Is Homelessness a problem that has no solution ? ...

[dogtag]

This is another field I'm not an expert in, but I wonder if
anyone is. It's caused presumably by a lack of funds.
If you don't have the capacity to earn money then you
can't buy a house or even rent one. There are many other
reasons of course but that's certainly one of them.
Politicians answer is to house them in temporary quarters
but the big aim is to build 'affordable housing', but if they
don't have any money how can they afford "affordable housing"?
So, if they get housed at taxpayers expense then Malthusian
economics will come into play and the numbers of homeless
will increase many times over and neighborhoods will be
overrun with graffiti covered run down buildings.
California has ordered local Towns and Cities to submit plans
for just such. The locals are far from happy about this. They
don't want their neighborhoods filled with deadbeats.

https://nypost.com/2022/07/09/if-we-dont-fix-nyc-homelessness-more-nyers-will-abandon-the-city/

[togor]

Hedge funds and private equity have turned to housing stock as a lucrative investment. So streets of what used to be family homes become managed rental units.

And rent doesn't build equity the way ownership does. Is this the whole story? No. But it is part of it in many cities.

[dogtag]

Building equity through house ownership only works if you
own two or more properties. If you own only the one you occupy
you may sell it at a huge profit but the new house you buy will
eat up all your profit. Yours was not the only house that went up in value.
Of course your new house could be dollhouse size in which case you can
count your profits while eating dinner off the toilet seat.

[dryheat]

I vaguely pay attention to real estate news but I saw a guy explaining why rent is out of control. AZ is popular and the guy explained that a half dozen really big outfits with billions of dollars are buying up everything in sight and turning homes into rentals. It's a long story and goes back to the Great Recession crash and loose money, low interest rates. Anyway they own the rentals and they charge what they want. No one can afford to buy a house because the big outfits are paying over normal prices and folks can't say no to $400 thousand. If I had any sense I'd sell this place. It's double quadrupled in price but I like it here.
Google Who's buying all the Houses for some explanation.

[barretcreek]

Late '70s lived closer to Denver. There was a big fallen down area called 'Tiger Run', population ~10K in late '38 '39. Population zero by '42.

All the druggies are going to disappear one day. One way or another.

[Vern Humphrey]

Much of this thread is based on the belief that most homeless people simply lack a place to live. You may recall during the Clinton Administration, a homeless person was found dead sitting at the bus stop in front of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. There was much breast-beating, but it turns out the woman had a plastic wallet around her neck -- it contained $400, a ticket for that night at a woman's shelter, and had family out looking for her. So she had three choices of places to stay that night -- and chose Option Four.

[lyman]

I am amazed at how crazy his housing market has become

folks paying stupid money over asking for houses

apartments cost more per month, and filling up as soon as they build them,

crazy times for sure

[Roadkingtrax]

Best thing that can happen is a market crash to push out the corporate entities.

Otherwise ownership will become a thing of the past in homes, cars, and everything else.

[togor]

Much of this thread is based on the belief that most homeless people simply lack a place to live. You may recall during the Clinton Administration, a homeless person was found dead sitting at the bus stop in front of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. There was much breast-beating, but it turns out the woman had a plastic wallet around her neck -- it contained $400, a ticket for that night at a woman's shelter, and had family out looking for her. So she had three choices of places to stay that night -- and chose Option Four.

What does this anecdote have to do with the state of housing prices and rents?

No mistake mental illness is part of it too. The government got out of the business of warehousing the mentally ill, and so they roam around the margins of society.

[togor]

Best thing that can happen is a market crash to push out the corporate entities.

Otherwise ownership will become a thing of the past in homes, cars, and everything else.

We are a long way down the road from the 19th Century Protestant notion of capitalism, which was imagined as a method of amassing capital to solve societies problems. It can still be that but there is an awful lot of ownership as a virtue unto itself.

At some point the question of whether it is in the interests of the many to allow ownership to accrue to the few has to be looked at seriously.

[dryheat]

Seems we're going back in time in a couple of ways. Very rich businessmen own the mine, the store, the factory and you work for them and rent their house and buy food at their store.

[Vern Humphrey]

Once again -- homelessness has little to do with the cost of housing. Most homeless people have mental disorders. I mentioned the lady who froze at the bus stop in front of HUD -- she had multiple options for shelter than night, and chose none of them.

If you're looking for a solution, look for one that would help people like her.

[togor]

Once again -- homelessness has little to do with the cost of housing. Most homeless people have mental disorders. I mentioned the lady who froze at the bus stop in front of HUD -- she had multiple options for shelter than night, and chose none of them.

If you're looking for a solution, look for one that would help people like her.

Like what?

Sorry but rent increases are a documented fact.

[dogtag]

With the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer,
how long before the Bastille gets stormed ?

[Vern Humphrey]

With the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer,
how long before the Bastille gets stormed ?

Actually, the poor are getting richer as well -- how many poor people in the 1800s had televisions, air conditioners and so on?

But the homeless problem is not a rich vs poor problem. It's a mental health problem.