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87 sats \ 45 replies \ @SimpleStacker 10 Jan \ parent \ on: What To Do about Homelessness Politics_And_Law
I don't disagree. But I just think the "housing first" advocates are delusional because they refuse to acknowledge any solution other than housing, and that actually hinders solutions because they won't acknowledge drug abuse as a problem. (These are the people that tend to support things like safe injection sites and laws against clearing homeless encampments off the streets.)
Michael Shellenberger wrote about this in San Fransicko. One of the interesting things in the book is that one of the professors most associated with housing first ideas has agreed that the advocates have gone too far with his ideas.
But I just think the "housing first" advocates are delusional because they refuse to acknowledge any solution other than housing,
100%
It is indeed complex and more than housing. Its a loss of community as well and where the cost and regulation of housing comes into play is around providing shelter for these chronic. There are many stories of individuals and no-profits trying to fix this aspect. Creating communities for those with mental and drug issues. The governments get in the way. Some of this is due to the public not wanting these people to exist. I see this problem every time I visit a city in California.
Tiny house communities are shut down when attempted. Just having a roof and a door is a luxury we take for granted. I would take those in "public" office more seriously if they tried to get out of the way more and let those trying to actually help, do it.
We have some amazing organizations in my county that are funded by the public (voluntarily) and businesses. They do amazing work. I'm convinced if the state(government) would get out of the business of "helping" more could be done.
Don't get me started on the tax money that is just blown into the wind by the governments. These private orgs are far more efficient and focused.
So many things that politicians and gov officials say about homelessness sound good but in practice they make the issues worse. What's worse is that as I've followed this issue for years I have seen how cities just copy each other doing the same stupid things over and over again.
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You might like to look into how these situations were handled before the “progressives” got their hands on the levers of power. Almost everything was handled by voluntary charities that got their monies from the general public (not as taxes). They were very efficient and generated community.
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I have looked and you are correct. When I talk about helping the needy through voluntary means many of my more progressive friends doubt it would work. We have been told this over and over in history but its a lie.
Americans are very generous.
I usually try to explain how wasteful government aid programs are and how terrible they are at avoiding grift. When you have private charities they are always gonna be better at figuring out who really needs help vs. who is just milking the system.
I've seen this over the years in churches and charities.
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Here is another reframing: Government aid programs are not wasteful and the money goes right to where THEY want it to go, to them. THEY get their hands in the cookie jar and crumbs around their mouths, then deny the situation. Psychopaths one and all.
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One possibility is that voluntary charity orgs self-select for people that actually care about solving the problem.
Whereas government-run social services will select for people who want cushy jobs and prestigious titles and political careers. They aren't as likely to actually care about helping the poor.
(By select, I just mean the intentional or unintentional process by which these organizations end up staffing their positions)
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Yes, self-selection into the kinds of organizations and projects being done is rife in the system. However, how would you do it any other way. Other ways would involve the lack of freedom demonstrated by the bolsheviks.
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The point is that voluntary charities may solve the problems more efficiently because they tend to be staffed by people who actually care.
The state/gov has no business doing any of this. That's my thought.
I totally agree with that. I'd say it's actually way more than two problems. Everything that makes it harder to afford and find housing plays a role, which means everything that makes it harder to find and hold employment plays a role, which means...
Basically, the progressive political bundle leads to homelessness, which makes it almost impossible to address in progressive cities.
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The slim ray of light is that California seems to be waking up from the progressive delusion they've been experiencing for past few decades. Emphasis on the word seems.
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I think that the fires are going to cause a lot of waking up in the very near future. Their insurance was cancelled just weeks before the fires, for instance. Perhaps there will be a sea change in Hollywood when they understand they have been abandoned to their own resources, too, just like the rest of us.
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they can ignore inflation and immigration and crime but they can't ignore their house being destroyed via fire
if this doesn't wake them up, then we need to shoot them
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What you might be saying is that tough love might be a lot more effective than warm and fuzzy treatment, am I correct? I quoted C.S. Lewis about what I think the problem is: the overlords think they know best.
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I think that the “housing firsters” have their hands in the cookie jar. Perhaps they are absconding with the monies that were intended to ensconce people in housing. Just a thought on the motivations and incentives behind what is going on on the west coast.
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Well, there is another way to state the problem, reframe it, if you will. The cronies of the state that profit from the ill gotten gains of taxation prefer to have their building projects state financed so they can rake off the profits privately. If said like that, you can see the problem and solutions more clearly.
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Yes, that way they can get more money to get more staffing beneath them and get raises for doing a whole lot of nothing.
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just shoot them
it's not like they have family and friends who will miss them
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