Homelessness in California Solved

Where is that?

And what if they don't want to be "relocated"?

but her emails

my town passed a law that to be in our homeless camp, you have to have proof of residency or tie to the town...like a hs diploma.

good news, there's now space and i qualify...

Relocation Centers ?  Sounds awful Orwellian.  I guess it's easier to scoop em up there to send off to chumps Soylent Green factory.

Are they going to get to live somewhere nice for free? 

What's Gavin doing about the problem? Isn't he the one that should be doing something?

San Francisco business owner considering closing shop after second assault by homeless person

https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/san-francisco-business-owner-conside...

California Is Getting WORSE, Homelessness And Disease On The RISE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbLnnnQI0xE

Sacramento Hair Salon Owner Says Homeless Crisis Is Forcing Her Out Of Town

https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2019/08/20/sacramento-hair-salon-homeles...

Lock 'em up!

I'm waiting for Steve King's toilet water report before I start taking this story seriously. 

The idea of dedicating unused government property for use as homeless camps is not new.   The idea has been tossed around up here in Portland, and there was even talk about using an otherwise unused jail facility to house homeless people.  Of course, it has to be voluntary (no roundups and people can come and go as they please) and it also should provide on site social services and mental health and addiction treatment resources. 

Seems like a slam dunk way to get votes from the homeowners.

The homeless people whom I know need to have their own secure single occupant living arrangement. (Which is affordable for SSI recipients)

They're not going to last long in a group setting. 

This is what you get when the prez spends all day watching faux news. They have been focusing on the homeless pooping in the street. This issue is his way to bash a blue state. Having spent the last couple of winters in Florida and the Daytona social services office had to move because the homeless camped outside the building. God forbid he tell Florida to scoop up their homeless and put them in camps. 

Gov. Ronald Reagan dismantled mental health facilities and funding for mentally ill. Donnie is grandstanding and has no authority here

The idea of dedicating unused government property for use as homeless camps is not new.   The idea has been tossed around up here in Portland, and there was even talk about using an otherwise unused jail facility to house homeless people.  Of course, it has to be voluntary (no roundups and people can come and go as they please) and it also should provide on site social services and mental health and addiction treatment resources<<<

Isn't this the sort of plausible deniability one might look for to incrementally push the numbing "a little bit further than it's gone before"?

California is so fucked lately.  I live in LA and see many of the 60,000 zombies daily.  Prop. 47 is a major reason we have this addiction and mental health crisis.  All you fucking ‘progressives’ need to shove the fabricated housing crisis up your ass.

There is no solution, and there is no one to blame.

Anecdotal cases such as those above happen in any state with large urban centers.

I see your Sacramento salon owner and raise you a Baltimore pizza guy.  Or a Jersey City deli owner.

Ain't a CA thing.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2019/09/12/why-califor...

A great read, on the zombie apocalypse happening in LA, SF....

Military bases are good places for homeless communities.

^^^^Interesting read.

>>>>There is no solution, and there is no one to blame.

i would say that there are solutions to homelessness. 

One would be to build more actual affordable housing. 

Another would be to address local zoning ordinances that in many places don’t allow anything but single-family housing to be built. I’ve read that in some cities they have the means and desire to build more but zoning laws are in the way. 

Another would be to identify and help those that are in need of mental health care and drug treatment programs. 

I don’t think there will ever be 0% homelessness, but to say there’s no solution to our homeless problem i believe is wrong. If there was a profit to be made in housing the homeless, I’m sure some micro-dosing silicon-valley bro would be disrupting the homeless industry as we speak.

>>>>>If there was a profit to be made in housing the homeless,

Unfortunately there isn't.

They just passed a law here in OR that now allows multi-fam housing in prev. single-fam. zones. This won't help the homeless at all, though, because there is no requirement that any of this new housing will be low-income (see above).

What this law, and others like it elsewhere, will do is ruin the character of many med. sized cities, including ours. Whenever a property changes hands now, be it from a sale or an inheritance, the temptation will be to demolish the cool old houses and put up ugly townhouses in their place. For what?

Profit for the developers.

I'm cautiously optimistic that Opportunity Zone investments, which allows investors to defer capital gains taxation by investing in low-income and economically distressed areas might spark more development of affordable housing where it's needed.

A capitalist solution is gonna be better than a government one, imo

For the developers.

Same as ever

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MqkT4B-9MGk

spot on surfdead.

Homeowners outnumber renters. Homeowners hold all the voting power. 

Homeowners will never reverse the current trend. NIMBY

I realize my "there is no solution" comment is simplistic, but the situation is so wide-spread and exists on so many levels it seems unfixable.

Certainly many homeless are rational people who want to get off the streets & contribute again, but am I wrong to say that a huge segment of the homeless population are people who simply can not or do not want to function in society?

Everyone talks about housing for homeless, but what does that really mean? If the majority of homeless people were simply good people down on their luck there would be definable solutions, but it seems to me the homeless who are really the problem/blight would just make whatever housing is offered into their blighted crash pad, and no one wants that in their neighborhood.

Are we talking about hospitals/institutions for the mentally ill? I guess that's better than sidewalks and the side of the freeway, but that comes with it's own complex issues, and ultimately becomes like prison, and who decides who gets "admitted"?

This is one of those problems where everyone says, "Somebody has to fix this!" But nobody knows how.

saw a homeless dude on catalina. 

guy has an endless supply of tourists and no competition.

Ought to be a song there, Turtle.

>Everyone talks about housing for homeless, but what does that really mean?

permanent stable safe housing with  social services and access to rehab and/or mental health care  in house or nearby. 

The Navigation Centers in SF are a good model, unfortunately too much NIMBYism preventing more of them from opening up. 

It’s not a fucking housing crisis! 

LA voters passed bond HHH (1.2 billion) 3 years ago to build shelters and “navigation centers” (cute word for storage center for junkies).  Not one shelter has been built and estimates are 500k per unit.  WTF?  Its an industrial complex to line the pockets of developers and politicians.  

Look how much these clowns are paying themselves in LA to deal with the homeless.  

https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2018/los-angeles-homeless-ser...

The levels of new bureaucracy to deal with less than 300,000 people in a state of 40 million is insane.

jokes on you.

The working class need more apartments. 

>It’s not a fucking housing crisis! 

just because you can afford housing doesn't mean that thousands of working poor can afford housing. and absolutely, the people who are disabled and living on the streets are there because they don't have access to  housing - and in many cases, they also lack access to mental health and drug rehab. it's not rocket science. 

Since when did living 3 miles from the ocean become a right and not a luxury?

People tend to live where there are job opportunities..and the housing has not kept pace where there are employment opportunities in California. 

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/09/16/effects-of-housing-crisis-h...

>..Homeownership in California is the lowest it’s been since 1950 and homelessness numbers are skyrocketing statewide. Point in time homeless counts indicate 8,022 homeless live in Alameda County, a 42.5% increase since 2017. Santa Clara County is home to 9,706 homeless, a 31% increase since 2017. 8,011 homeless live in San Francisco, a 6.8% increase in two years. 1,512 homeless live in San Mateo County a 20% increase in two years, and 2,295 homeless live in Contra Costa county a 42.8% increase since 2017.

Every year California spends more money on the problem. Gov. Gavin Newsom allocated $2 billion to combat the housing crisis this year.

“I think the housing crisis has been so hard to solve because there are so many entrenched interests in seeing the status quo remain,” said David Garcia, Policy Director for the University of California, Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation.

“It really boils down to the fact that we have not produced enough housing to keep up with our population growth and our job growth in our state,” Garcia said.

In many ways the Bay Area is a victim of its own success. Largely driven by tech, the region is home to nearly 4.1 million jobs. Just after the recession in 2009 there were 3.3 million jobs, that’s a 23% spike in 10 years adding just under 773,000 jobs.

Parallel to that job growth is a failure to build. Supply and demand does deserve a lot of the blame. The state is on pace to build fewer than 100,000 homes in 2019. State research indicates California needs to build 180,000 homes a year to pull itself out of this mess. Governor Newsom’s goal is more than double that, he wants to build 500,000 homes a year to have 3.5 million new homes by 2025.

“Every year that goes by is another year we’re falling short of that goal so I would say it’s not looking good,” Garcia said.

The cost of construction is also a major factor. The Terner Center released a study this summer that found fees do deter development. In particular, impact fees – which pay for local services like parks and schools and vary widely from city to city. Developers can expect to pay $3.5 million in fees to build a multi-family project in Oakland, $7.5 million in fees for the same project in Fremont and $1.7 million for the same project in Sacramento...

Yet rent control limits housing stock and the assembly is pushing thru a statewide rent control, even after voters shot down prop 10. 

prop 47, the kamala crafted “safe schools and neighborhood act” that decriminalized hard drugs to misdemeanor tickets is responsible for the addiction crisis in this state.  Before prop 47 drug courts were able to mandate rehab over prison.  That option is no longer available because banging heroin or twisting the pickle is no longer a felony.

there is zero consequences for sitting on the curb and nodding all day.

nancy, how many tents you have out front your house?  Currently I have 3.  Fuck that.

>>>> twisting the pickle

What's that?

And for the record, I’m good with decriminilzation, but there should still be court appointed treatment.  Prop 47 was to save money from keeping non violent offenders out of prison.  This money was to be spent on treatments.  No money has been put back into treatment.

ballet measures are completely bonkers.

what about for profit treatment centers?

my town is full of them. the owners make bank and when some dude that came from ohio messes up and gets kicked out, where do you think he goes?

With practically no oversight turtle.  Over 1000 rehabs in Southern California alone.  The “Rehab Riviera”.  Rehabs advertise in other states, fly the patient out here for free, insurance runs dry, and boom on the street homeless with no family or support.  But yea it’s a housing crisis.  Funny you don’t see the most vulnerable, undocumented immigrants,  living in tents.

https://www.ocregister.com/rehab-riviera/

i mean, it's hard to blame them. if you are going to be strung out, you wanna be in ohio or california when winter comes around?

I feel for the addicted.  It sucks.  Yet, to ignore the true issue of mental health and addiction disease is negligent of our society.  If you look at decrimilized areas of the world like switzerland, Argentina, etc... the addict still has to come before a judge or a commission.  It’s not just an out of sight out of mind free for all like it is here.  I’m in LA city proper now (San Pedro) and I see people shooting up or smoking the pickle a couple times a week, in plain site.  It is out of control.  Forget the public drinking and smoking pot, that everyone does now.  This is directly accredited to prop 47.  It does not get this bad this quick without bad policy.

and I would walk to Santa Barbara if I was strung out. 

Fuck Trump.

ballet measures are completely bonkers<

Nonsense.  Dance is good for the soul.

It’s cute Francis  is campaigning on skid row today.  The largest concentration of homeless people in the nation.  Go home dude, you’re irrelevant.  Agreed, fuck trump.

>>>>>Since when did living 3 miles from the ocean become a right and not a luxury?

I know it’s not what you asked but it looks like it became a luxury around 1974

Wish I could find something more costal specific.

https://www.realestateabc.com/graphs/calmedian.html

I wish I could afford where I grew up, maybe I should pitch a tent.

The Three's Company fallout.

>>>> twisting the pickle

What's that?

hey Racket can you address this question please? you can’t just throw out a possible new drug-using euphemism on a DBMB and then just disregard it when people ask what it means. 

Real tweekers move too much to be homeless. 

>nancy, how many tents you have out front your house?  Currently I have 3.  Fuck that.

Wait, and you still claim that there's no housing crisis? !

Agreed that it sucks so to have homeless people in front of your house, however it probably sucks more to be that homeless person in the tent. so what's your solution?

You ready to have your City provide free housing to get these people off the streets or not? 

And yes, plenty of homeless in my neighborhood too. They live in the dry  creek bed  a couple blocks away. The local  authorities are being "compassionate" by allowing the practice to continue, well at least until the rainy season. I think it would be more compassionate to create permanent housing for them. 

>I wish I could afford where I grew up, maybe I should pitch a tent.

Yeah, looks like tons of fun. Go for it..

Like I said, I am eligible. They kicked out 3/4 of the camp, which was full. One of the reqs is a hs diploma from the city. I could be 10 min walk to the beach. Should do that and get a gymn membership for showers.

I don’t envy the homeless. 

I also think there are lots of people in our country who think the homeless deserve what they get, because they must have either fucked up badly or are too lazy to afford housing. 

>>>so what’s your solution

Ill speak at the city of LA level for the most part.

1.  Treat the crisis for what it is, mental health and addiction, not that the rent is to high, or the zoning laws are to restrictive.  

2.  Better use of funds.  500k for a one bedroom unit that will take 10 years to build is not sustainable, realistic, or necessary and is gouging the tax payer.  Use these funds for mental health hospitals and addiction centers with court ordered treatment.  Open emergency triage shelters now.  people are living in fema trailers years after major disasters.  Get some trailers going now, treat this like a natural disaster.

3.  State level, “Gravely Disabled” needs to be redefined.  AB-1572 looked promising but was stalled, earlier in the year. 

4.  Prop 47 needs revised, to bring back some form of drug court.  The experiment is failing.  Where are the savings funds, that prop 47 was to reinvest into treatment?  It’s been 5 years.

5.  Fight Martin vs Boise in Supreme Court

Those band aid solutions won't solve the current housing crisis or even address it long term, but alas, one need to admit that there is housing crisis before it can be addressed. 

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/09/16/effects-of-housing-crisis-h...

The market will correct itself.  It is not a housing crisis.  Why wasn’t California saving all the vacant housing being torn down by developers in 2009, because there were no buyers?

On a serious note. While they were here today Ben Carson was told that if he behaved, they could go to Legoland later this evening when they get down to LA. Maybe this is all somehow connected? They were talking about some sort of big announcement being made at a homeless encampment they will visit on the mean streets of Bel Air. Lego housing for the homeless! It's brilliant! But! Alas... at a campaign fundraiser today where they all had lunch at a home in the another tough town here in Northern California known as Portola Valley, they took everyone's cell phones and chargers to prevent any leaks of any sort onto Facebook live or YouTube. Well the cellphones being returned to the correct owner was handled fairly well by Housing Secretary Carson...it was after all a house so he was sort of put in charge...But! And there's always a Butt present with this gang, the chargers all looked the same and complete chaos broke out in the foyer of the home in the ghetto. People are demanding a complete investigation in what is rapidly becoming known as Cell Phone Charger Gate. Then they just left town! But not before stopping at the Home Depot in Mountain View on the advice team put in place. The Air/wind & Hair cabinet appointees stay pretty much behind the defense departments guide but their job is of utmost importance. It seems the wind level exceeded the favored knots and a "code red " possible windage to cause hair issues on airport runways alert was privately messaged to the leader. So a deal was quickly had on a bulk purchase by the defense department at the administration insistence that this is all part of security. Only $1.3 million for 10 huge wind screens that they just left behind. Geez. 

Those band aid solutions won't solve the current housing crisis or even address it long term, but alas, one need to admit that there is housing crisis before it can be addressed. 

https://vivalazone.org/other-stuff/housing-crisis

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-09-17/la-county-supervisor...

Looks like Martin vs. Boise will be challenged.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TWrJAaUU1r8

The Dead Kennedys-Kill The Poor

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k25v76mw4ag

The Mothers Of Invention-Concentration Moon

Why not bring back some WPA inspired programs?  This would create jobs, where the homeless could build housing and perform other needed infrastructure tasks.  It would give the mentally and physically capable folks who are living out on the tiles a sense of self-worth, an income, and a place to stay.   Those who are too mentally or physically challenged to contribute and don't have family resources to care for them should be institutionalized with proper housing, counseling and medical care all subsidized by Big Pharma, the Liquor and Tobacco industries.

A facebook comment I saw today from a friend who works for Earthjustice, and environmental legal organization that is also involved in the homeless crisis in SF (Thom would HATE these bleeding heart do-gooders!) that I think is in line with my thinking on the difficulty of these issues...

"it's really hard to see improvements. the number of homeless are growing. the number of people with mental health and addiction issues seems to be growing. with each success comes several more failures. But it's worth the money to try and help those few people who can be helped. But what to do about the larger problem and how to solve it in a more visible and meaningful way. Do you force people into services? It's not really effective. At the same time, i saw a woman wandering the streets today in a hospital gown - that doesn't seem to be humane for her or for anyone else sharing the sidewalk with her." 

IMO this issue is both a housing crisis and a mental health/addiction crisis. Housing costs for those who want to and are able to work but simply can't afford rent is a housing crisis, and then there's the crisis of the ever-growing number of people suffering with mental health and addiction issues, who often can't or won't work and don't want to be helped, which IMO is the much bigger, much more difficult (impossible?) issue to solve.

Those are the people we step over on the streets and it's their feces we dodge like hopscotch when we're walking to the show at the Warfield. It's those people who commit so much crime to support their habits, and those are the people who's numbers are growing with no end in sight.

What do we do for those people? Where do we put those people? If we had proper facilities how do we force them to stay?

The questions are easy to come up with, and it's easy to say we need more mental health support and social programs, but factual, realistic answers that will actually work are what no one can come up with, which is why I glibly say there is no solution.