
Once a national model, Utah struggles with homelessness - jelliclesfarm
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-homelessness-housing/once-a-national-model-utah-struggles-with-homelessness-idUSKCN1P41EQ
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jelliclesfarm
I am trying to figure how one can arrive at a sustainable strategy.

The success hinged upon cheap land and unless we take away homeless projects
out of capitalism oriented markets, it will always be a net net failure
because the rate at which homeless base consumes cannot compete with the
market facing resources.

ETA: what I mean is..I am trying to articulate..market economy is based on
scarcity. Resources are limited. Unless the homeless are catered to in an
environment that is sterile and doesn’t participate in a market economy, they
will always consume from a pool and when subsidized, it will create market
distortion.

Put another way, should the homeless be supported and subsidized within or
outside a capitalistic economy.

I honestly can’t think of any strategy that will work efficiently and
painlessly in the USA.

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milsorgen
It's not housing that is the issue. It's mental health and substance abuse,
but it's easier to decry lack of affordable housing than it is to face the
tough choices we must face when it comes to treatment that will arrest the
flow of those on the path to homelessness.

That said if Utah, particularly SLC is struggling, you would never know it. By
what I see here then just about every other moderate to large city in all the
west is doing far, far worse. Even places like Idaho seem to have greater
issues than what I've seen here.

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jelliclesfarm
There seems to be a lot of bussing of homeless across state lines.

This is something that needs a nation wide resolution. Cities can’t deal with
this...

We do need mental health facilities and subsidized homes for the chronic
homeless in cities where cost of living is less.

I might be a little biased saying this but I see the future in orchards and
small urban gardens that is mostly automated. I don’t mean factory farms and
row crops that are thousands of acres.

It is not so much that they can be used for labour but to give them a purpose
and really low skilled jobs. Not bending and picking strawberries in
California..but maybe picking strawberries in an indoor covered greenhouse
farm in the mid west.

The rehab centers and mental facilities can partner up with semi automated
farms. I say local farms and orchards because that’s all I know and i can’t
think beyond growing food. I am sure there are other low impact/low skill/low
stress jobs in other areas out there that isn’t challenging to people who need
a purpose but still can’t be fully functional productive members of the work
force.

I saw a documentary recently called Seattle is dying. While outwardly, it
seemed to be about the homeless, it is really about substance abuse and mental
illness(sometimes they go hand in hand) and criminal activities related to
drugs.

I don’t understand how asking people who are not capable of making sound
lifestyle choices to manage their lives in high cost tier 1 cities like
Seattle and San Francisco with subsidized housing really helping them? Even
normal people with a job can’t find affordable housing in the Bay Area.

Our farmland is owned by companies from other counties like Saudi Arabia and
China. Why can’t California or Seattle or Utah simply buy land in the cheapest
parts of the USA and run facilities there to give people a resting and healing
place? You can house a lot more people in a less stressful and cheaper place
if it’s about drug rehab or mental health treatment. Of course, they need
oversight. It’s not like it would be run like a private prison..I am aware of
how bad some of them are..

In a lot of cases, it’s the stress of urban life and inability to cope with
work/money/emotions that make people resort to drugs or a mental breakdown.
They don’t need to be in the same pressure cooker environment.

In my Bay Area town, they are looking to set up a navigation center for 45
beds where they’d be there for 6 months. It would cost 2-3 million a year.
Approximate number of homeless is 600-1800(because they are being shuttled
around the Bay Area through the Bart system..so it differs from day to
day..the city inflates numbers at highest to get more funding). 45 is nothing
when you consider that the lowest estimate is 600.

What will 2 million a year get for us in the cheapest part of the country?
Nevada bussed people from their mental institutions to California. How much
land would 2 million dollars get in Nevada? If California would give Nevada
that money it would save California hundreds of millions of dollars.

This fiscal year, San Francisco spent $70 million dollars just to clean the
streets of feces and needles and vomit. Just for street cleaning. In one year.

The situation is insane.

