Why don’t advocates for the homeless build spacious housing for them 1-2 hours away from DC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That would require MD or VA to pay for DC’s homeless so that won’t happen as the states have plenty of their own too. Also how are you going to force them to go there? Many are from the city and it’s home to them. Where will they get their hooch and drugs? I don’t think it’s as simple as shoving them away. There is a huge system that needs fixing so we don’t have so many homeless people.

The majority of DC homeless are not from DC. Like San Francisco, people from all up and down the east coast, including Marylanders and Virginians come to DC because the city pours so much money into poverty programs. DC taxpayers are taking care of other cities and states’ homeless populations. And now like Texas, California and Arizona, we are taking care of other countries’ homeless migrant population.

Exactly.

So why does it make sense for it to be a DC problem? Build a facility someplace affordable, and no, we're not talking about a "concentration camp" and provide housing, meals, healthcare, counseling and treatment there. They are free to move back to DC streets if they want but they won't receive services there. It's too damn expensive for DC to be the place to deal with so many of the nation's homeless problems from everywhere else around the nation.

Yes you are.

You keep insisting this because your mind is incapable of coming up with any number of viable options that aren't concentration camps. That's your problem, not mine.

They're viable options, apart from

1. people won't voluntarily go to them
2. people won't voluntarily staff them

1. When they realize the services they depend on in DC are no longer in DC they won't have as much of a reason to remain
2. When non-DC costs are so much lower that you can afford to hire more people and pay them living wages it's less a matter of counting on people to volunteer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That would require MD or VA to pay for DC’s homeless so that won’t happen as the states have plenty of their own too. Also how are you going to force them to go there? Many are from the city and it’s home to them. Where will they get their hooch and drugs? I don’t think it’s as simple as shoving them away. There is a huge system that needs fixing so we don’t have so many homeless people.

The majority of DC homeless are not from DC. Like San Francisco, people from all up and down the east coast, including Marylanders and Virginians come to DC because the city pours so much money into poverty programs. DC taxpayers are taking care of other cities and states’ homeless populations. And now like Texas, California and Arizona, we are taking care of other countries’ homeless migrant population.

Exactly.

So why does it make sense for it to be a DC problem? Build a facility someplace affordable, and no, we're not talking about a "concentration camp" and provide housing, meals, healthcare, counseling and treatment there. They are free to move back to DC streets if they want but they won't receive services there. It's too damn expensive for DC to be the place to deal with so many of the nation's homeless problems from everywhere else around the nation.

Yes you are.

You keep insisting this because your mind is incapable of coming up with any number of viable options that aren't concentration camps. That's your problem, not mine.

They're viable options, apart from

1. people won't voluntarily go to them
2. people won't voluntarily staff them

1. When they realize the services they depend on in DC are no longer in DC they won't have as much of a reason to remain
2. When non-DC costs are so much lower that you can afford to hire more people and pay them living wages it's less a matter of counting on people to volunteer

How much would you have to pay people for them to agree to staff your rural concentration camps for homeless people from DC?

[Anonymous]

We need to raise taxes to help these people, get them better services. Golly, this is such a sad thread.

[Anonymous]

More housing will help very few of the homeless. Most of the homeless are mentally unstable or have addiction issues and cannot live independently. Some people clearly need to be institutionalized for their own good and for the safety of the community. Others need in-patient drug rehabilitation services. A small number of functional homeless just need safe, clean housing. It’s a very complicated issue. However, giving everyone housing is just a waste of resources. The housing gets trashed within a year. I don’t know if people understand that many of these people don’t understand the most basic aspects of living independently and being good neighbors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More housing will help very few of the homeless. Most of the homeless are mentally unstable or have addiction issues and cannot live independently. Some people clearly need to be institutionalized for their own good and for the safety of the community. Others need in-patient drug rehabilitation services. A small number of functional homeless just need safe, clean housing. It’s a very complicated issue. However, giving everyone housing is just a waste of resources. The housing gets trashed within a year. I don’t know if people understand that many of these people don’t understand the most basic aspects of living independently and being good neighbors.

The solution is to raise taxes and build a new house every year for these people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need to raise taxes to help these people, get them better services. Golly, this is such a sad thread.

Yes, then we can attract them from all over the U.S. brilliant idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need to raise taxes to help these people, get them better services. Golly, this is such a sad thread.

It’s not my problem that people are attempting to live somewhere they can’t afford, doing drugs and coming here from all over the U.S.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is plenty of cheap land to be had near the MD/PA border, in southern MD and near Prince William County. Build clean, safe, spacious housing for the homeless there & have them live there only. Bus them to & from DC.

Annnnnd what if they don't want to go?

Their options should be: go, be put in prison or find market-rate housing yourself.

+1, or to an inpatient mental health and/or substance abuse treatment center. The government should convert empty commercial real estate to these and offer free tuition to people who are willing to commit to becoming their mental health providers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need to raise taxes to help these people, get them better services. Golly, this is such a sad thread.

All the taxpayers will keep fleeing to low-tax jurisdictions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is plenty of cheap land to be had near the MD/PA border, in southern MD and near Prince William County. Build clean, safe, spacious housing for the homeless there & have them live there only. Bus them to & from DC.

or just bus them to TX and FL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More housing will help very few of the homeless. Most of the homeless are mentally unstable or have addiction issues and cannot live independently. Some people clearly need to be institutionalized for their own good and for the safety of the community. Others need in-patient drug rehabilitation services. A small number of functional homeless just need safe, clean housing. It’s a very complicated issue. However, giving everyone housing is just a waste of resources. The housing gets trashed within a year. I don’t know if people understand that many of these people don’t understand the most basic aspects of living independently and being good neighbors.

+1

The people who are homeless around my neighborhood and where I work in downtown DC do not currently have the ability to live in a home and take care of it/keep it livable. It would quickly become a public health issue with rodents, insects, etc. They clearly need mental health services. But at the moment we can’t force people to do that. So instead they live in a tent on the sidewalk or in a green space and wander around all day or drawing with chalk all over the sidewalks.

[Anonymous]

Settle down folks. Homelessness is an affordable housing problem, not a mental health problem. It's true that a large minority of people experiencing homelessness have serious mental illness, but it's also true that being homeless is really bad for your physical and mental health, so it's very hard to tease out whether the homelessness caused the mental illness or vice versa.

DC has plenty of money to house the homeless. It would save the federal government a ton of money because homeless people have huge medical costs just to get them stabilized before being discharged.

Sending them out to the middle of nowhere is unworkable for a variety of reasons, but I can see how it would be attractive to people who want to get rid of this population for their own benefit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. It would be much more efficient to provide services to the homeless if they’re housed in one place.

Oh! Ghettos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Settle down folks. Homelessness is an affordable housing problem, not a mental health problem. It's true that a large minority of people experiencing homelessness have serious mental illness, but it's also true that being homeless is really bad for your physical and mental health, so it's very hard to tease out whether the homelessness caused the mental illness or vice versa.

DC has plenty of money to house the homeless. It would save the federal government a ton of money because homeless people have huge medical costs just to get them stabilized before being discharged.

Sending them out to the middle of nowhere is unworkable for a variety of reasons, but I can see how it would be attractive to people who want to get rid of this population for their own benefit.

This is a load of crap. A mentally healthy person doesn’t unroll a sleeping bag or pitch a tent on Connecticut Ave because rent has gotten too high. They move somewhere else, whether it be with roommates or to a cheaper jurisdiction altogether.

They do not have the delusions (a sign of mental illness) that many homeless people around here have that lead them to think they’re entitled to like in the expensive downtown core of a major metro area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Settle down folks. Homelessness is an affordable housing problem, not a mental health problem. It's true that a large minority of people experiencing homelessness have serious mental illness, but it's also true that being homeless is really bad for your physical and mental health, so it's very hard to tease out whether the homelessness caused the mental illness or vice versa.

DC has plenty of money to house the homeless. It would save the federal government a ton of money because homeless people have huge medical costs just to get them stabilized before being discharged.

Sending them out to the middle of nowhere is unworkable for a variety of reasons, but I can see how it would be attractive to people who want to get rid of this population for their own benefit.

This is a load of crap. A mentally healthy person doesn’t unroll a sleeping bag or pitch a tent on Connecticut Ave because rent has gotten too high. They move somewhere else, whether it be with roommates or to a cheaper jurisdiction altogether.

They do not have the delusions (a sign of mental illness) that many homeless people around here have that lead them to think they’re entitled to like in the expensive downtown core of a major metro area.

Yeah, why don't they go be homeless in the parts of the major metro area where poor people live, so I don't have to see them!

/s