Lack of affordable housing leads to homelessness. It's time to also look at evictions and how the systemic approach to putting people out of their homes leads to an increasing number of homeless individuals and their families.
Same as Dems, ignore it or criminalize being unhoused. In case you haven't noticed, the cities enacting cruelty towards unhoused people are Dem-conttolled
Are Americans going to sit idly by and wage a war of words on social media while people are ferried off to concentration camps? Probably. Maybe Netflix will produce a biopic about it in ten years and everyone can debate the finer points of the cinematography.
There are people on the ground every day, building community, sharing resources, doing what we can with what little we have, to make a difference.
But to notice that you have to be involved.
There is no easy answer to this great problem. There is no country without homelessness. Homelessness is a complex issue that is difficult to eliminate and is caused by many factors, including poverty, lack of affordable housing, and mental health issues.
Japan
Has a rate of homelessness of around 0%, with roughly one homeless person per 34,000 residents. Japan's strategy to reduce homelessness includes providing access to resources, permanent shelter, and community assistance.
If this is a path forward, my small college town (50,000 max) does not have the resources. There aren’t enough high paying jobs and the tax rate is high. The homes are very expensive.
So - can the state help? Can the Feds help?
That is so sad. Unfortunately, Americans will have to fight hard to protect the most vulnerable in society with the new administration. Canada will be similarly challenged.
According to the extremist Republican SCOTUS majority, any of us who sleep outside may be guilty of a crime for doing so.
Privatize the carceral system, starve the education system, split society into the 'haves' and the 'noughts', leave an anemic, compliant middle just for 'insulation' from rage.
Really appreciated all the Biden Harris libs constantly telling me that people aren't struggling when I criticized the campaign for not acknowledging how bad things are for so many Americans. That worked out great.
Those policies are bandaids on bullet wounds, and she failed to address many significant drivers of economic hardship at all. There's a reason United Health dropped a Brinks truck on her campaign.
So you needed to hear specifically that the homeless crisis is mostly families with young children and seniors on fixed incomes? Which Harris promised to help both
How dare you criticize the greatest economy the world has ever seen smh don't you know Biden is the best president ever and fixed everything wrong with the economy?? Damn tankies smh my head
Almost everyone meanwhile there are still millions of USians who own two or more houses — the vast majority of whom have never known any real financial hardship in their lives
Corporations n developers are buying houses/Apt buildings with cash, leaving the market unaffordable n ppl out on the streets. Now, homelessness is being treated as a crime. Those for-profit prisons need to keep chugging along! When only the wealthy are left is it still a class war?
It's only going to get worse! A super who is a friend of mine told me a 2 1/2 bedroom apt. in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn the mgt. company is renting out, want 5K a month! Disgusting!!
Even with social security as it exists, the percentage of homeless single adults aged 50 or older has climbed steadily, from 11 percent in the early 1990s to 37 percent in 2003, and now to nearly 50 percent!
GOP policies will only increase the numbers of needy seniors on the street.
It's a crime against humanity to have so much homelessness in the richest empire in history. Housing should not be commodified in the first place. This is just rent seeking at its worst.
This is data from Jan 2023 and includes people homeless due to “devastating natural disasters and a surge of migrants.”
Homeless are sheltered & unsheltered.
“Homelessness among veterans dropped 8% to 32,882 in 2024. It was an even larger decrease for unsheltered veterans, declining 11% to 13,851.”
I don’t think we should have no zoning, but we should make it easier to build housing like limiting petitions, streamlining permitting, allowing for more duplexes/ADUs, legalizing dormitories w/ shared bathrooms & kitchens, & tax credits for converting office space to apartments.
The housing crisis is so bad it needs an all of the above approach. Both regulatory reform (what I wrote above), enhanced LIHTC, public housing, & office to residential conversions. More housing means landlords have to fix what they own to compete. More housing hurts landlords, but I see your point
When they make homelessness, vagrancy and degeneracy into felonies it results in:
•Removal from voting rolls.
•Ineligibility for public benefits and/or assistance
•Creation of a permanent class of second tier citizens who become serfs/indentured
Only ineligibility during incarceration. SSDI benefits resume again immediately on release. SSI benefits resume immediately unless the period of incarceration was more than 12 months.
Correct. And your spouse and family can continue to receive benefits while you are incarcerated. You do have to start all over and file again if it's >12 months
I edited this article once
(I don't believe criminalization of homeless is motivated by SSA benefit cuts)
I sat on the Iowa Council for Homelessness for years. Who really gets lost are kids. Teens will stay with friends, especially to stay at their school. That really troubled me.
Over the last couple of years I noticed lots of storage facilities going up. I really think it’s because people are being forced to store their belongings while they live in their cars.
An appalling statistic, especially coupled with this one: there are more than a million completely vacant homes sitting unused in this country at any given moment
Examine state and municipal investment in social housing and you'll see a very close relationship. Private sector isn't going to build affordable housing. This is a global situation.
There was a presidential candidate who offered policy suggestions and solutions for this issue. White Americans chose a criminal who offered only hate and resentment instead. More will end up on the streets before the nightmare ends.
But that presidential candidate also denied that there was a problem in the economy. How could people believe she’d fix it if she wouldn’t admit there was an issue. I don’t think they should have voted for Trump but I’m not going to pretend Democrats handled the issue well
This is a result of everyone not being aware/caring to FIX it.
Corporates are always going to greed, but WE NEED A REAL OPPOSITOIN PARTY to get people to enact some equity through the economic ranks NOW, or this is going to explode into a Depression on its own.
It is likely also related to soaring rates of new disability due to Long Covid, a topic the media and public seem content to ignore and deny. People with LC who want to work are either unable to (yet denied disability or unable to afford housing on disability) or workplaces are full of more covid.
For every homeless person there is a different reason. No one issue is the reason. There are multiple factors for all But I would dare say real estate capitalism is part of many homeless situations
Folks, there is not enough housing. You can cancel all medical debt in America and there still won't be enough housing. Both are real issues, but please don't make today's cause celebre the answer to everything. There are real solutions you can advocate for:
Both are true. It's easier to prove housing price increases because those are hard numbers. LC disability is much more difficult to journalistically prove - without coverage you can't get a diagnosis, and some physicians refuse to diagnose. Qualifying for legal disability is a nightmare
Rumor has it there are 16 million vacant homes in the US. We do not have a housing shortage, but an affordablity crisis, partly fueled by investors, banks, and hedge funds. Nowhere is reduction in said prices ever discussed. No amount of building unaffordable homes will address this.
Oh please. This is a really tired argument and I don't know why it keeps getting trotted out. Most of those vacant homes are not habitable, or between residents, or in places that aren't where the people who need homes are. It's not useful to use the national number of vacant homes for the US.
This is a horrible, and completely incorrect, talking point. Almost all of these vacant units are vacant for very good reasons (between tenants, in a place no one wants to live)
Hey, nobody is better prepared to move to where there are no jobs into houses that have been abandoned than.... The homeless. Famously have lots of capital to work with
Damn if we don't disagree. In 2022, there were approximately 15.1 million vacant homes in the United States, which is about 10.5% of the country's housing inventory. This is a decline from the peak of nearly 19 million vacant homes after the 2008 housing crisis.
I have heard these arguments hundreds of times before, most often more clearly than eloquently than you. You are completely and profoundly wrong here and you are only helping incumbent property owners by pushing this misleading disinformation. Stop now
Agree. We cannot be doing vacancy trutherism when there are people every day preventing housing from being built in the places people need to live in (many of which have very low vacancy rates). These home bans directly cause homelessness.
That number is ALL vacancies, including short term. The vast, vast majority of those vacancies are units which are briefly between tenants. Like the lease is already signed but the new tenant hasn't moved in.
😢 rents are beyond out of control, & there's nothing anyone can say to me that would justify the prices these places charge now. It's insane to me "Housing is a human right" is seen as a "controversial" position to take. something needs to be done. THE RENT IS TOO HIGH!
Make housing affordable with the current stock. Feel free to give tax credits to landlords who rent below FMRs or choose developers who don’t flip their properties after the affordability period.
This happened and continues to happen on Democrats' watch at the federal, state and local levels. #Dems must start implementing solutions to the housing crisis, even if we are fully in opposition in Washington.
.. I believe I saw more homelessness and more of it being criminalized and them being pushed around and having what possessions they do have confiscated . Look around major hospitals and them wheeling patience to the curve and leaving them there .
Hello my friend 👋merry Christmas dear 💝 I'm sorry to ask you here 🙏please forgive me .. can you please donate for us for my children so that I can buy for them more food and bread please 🥺🙏the prices here are crazy high and I can't give them more than one meal a day.. they are sleeping hungry 😞
There's something to be said for that, then; but that still won't bring housing prices down. Removing housing from the speculative financial market altogether is the only thing that will do that.
There absolutely is unneeded red tape that must be dealt with, but there are also regulations that can't be discarded. You can't build homes on unstable ground, or filled with radon. Not should you build homes that will be washed away by a bad thunderstorm. Regulations protect the consumer.
But its for short term profits that some other hungry greeditarian will bank if they don't! /s
The rapacious and insatiable greed of the rich at the top is psychopathic.
And also just can't be kept checked, because why would the ruling class permit their powers to be reduced when there is no pressing threat of revolution?
There was a homeless guy that hung out at the park where I play ball. He didn’t bother anyone, just slept on a bench under the trees. I don’t know what happened to him, but when those homeless laws went into effect they removed the bench. Haven’t seen him since.
And thousands more on the brink of homelessness or living in squalor. Stable and safe living accommodations are becoming a luxury of the rich. This country is being gentrified.
This is the alley beside my house. These are the belongings of an unhoused person. In moments like these, I do hope there’s a Heavenly reward and home for some because, it might be the only one they ever get.
When you see a homeless person, don't assign blame to them and tell them "get a job"
The correct response is to go find the richest person in your community, grab them by the back of the neck, and shove their face in the human excrement on the sidewalk and say "look at what you did!"
The homeless need housing first. They need secure, private places before other needs or requirements are satisfied. Some states, like UT and CA are adopting this model. It seems to help.
CA's work on providing housing has slowed the increase in homelessness considerably. Still much to be done, but it all starts with a secure, private place to live. Housing first!
I know how to solve that give the wealthy and corporations for tax breaks as well as make everything even more expensive by putting tariffs in everything.
Wait till the impact is felt with all this unwanted children.
They will annihilate any savings those poor people had.
It will prevent young people from pursuing better jobs/education. In the name of anti abortion
If Tariff’s are added to this mix it will sky rocket homelessness in the next 5yr
I saw an article state that, “this is the strongest American economy ever.” Using macroeconomic data and unemployment statistics. This right here though, shows why all of that is hogwash.
Cherry picking data is called lying. A lie of omission is still a lie. Saying the economy is great while ignoring the fact we had record homelessness last year and it's only gotten worse this year is shit stupid and completely heartless.
final-stats seems to be upset because I asserted, correctly, that homelessness is not the only factor in the economy. Is the idea in their head that the economy improves for some groups while being worse for marginalized people really such a foreign idea? Anyway, I encourage you all to block them.
Unhoused*** People… in America, in 2024, in what people consider the “greatest” country on earth. Good thing we are entering a Plutocracy with a Slumlord President…
If there are 16 million homes sitting vacant throughout the U.S., and 770,000 homeless Americans (new government estimate, just reported by the AP), this problem seems as though it should be fairly simple to resolve. All we need is a blueprint and the willpower to make it all happen. 🤔
When even Big Money investors can't be bothered to shake loose a little pocket change, and snap up those 16 million houses, you're right - SOME kind of solution ought to be feasible. You know - if anyone CARED enough...
Except Los Angeles County and city of Los Angeles, where are making great strides in housing and health care services for the unhoused. We are no where near where we need to be but we are moving forward! Keep it up!
Fuck Trump but I mean it's not like Dems have bothered trying to do anything either. Liberal cities are the ones enacting cruel ordinances at the local level
Biden inherited a mess. Corporations took advantage and the people that blamed Biden will do even worse the next 4 years. Biden and Kamala were working to fix it. Trump will give more tax cuts to the rich.
Which is one of the reasons why we're headed towards another recession...this type of so-called "sustainability" aint sustainable for anyone but the wealthy.
One party is arguing who to put in Gulag and the other "Definitely Not an Opposition Party" party is ignoring all this because their fffkin charts and graphs say so
JFC that is a large increase. Sadly many Americans still see homelessness as a “lazy” issue and don’t realize many homeless people work 40 hours a week and still cannot afford housing.
The increased demonization/criminalization of homelessness has been very concerning. A lot of money has been put towards furthering that rhetoric. Add in more funding for private prisons, along with legal slavery for those found guilty of a crime, and the picture becomes even more disturbing.
That’s a given. 😉 Even in the area I live-pacific NW-there are efforts to assist people, but if there’s zero plan, things will get worse, then what? There’s going to be a point of critical mass someday. What’s that gonna look like? (I think I watch too much sci fi and horror.)
the Nazi's didn't just exterminate the jews....i fear this is their playbook & it pains me to say this. they are so full of hate & intolerance, its shocking.
What do you think is going to happen when they raise the prices on everything? Obviously, more people won't be able afford to live the way they want us to.
Is that trickle down economy ever gonna trickle down?
Comments
Elsewhere?
But to notice that you have to be involved.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/12/27/homeless-housing-costs-inflation/
All homeless to have homes
https://bsky.app/profile/antiquequaalude.bsky.social/post/3lducnjsy4s22
Has a rate of homelessness of around 0%, with roughly one homeless person per 34,000 residents. Japan's strategy to reduce homelessness includes providing access to resources, permanent shelter, and community assistance.
So - can the state help? Can the Feds help?
https://tvw.org/coming-together-again-therapeutic-courts-in-wa/
https://mayor.lacity.gov/InsideSafe
Privatize the carceral system, starve the education system, split society into the 'haves' and the 'noughts', leave an anemic, compliant middle just for 'insulation' from rage.
"We're going to *somewhat* help *some* *first-time* homebuyers" is what they said.
There is no party who ran on solving homelessness.
Did they say that, or did I have to pretend they did?
Note that I voted for Harris. But they did not promise to solve homelessness, they promised to do other things.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-homeless-trump-vivek-ramaswamy-b2663740.html
It’s not…that Elon doesn’t…suck. This isn’t that…hard. Try and keep up.
GOP policies will only increase the numbers of needy seniors on the street.
#Compassion
“The UN’s housing advisor has accused private equity firms and one of the world’s largest corporate residential landlords, Blackstone Group, of exploiting tenants, “wreaking havoc” in communities and helping to fuel a global housing crisis.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/26/blackstone-group-accused-global-housing-crisis-un
Spoiler: It isn't drug use.
Unlikely greed mongers will admit that part presumably
Homeless are sheltered & unsheltered.
“Homelessness among veterans dropped 8% to 32,882 in 2024. It was an even larger decrease for unsheltered veterans, declining 11% to 13,851.”
Building more housing is not the problem.
YIMBYs are so short sighted.
But basic supply/demand stuff doesn't work when private equity and landlords buy up all the units creating their own artificial scarcity
I think we know the main problem.
https://apple.news/AfpGs_YlbRAWCljGaAE6oaw
So of course we're collectively now rolling it back.
https://apnews.com/article/homelessness-population-count-2024-hud-migrants-2e0e2b4503b754612a1d0b3b73abf75f
Why?
Free labor?
•Removal from voting rolls.
•Ineligibility for public benefits and/or assistance
•Creation of a permanent class of second tier citizens who become serfs/indentured
https://www.ssa.gov/reentry/benefits.htm?tl=1
I edited this article once
(I don't believe criminalization of homeless is motivated by SSA benefit cuts)
https://www.cnet.com/personal-finance/four-ways-you-could-lose-your-social-security-benefits/
Because what harm could another housing bubble cause?
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2024-AHAR-Part-1.pdf
Gosh, it's almost like if folks can't afford to live anywhere, they won't have a place to live. Wild.
https://bsky.app/profile/everwich.bsky.social/post/3leczj4bml22b
This is a result of everyone not being aware/caring to FIX it.
Corporates are always going to greed, but WE NEED A REAL OPPOSITOIN PARTY to get people to enact some equity through the economic ranks NOW, or this is going to explode into a Depression on its own.
Obviously both, but I'd say the system that causes people to leave houses they formerly occupied is a pretty serious component.
https://publichealthpost.org/health-equity/medical-debt-homelessness/
https://www.vox.com/policy/391613/housing-crisis-rent-yimby-yigby-landlord-developer
Trump and the GOP cut assistance and now a black maga in charge of housing .. Trump picked him for a reason.
But, let's not pretend significant work isn't needed.
https://apnews.com/article/homelessness-population-count-2024-hud-migrants-2e0e2b4503b754612a1d0b3b73abf75f
Thanks to several thousand city councils deciding exactly where, when, how, and importantly, how much housing can be built in their communities.
We need more market freedom to solve the housing shortage.
I do not support eliminating the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
Sorry for the misunderstanding.
What is your proposed solution?
And what makes our solutions mutually exclusive to one another?
I think minimum lot sizes, parking minimums, height limits, setbacks and other regulations are the problem.
Regulations do not ALWAYS serve the consumer. They often have unintended consequences, or are used by bad actors.
The rapacious and insatiable greed of the rich at the top is psychopathic.
Clearly they should have just worked harder and stayed off drugs
We live under one party, beholden only to corporations and billionaires.
This place really is just like old Twitter.
The correct response is to go find the richest person in your community, grab them by the back of the neck, and shove their face in the human excrement on the sidewalk and say "look at what you did!"
https://youtu.be/0jt_6PBnCJE?si=qlDui5RyRM4LPMU6
An 18.1% increase in pearls clutched by the disdainful congregations, I’m afraid.
This # doesn’t include those couch surfing, or staying with a relative or those living in vehicles.
They will annihilate any savings those poor people had.
It will prevent young people from pursuing better jobs/education. In the name of anti abortion
If Tariff’s are added to this mix it will sky rocket homelessness in the next 5yr
If there are 16 million homes sitting vacant throughout the U.S., and 770,000 homeless Americans (new government estimate, just reported by the AP), this problem seems as though it should be fairly simple to resolve. All we need is a blueprint and the willpower to make it all happen. 🤔
🤭 Wow! Tact and diplomacy are not your strong suits, gurl. 😄
👏💪💯
Far from number best country.
You can say the economy is booming, but if the only ones benefitting are the wealthy and corporate shareholders, it really isn't booming at all.
You can't keep taking and not giving back before things begin to collapse in on itself.
🎵 1 BEDROOM, 1 BATHROOM, $4,000! 😐 $4,000? 🤯 $4,000. 🤷🏻♂️ 🎵
🎵 2 BEDROOMS, 2 BATHROOMS, $5,000! 😐 $5,000? 🤯 $5,000. 🤷🏻♂️ 🎵
If there is no methodological difference, this would require a major shift in how we view and need to treat the economy.
Still not good if we have been undercounting but less dire.
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2024-AHAR-Part-1.pdf
Is that trickle down economy ever gonna trickle down?
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/29/trump-suburban-voters-will-no-longer-be-bothered-by-low-income-housing.html