This article makes the same tired argument that <i>homeless people are all junkies and crazies</i> which gets used to blame the people on the street.<p>It does so in spite of opening with this:<p><i>California saw its homeless population rise by 31 percent even as the number of homeless declined 18 percent in the rest of the United States between 2010 and 2020.</i><p>We know that homeless people travel, that some organizations have a <i>policy</i> of solving their local homeless problem by passing out bus tickets and that some states have actively sought to dump their homeless on California.<p>California has a lot of problems, like terrible housing policies, that contribute to the problem. But I believe California has become the dumping ground for America's homeless and it's problematic to act like California's numbers have gone up because California is behaving badly rather than acknowledge that California's numbers have gone up precisely because homelessness is down elsewhere: California is where some of those people ended up.<p>And California has unsheltered homeless because the temperate, dry weather in large parts of the state make it tolerable to sleep outside most of the time and it's a better option than the shelter system for a long list of reasons, from the concentration of poverty to exposure to disease to the prison-like conditions.<p>I think this article is garbage. It contradicts everything I understand about the topic.<p>I spent nearly six years homeless. I've had a college class on the topic. I still write about it.<p>I think I'm more informed than average about such things.
Been a while since we had one of these "I could solve the homeless problem in a day if they only let me" articles from someone with zero knowledge or experience in the area.<p>From what I can see the author is a self described "climate scientist" (with no academic credentials) who is very popular in right wing circles. You can probably guess what his views on the issue are - <a href="https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-stories-michael-shellenberger-tells/" rel="nofollow">https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-stories-michael-shel...</a>.<p>Substack is very quickly becoming the new Medium.
1.5 million public school students experienced homelessness in the most recent year data is available for [0].<p>Should we also demand that they seek treatment before housing them?<p>[0] <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/homeless-population-there-are-more-homeless-students-in-the-u-s-than-people-living-in-dallas-2020-02-04/#app" rel="nofollow">https://www.cbsnews.com/news/homeless-population-there-are-m...</a>
Interesting article. Several significant, long-term studies are brought up. Calif. spends much more per homeless person that most other countries, but has dramatically worse results. Homelessness has risen 30% in calif, while other states have reduced their homeless populations. Interesting, striking differences.
This is sick. Make the homeless compete for shelters by good-behavior, and use the full weight of the legal stick to force them into such a corner.<p>I see a commentator below putting the onus of justifying said humanity, ne humane discourse, upon the backs of those who object to such obviously wanton cruelty.
Au contraire, mon frere.<p>The fact that human beings are the subject of this article appears lost in the mix.<p>Crimes against humanity should not pose as rationalist technocratism.<p>Solve the "xyx problem" when xyz is a large swath of humanity resigned to grist for a cruel mill. At least pretend to care about your fellow humans.