Quote from: K-Dog on Jul 18, 2024, 10:15 PMExpecting an American Politician to do more than knee-jerk to the homeless problem is wishful thinking. An American politician can't understand that some problems might be the result of systemic system contradiction. It would be heresy to admit to such a thing and it buys no votes.
That said, any solution that forecasts into the future is a MORAL failing unrelated to witch doctor economics, which is the only kind of economics American politicians know. The failing is not one of simple ignorance. There is tacit acceptance.
I doubt your Alaskan Politicians can see themselves in a mirror. They can't reflect.
The problem here is there is no provision in the capitalist system for people who cannot or will not work, for whatever reason, so no housing except FREE housing would be affordable. Before food stamps/SNAP cards, people at the very bottom either stole food or starved, or died from some disease from dumpster diving for food. If they stole, they eventually landed in prison.
Food has become so cheap and ubiquitous in Amerika that handing out SNAP cards so people with ZERO income don't starve means they don't disappear through death as quickly. That means they accumulate on the street. They used to Squat in abandoned buildings in slum areas, but to take NYC as an example, the East Village which was a total slum area when I was in HS has all been renovated and gentrified. There still may be some empty buildings in the South Bronx where people squat, but mostly they were demolished and are piles of rubble.
So, you start with the population of people with psychological problems and drug addicts on the street. Then you have a person who loses his job and gets evicted. He's now on the street with these people. It doesn't take long before he also has a drug or alcohol problem, if he didn't have it before that. Then you add recent immigrants with no job and add them. All these street people are basically unemployable, they don't bathe regularly and they have to move around as the cops come and do sweeps to clear encampments.
Just like the society has to hand out Free Food to people with ZERO income, on the humanitarian level it has to provide FREE shelter. It doesn't matter if they don't have a job because they are Schizophrenic or simply lazy, they still need a place to sleep and to shit and shower. The mindset of the capitalist is "What incentive is there for people to work if we give them a free room and free food?" The truth there is that unless the job pays enough to make the person's life significantly better than just a room with a bed, shower & toilet access, there is no incentive. However, I think most people once they have their basic needs taken care of would choose to work at least part time so they could buy a bicycle and a cell phone and aspire to more and further improving their life. If they are happy though just contemplating the meaning of life and playing chess in the park, that's OK too. As a society we do have the resources to put up basic shelter that is free for everyone.
The society is quite comfortable with people who are born Rich not working. Many an Aristocrat born with some Title has gone his whole life never working, and we are fine with that. But if a person born poor wants to go through life not working, they are supposed to die. If you feed them but don't give them somewhere to sleep and stay clean, they end up on the street. So the common sense, obvious answer is simply to build the housing to accommodate that.
Now, the question is, what type of housing and where do you put it? I think the Modular shipping Conex Tiny Home type housing is ideal for most locations. It can be stacked to get good density and use of real estate. It would come bare bones with just a cot to sleep on, a table and chair, a toilet, sink and shower. Well insulated with heat and electricity.
If the person works and saves money, they can upgrade to buying their own modules they can have towed anywhere in the country.
Prices for your own starter module would be as cheap as $5000. You have a safe place for all your personal possesions to stay locked up.
In cities with empty office buildings, they coul be gutted and a lift system installed that would raise the module to any floor and slide it in place. All you need from the building is its steel framework. Imagine simply sliding modules into this structure.
or this one
a round structure with a central atrium would be very safe with all the entries visible to the apartments.
As long as the modules come in a standard size, they can fit any building design you like.
To move your module into a nicer one than the free ones would cost money and be incentive to work to improve your situation. You get to keep what you have accumulated over time though and moving is EZ. You just ship your home on a Pod moving truck.
I guarantee this would be cheaper than the money currently being spent of the homeless problem. The Real Estate biz will never allow it though.
RE