AZrailwhale
Diamond Member
Unless you are willing to use governmental force, you will always have a homeless problem. There are some people who are simply either not willing, or unable to maintain a stable life. In my time on skid row, I came to know a number of panhandlers who had corners there. To a man they considered me a fool for holding down a regular job and paying taxes. They claimed to average over a hundred dollars a day and at least one had a car and a apartment not far from downtown. At the time I was making less than ten dollars an hour before taxes. I have sympathy for the mentally ill, I even have some sympathy for the substance abusers, I have no sympathy for the bums and panhandlers. The only way to get the homeless off the street is to arrest them and confine them in some kind of restricted access housing.We should have no homeless problem in our First World economy. There is no provision for excuses in our federal doctrine. Our welfare clause is General and we have a commerce clause in particular that implies market friendly solutions.This has been on my mind a lot lately as it was a problem before but with covid it will be increasing substantially.
It is not just a matter of people unable to pay rents but a range of cost that even landlords face today. A friend is losing her home due to the cost of repairs and insurance her landlord is facing so its been on my mind all day; what are cities and states going to do with all of the misplaced people? A person who is disabled or on limited Social Security only gets about $800.00 a month to live off of. My friend's rent is $500.00 a month and that is cheap when compared to rent in her SC area and would be even if she were here in this poverty stricken area of Iowa. I know some may think just move into some subsidized housing but most of those do not allow pets and she has two well trained dogs that are her constant companions. I know I would not give up my dog if we had a landlord letting us know he was kicking us out after we just paid the rent. Thankfully we own our own place even if it is a shithole tin shed with a leaky roof; it is ours as long as we can keep the property taxes paid.
Why can't cities and counties provide some of their land in areas not in use for people in need to have a tiny house? A place people can call her own while they get through the days here not clumped together like sardines. There are many like her who do not want to live like robots in apartment type complexes and who can blame them. They'd rather live in and fix up a piece at a time a place where they can just be their own person without a lot of hassle without a neighbor within a 100 feet of them. Lots of undeveloped land out there in the states throughout that could house retirees and even a family if they want to live out of the city interiors. Instead our government is spending trillions to develop what??? Vaccines and shit the average human doesn't want and needs no part of???