Hunger and Homelessness

[rjs330]

What services? I've not seen a cop in my area in the 12.5 years I've lived here except for the time my neighbor's cattle broke through his fence and ended up on my property. Meanwhile, I pay for water and electricity. I have septic. I paid for all the federal services I'll ever need in my working years, and then some. I pay $60 or so for tabs for each of my four cars and tax on the gas I buy. That covers the roads. I have no children in public school. So what service am I getting and not paying for?

BTW, to put a dollar value on it, for 32 acres, a 13 year old home, a 3 year old shop building and a 40x60 barn, my property taxes are approximately $325 a year. I get about a 25% reduction because I'm over 65. Also, I needed no permit to build the building. This list is one of the reasons I moved here. I could not afford to live at all on SS if I still lived in Seattle. And I actually enjoy a BETTER standard of living here than I did there, regarding my own personal needs. In Seattle, I could walk a block or two to get to a starbucks. Here, I walk a half mile and I'm still on my own property. But my Keurig machine covers the coffee part.

Look out, someone is going to get jealous! How dare you have have so much when others have so little. You need to give more! Your years of working and paying and providing to this economy, people's jobs etc means nothing.

 

[rjs330]

whoa wut? When in the last 9 pages did you do that? The evidence is pretty clear that homelessness is driven largely by housing costs, moreso even than poverty or addiction.

How Housing Costs Drive Levels of Homelessness

A new analysis of rent prices and homelessness in American cities demonstrates the strong connection between the two: homelessness is high in urban areas where rents are high, and homelessness rises when rents rise.

www.pewtrusts.org

No the majority of homelessness is due to people not having a job. The majority of those living in the streets do not have jobs.

Most of them do not have jobs because they can't hold one down due to their issues. Addictions, personality issues, mental health problems etc. all play a part.

Chronic homelessness is the result. There are those who are temporarily homeless due to the cost of housing and working. But they eventually get housing.

 

[rjs330]

true problem with that line of thought is that in the meantime the children suffer which particularly very young children can do NOTHING about.

Yes it may be a problem but it's one that needs to be corrected. Societal pressure can aid in fixing these issues. We don't let kids starve in this country. The majority of poor kids here eat just fine and are often more obese. If some go hungry it's not our fault. We provide a LOT of assistance for this.

 

[iluvatar5150]

No the majority of homelessness is due to people not having a job. The majority of those living in the streets do not have jobs.

Even if that were true (it’s not, because housing costs are a bigger indicator than poverty), it’s a lot easier for someone out of work to scrape together $600/mo for rent than it is to scrape together $2500/mo.

 

[Reasonably Sane]

That article is nothing but sympathetic rhetoric with no basis in reality. Right now in the city where I live there are a lot of homeless people. They are all either mentally ill or addicts if some kind. Some have severe personality disorders as well which could have been brought in by the addictions.

Go to ANY homeless camp and walk through it and you will find these things are present.

There ARE those that prefer to be homeless. I've talked to them. Are there a lot of them? No.

Look I've been dealing with the homeless for 40 years now. 75% of homeless have had addiction problems for a long time even before they were homeless.

Keep in mind I am taking about the chronically homeless. A LOT of these statistics that people like to use. Include the temporary homeless. Someone who just lost a job, got evicted or kicked out of their residence by roommates etc. That is NOT who I am talking about.

Many chronically homeless absolutely will deny that they are addicted, when it's obvious they are.

Those are the folks whose choices brought them there. Others the mental issues the personality disorders are also not out of their control quite frequently. There are many of them who have Medicare or other government assistance who refuse to take their medications and some that sell them to others. They will tell you that.

Look don't take my posts as lack of compassion. Actually being honest about what is happening with them is the starting point of being able to help. Because if we are in denial about the causes and problems of it we won't have any real answers as to what to do about it. As is often said you have to admit what the problem is before you can begin to fix it.

I think the article also blamed housing costs. Well there is no doubt that the cost of housing is often high. But look at California and other places that tried to provide housing for the homeless and look what happened. They destroyed their housing. That's not anyone's fault but theirs.

Again, I am talking about the chronically homeless. Most people are only homeless for a short while and are able to get out of it. I lose a job, can't pay my rent and get evicted. I finally get a job, get a new place and move on.

I know a couple of people recently who moved to the coast and we're living out of their car for a period of time. They were homeless. They didn't have any money to rent anything. One of them got a job, round a roommate and now is working and no longer homeless. Another one got a job that is allowing them to stay on the property for now. Those are not the ones I am talking about. Although starting out homeless was their own decision.

One thing different in my rural home area of Kentucky and my previous home of Seattle is that here all classes "rub shoulders" while in the city we each lived in our own silo. This is especially true if you are in a gated community.

That means I come into more contact with "the poor" here than I did in Seattle. And I know people who died of drug overdoses or who's children died of drug overdoses. In Seattle, in my 46 years there, I never knew anyone who died of drugs, not any who's children did. Frankly, These people could not have been helped with money. It's a waste no matter who it comes from. They need love and compassion shared in other ways. And the responsible ones, when their community's economy collapses, move.

I was at an RV park back in Olympia Washington back in the 80's and met a guy and his family that had moved to the area from Detroit. He worked as a mechanic and made pretty good money. They moved because Detroit jobs dried up. That was a man that knew what it meant to take care of his family. Meanwhile, most who lost work there just hung around Detroit and collected government assistance as their homes dropped below $10,000 in value and there were no jobs to be had, for a very long time.

 

[rjs330]

Even if that were true (it’s not, because housing costs are a bigger indicator than poverty), it’s a lot easier for someone out of work to scrape together $600/mo for rent than it is to scrape together $2500/mo.

Oh I don't disagree. Housing costs are nuts. I know. In there area where I live we are not a big city at all, but people love the area and have lived here in droves and it's drivin up housing costs exponentially. Wages have also increased by a lot due to the demand for more workers and not enough people to do the jobs so the competition is high. There businesses everywhere looking for workers. You know who aren't looking for work? The chronically homeless. They stand on the street looking for charity. Which is fine they are entitled to do that.

But I think we can do better for them. It would cost a lot more money of course. And quite frankly I'm willing to pay to get them off the street.

The temporarily homeless are generally the ones who are more productive in society because they want to work want a home and are willing to do what it takes. Sometimes, depending on the area it is absolutely harder than others. I honestly don't know what to do about the housing costs. In a world where housing costs are based on availability vs the number of people desiring a place to live, makes it difficult. And I know that the cost of building a home is largely related to the wages of workers, coat of supplies and the costs of regulatory issues, not to mention the cost of land which is based again on demand. I don't know what to do about that exactly.

 

[rjs330]

One thing to note about the chronic homeless is also mental incompetence. They may not have a diagnosable mention illness but they may also have severe mental incompetence. They just can't function normally.

The chronically homeless that is fully mentally competent, has no mental health issues, no personality disorders or no addictions or any combination of the above is exceedingly rare. These are the folks we really should be taking care of. Spending the money to put them in homes where they can be taken care of so they aren't wandering the streets and living in tents or cardboard boxes, defecating on the sidewalks or wandering from building to building in the dead of winter hoping to find someone who left their doors unlocked.

 

[iluvatar5150]

In case anybody is in the mood to feel lousy for the rest of the day:

'Nobody Had Anywhere for Us to Go': Mom of 1-Year-Old Found Dead on Bus Bench In Los Angeles Says She Begged Officials for Housing Three Days Before

A California mother who became part of Los Angeles’ unsheltered population is mourning the loss of her 1-year-old daughter, who passed away last month

atlantablackstar.com

 

[FireDragon76]

There appears to be a math problem as well. The childhood obesity rate in the US is about 17-20%...or also about 1 in 5. Last I checked, 2 is less than 5, which means that it's possible to have both problems existing simultaneously.

Sometimes both hunger and obesity coexist. In fact, a lack of nutritious foods is thought in some cases to cause epigenetic changes that predispose a child to be thrifty with calories ,which can lead to weight gain. And it's rare in the US that children have nothing to eat for an entire day. Usually, what happens is that there are periods where food supplies are low, and that results in poorer food choices, skipped meals, and malnutrition.

 

[FireDragon76]

No the majority of homelessness is due to people not having a job. The majority of those living in the streets do not have jobs.

Most of them do not have jobs because they can't hold one down due to their issues. Addictions, personality issues, mental health problems etc. all play a part.

Only a small number of homeless are actually seriously mentally ill.. Some abuse drugs and alcohol, most don't.

Chronic homelessness is the result. There are those who are temporarily homeless due to the cost of housing and working. But they eventually get housing.

A sizeable number of homeless people actually do have jobs.

The biggest issue is the cost of housing.

 

[rjs330]

Only a small number of homeless are actually seriously mentally ill.. Some abuse drugs and alcohol, most don't.



A sizeable number of homeless people actually do have jobs.

The biggest issue is the cost of housing.

Not the chronically homeless. The vast majority of the chronically homeless abuse alcohol or drugs or are mentally ill or any combination of the above.

They may also have a personality disorders, or mental incompetence.

Those are the facts. The working homeless don't stay homeless are are not chronically homeless.