Housing & Homeless Problem

[RZehr]

Curious to see what you think is causing the problem and what might help. I’m pulling some comments from another thread (here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3878&start=350 ) to start this.

I actually think the next big civil rights issue in this country isn’t going to be about race or gender but about housing. We are reaching a tipping point in many parts of the country when it comes to housing and homelessness. And it isn’t just the coasts. The solutions are going to take just as much of a re-ordering and re-imagining of our society as other big changes like the invention of the automobile or the end of slavery. I don’t think that is hyperbole. The world we are building now through neglect is simply not sustainable. And no other modern wealthy countries seem to have the same crisis as in the US. At least not that I have observed.

[RZehr]

I actually think the next big civil rights issue in this country isn’t going to be about race or gender but about housing. We are reaching a tipping point in many parts of the country when it comes to housing and homelessness. And it isn’t just the coasts. The solutions are going to take just as much of a re-ordering and re-imagining of our society as other big changes like the invention of the automobile or the end of slavery. I don’t think that is hyperbole. The world we are building now through neglect is simply not sustainable. And no other modern wealthy countries seem to have the same crisis as in the US. At least not that I have observed.

Any thoughts or speculation on what that will look like? Are you thinking land redistribution? More multidwelling units? Etc?

[RZehr]

What makes you think the people in charge have any interest in reducing homelessness?

[steve-in-kville]

Of the homeless people that I knew personally... they wanted to be homeless.

[Ken]

What makes you think the people in charge have any interest in reducing homelessness?

They might start caring if it becomes the political issue that gets them thrown out of office and replaced.

[Josh]

What makes you think the people in charge have any interest in reducing homelessness?

They might start caring if it becomes the political issue that gets them thrown out of office and replaced.

Wealthy, powerful people with lots of money profit and benefit from widespread homelessness.

[Sliceitup]

What makes you think the people in charge have any interest in reducing homelessness?

They might start caring if it becomes the political issue that gets them thrown out of office and replaced.

Wealthy, powerful people with lots of money profit and benefit from widespread homelessness.

How do they profit and benefit?

[Josh]

They might start caring if it becomes the political issue that gets them thrown out of office and replaced.

Wealthy, powerful people with lots of money profit and benefit from widespread homelessness.

How do they profit and benefit?

#1. Gentrification. Mass homelessness drives down property values in working class neighbourhoods. They are then pronounced “blighted”, demolished, and formerly public rights of way converted to private land. Then office complexes, shopping malls, or private condos get built to replace them - with strict security to keep the homeless out.

#2. There is a huge ecosystem of nonprofits who benefit from “services” to homeless. L.A. is spending $3 billion to house 16,000 homeless people. A lot of wealthy people are feeding at that trough and getting even richer.

#3. Maintaining an environment of crime, disorder, rampant drug abuse, needless, and filth keeps the working class suppressed, in a state of fear, and unable to organise politically to demand action and change. The powerful stay in power.

[steve-in-kville]

#3. Maintaining an environment of crime, disorder, rampant drug abuse, needless, and filth keeps the working class suppressed, in a state of fear, and unable to organise politically to demand action and change. The powerful stay in power.

For-profit drug/alcohol rehab facilities are a cash cow in our area... maybe everywhere? Seems like there is always something in the news regarding these facilities and fraudulent behavior.

[Ken]

What makes you think the people in charge have any interest in reducing homelessness?

They might start caring if it becomes the political issue that gets them thrown out of office and replaced.

Wealthy, powerful people with lots of money profit and benefit from widespread homelessness.

Wealthy and powerful people have benefited from all manner of injustices throughout history from slavery and Indian wars to more recent things like the Gulf War and illegal immigration.

That doesn’t mean these things don’t become enormous political issues that result in wars, overthrow of political parties, and social change.

I’m just suggesting that I think it is quite possible that the homeless crisis or housing crisis (and all the associated problems that come with it) could easily be the political issue that drives politics during the latter half of this decade. Not LGBT rights, not race, not women’s rights, not immigration. People will reach a level of frustration with the status quo that could well produce a new political wave.