no visible means of support" and/or similarly broad and vague tests. In other words, in many places it was illegal to be poor. Many of those laws were applied unequally, usually against minorities, and in the 1970s were struck down as "void for vagueness" on the theory that the laws were so vague and inconsistently applied that they provided insufficient notice and were thus unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment due process clause. Those kind of laws have been reemerging as anti-panhandling laws.

In the old days, the vagrants were often taken to the city limits or county line.

It's more than a lack of political will. This is America, where one political party thrives on blaming poor and powerless scapegoats for the problems caused by the rich and powerful.

I get that. What I am counting on is that the next generations finally say they have had enough and there are more of them and they get pissed and vote.

These people are right there in our faces and most of us just look right past/through them. Me included.

Any one of us could easily wind up in the same boat with just a few of the wrong moves.

[homebrewd]

Considering what we spend to support some "shithole" countries and bomb the fuck out of others the funding is there.

The real kicker is when it's the same country for both ends of it, at the same time...

[Core Shot]

Wow. “Homeless” drug addicts passed out in ohare airport.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...e-Airport.html

The neighborhood ain’t homeless. These are people that took the train there. To panhandle in between shooting up and passing out.

They used to rousted and sent to move on.

[Toadman]

Living in a van down by the river has been replaced with living in an RV on any street USA.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/05/us/lo...ers/index.html

Los Angeles
CNN
—
Early one recent Friday morning, sanitation workers, homeless-outreach workers and LAPD officers arrived on a little street in the west of Los Angeles. Jasmine Avenue is lined with low-rise apartment blocks, an imposing Catholic Church, a school and a handful of dilapidated recreational vehicles.

That morning on Jasmine Avenue, RV residents were offered $500 gift cards and a motel room. The city also offered to tow and destroy their RVs. One RV managed to leave, under its own steam, with what smelled like sewage leaking along the road as it left. This clearance is one small part of what has been a piecemeal approach by officials trying to tackle a burgeoning phenomenon of people living permanently in RVs on these streets.

[Peruvian]

Many working class poor can't afford housing so the culture war blaming being houseless on addicts and deadbeats is such an old trope. We need more homes to end homelessness. Duh.

[Cruiser]

I was in Pueblo a few weeks ago and there were a ton of extra homes around that place

[californiagrown]

Many working class poor can't afford housing so the culture war blaming being houseless on addicts and deadbeats is such an old trope. We need more homes to end homelessness. Duh.

Eh, the King County survey of unhoused folks is an admitted gross undercount of the unhoused population and quite biased towards the folks that interact with social services (I.e. the folks who want, trust, and utilize help). According to the survey 1/3rd have mental health issues, 1/3 have substance abuse issues, and 1/2 have a physical disability. The true percentages for the substance abuse and mental illness categories are likely much higher.

Many (most?) homeless folks are homeless because their addiction or mental illness initially caused them to lose everything, and now does not allow them to integrate successfully into normal society (many times they dont want to). the solution for that large chunk is going to be entirely different than the solutions for the poor working class, or physically disabled who do just need a little extra support to thrive long term in normal society. This is fundamentally the problem with the homeless crisis- the causes and solutions are all over the map and the people you are trying to help may or may not be capable of taking advantage of the help provided so its a lot of 5 steps forward, 4-5 steps backward and when looked at through a normal financial lense of $$ spent to positive results, nothing seems to work or be cost effective.

[skaredshtles]

Many working class poor can't afford housing so the culture war blaming being houseless on addicts and deadbeats is such an old trope. We need more homes to end homelessness. Duh.

But that would ruin byate's narrative over in the other thread.

[Peruvian]

Eh, the King County survey of unhoused folks is an admitted gross undercount of the unhoused population and quite biased towards the folks that interact with social services (I.e. the folks who want, trust, and utilize help). According to the survey 1/3rd have mental health issues, 1/3 have substance abuse issues, and 1/2 have a physical disability. The true percentages for the substance abuse and mental illness categories are likely much higher.

Many (most?) homeless folks are homeless because their addiction or mental illness initially caused them to lose everything, and now does not allow them to integrate successfully into normal society (many times they dont want to). the solution for that large chunk is going to be entirely different than the solutions for the poor working class, or physically disabled who do just need a little extra support to thrive long term in normal society. This is fundamentally the problem with the homeless crisis- the causes and solutions are all over the map and the people you are trying to help may or may not be capable of taking advantage of the help provided so its a lot of 5 steps forward, 4-5 steps backward and when looked at through a normal financial lense of $$ spent to positive results, nothing seems to work or be cost effective.

Interesting study here that also confirms a higher percentage have a physical limitation than the housed, a quarter have cognitive disability, and that half have some work income - https://bfi.uchicago.edu/insight/res...strative-data/

[mcphee]

But that would ruin byate's narrative over in the other thread.

Is that a polyass thread?

[fastfred]

Stop kidding your bleeding heart selves

Spent the weekend w a good friend I grew up with whose career is dealing with the homeless

They are all mentally ill and or have drug alcohol issues all of them end of story

The systems. And safety nets are in place and these people refuse any bit of help once they convince someone to take housing and help there are the most basic requirements such as checking in w someone at a certain day and time these people refuse to do such things

My friend stamps paper work because these people refuse to sign their name on anything

"Verbal consent to sign"

Many of these people are in a cycle of drugs dv mental health prison and lacking the most basic life skills there are endless programs my friend offers that teaches things like brushing your teeth

Some even have 'only fans" pages where they solicit prostitution and have cash apps to transfer money men and women.

The stories are endless these people refuse to play by the most basic simplistic rules in society

End of rant

[mcphee]

^your friend has dealt with every homeless person on earth? Kudos.

[KQ]

One RV managed to leave, under its own steam, with what smelled like sewage leaking along the road as it left

Cousin Eddie, that you?


sorry... couldn't resist. I know this is no joke

[skaredshtles]

Is that a polyass thread?

Nope.