Gov. Gavin Newsom announced new action to address homelessness and expand affordable housing Thursday morning as he signed multiple pieces of legislation at a press event in San Francisco's Mission District.
I truly struggle with what is the right way to think about the homeless debate. My partner and I debated it a few weeks back after listening to an episode of The Daily on the subject. We were both undecided.
On one hand, we should be humane to those in need.
On the other hand, some peoples situations are a result of their own making, and they are content living without. Regardless of how homeless people come to be that way, they often litter the streets with piss, trash, and drugs, making an otherwise fine area feel dirty and dangerous. Will expanded homeless housing help them get back up on their feet or enable them to continue their current lifestyle?
Housing First is the correct way to reduce homelessness. The main cause of homelessness is being priced out of the housing market, because the vast majority of housing in America is entirely privatized. Plus most public housing in America is not done nor funded well, until our European counterparts.
The problem in America is the housing market is nearly entirely private, zoning laws that prevent dense housing from being built, and the lack of public funded (nice) public housing. Housing is first and foremost an investment here, not a fundamental right to shelter like it should be.
Drug addiction is a symptom of late-stage homelessness, not a cause. The cause is almost always the private housing market pricing people out of affording even rent.
Numerous studies show that housing first participants experience higher levels of housing retention and use fewer emergency and criminal justice services, which produces cost savings in emergency department use, inpatient hospitalizations, and criminal justice system use.
For many homeless, the root cause is undiagnosed and/or untreated mental illness of some sort. That then spirals out of control until they end up on the street. Since we don’t give a shit about healthcare in this country, especially mental healthcare, that’s an inevitable result for many until we actually begin to fix the root causes.
The same is true of many drug users. And there is a large overlap on these populations for that reason. Homelessness is hell, addiction is hell, that fix lets them escape real life for a brief period of time. Their illegal actions like theft to fund that aren’t usually about wanting to do whatever it is so much as it’s needing to do it for the next fix, which is essentially a physical requirement to live at that point.
But again, we don’t give a shit about treatment and rehabilitation for drug dealers, throwing them in a box guaranteed to ruin any future prospects, while paying tens of thousands of dollars for prisons is apparently a better investment than attempting rehabilitation with those same funds.
When you then add that even “normal” members of society with full time jobs can’t afford a place to live, you get a cycle that feeds the homeless issue with new bodies daily as people can no longer keep their heads above the water and slip down.
You have a link or episode number for the podcast? I’ve heard this line before about some of them being homeless by choice but I don’t think I buy that excuse. Sometimes the shelters are more dangerous than the streets. Instead of sleeping 2 blocks away from the crazies they’re in the next bunk. And while I’m sure a few are claustrophobic I’m willing to bet a vast majority want a solid roof over their heads.
Maybe I didn’t state it well, but homeless by choice is maybe slightly different than how I imagine it. I imagine it might be more like complacency like how some people never leave entry level jobs.
I truly struggle with what is the right way to think about the homeless debate. My partner and I debated it a few weeks back after listening to an episode of The Daily on the subject. We were both undecided.
On one hand, we should be humane to those in need.
On the other hand, some peoples situations are a result of their own making, and they are content living without. Regardless of how homeless people come to be that way, they often litter the streets with piss, trash, and drugs, making an otherwise fine area feel dirty and dangerous. Will expanded homeless housing help them get back up on their feet or enable them to continue their current lifestyle?
I don’t know what the right answer is.
Housing First is the correct way to reduce homelessness. The main cause of homelessness is being priced out of the housing market, because the vast majority of housing in America is entirely privatized. Plus most public housing in America is not done nor funded well, until our European counterparts.
The problem in America is the housing market is nearly entirely private, zoning laws that prevent dense housing from being built, and the lack of public funded (nice) public housing. Housing is first and foremost an investment here, not a fundamental right to shelter like it should be.
Drug addiction is a symptom of late-stage homelessness, not a cause. The cause is almost always the private housing market pricing people out of affording even rent.
https://www.pdx.edu/homelessness/housing-first
This has worked famously in Finland
Housing is a human right: How Finland is eradicating homelessness - CBC
Here’s how Finland solved its homelessness problem - WEF
Uh, seems like an obvious right answer to me.
For many homeless, the root cause is undiagnosed and/or untreated mental illness of some sort. That then spirals out of control until they end up on the street. Since we don’t give a shit about healthcare in this country, especially mental healthcare, that’s an inevitable result for many until we actually begin to fix the root causes.
The same is true of many drug users. And there is a large overlap on these populations for that reason. Homelessness is hell, addiction is hell, that fix lets them escape real life for a brief period of time. Their illegal actions like theft to fund that aren’t usually about wanting to do whatever it is so much as it’s needing to do it for the next fix, which is essentially a physical requirement to live at that point.
But again, we don’t give a shit about treatment and rehabilitation for drug dealers, throwing them in a box guaranteed to ruin any future prospects, while paying tens of thousands of dollars for prisons is apparently a better investment than attempting rehabilitation with those same funds.
When you then add that even “normal” members of society with full time jobs can’t afford a place to live, you get a cycle that feeds the homeless issue with new bodies daily as people can no longer keep their heads above the water and slip down.
That’s not true, the vast majority of homelessness is caused by being priced out of the housing market.
You have a link or episode number for the podcast? I’ve heard this line before about some of them being homeless by choice but I don’t think I buy that excuse. Sometimes the shelters are more dangerous than the streets. Instead of sleeping 2 blocks away from the crazies they’re in the next bunk. And while I’m sure a few are claustrophobic I’m willing to bet a vast majority want a solid roof over their heads.
I believe this is the episode HERE
Maybe I didn’t state it well, but homeless by choice is maybe slightly different than how I imagine it. I imagine it might be more like complacency like how some people never leave entry level jobs.