this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2024
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The high court’s ruling is already having a ripple effect on cities across the country, which have been emboldened to take harsher measures to clear out homeless camps that have grown in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Many US cities have been wrestling with how to combat the growing crisis. The issue has been at the heart of recent election cycles on the West Coast, where officials have poured record amounts of money into creating shelters and building affordable housing.

Leaders face mounting pressure as long-term solutions - from housing and shelters to voluntary treatment services and eviction help - take time.

“It’s not easy and it will take a time to put into place solutions that work, so there’s a little bit of political theatre going on here," Scout Katovich, an attorney who focuses on these issues for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told the BBC.

"Politicians want to be able to say they’re doing something,”

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[–] [email protected] 113 points 4 months ago (6 children)

To whoever wrote the headline: How can it possibly help?

[–] [email protected] 54 points 4 months ago (3 children)

It "helps" the NIMBYs who want them off the streets by any means necessary.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

"My heart goes out to the homeless, but I don't want to see or be reminded of them"

--Those same NIMBY's, probably

[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The irony here is that housing-first strategies are the best way to do that. They’re also the one these asshats are against.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

The best way that isn't cruel. But since homeless people supposedly deserve it... you have to punish the poor for being poor after all. Sure, they can't afford the bootstraps, but that's not excuse not to pull themselves up by them.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Except the means of helping to get them homes of course.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago (1 children)

These sorts of "concerned citizens" are happy to give the homeless a prison cell for a home.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

they'll happily spend $150,000 a head to make sure those homeless people are housed in a prison instead of near their community

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Not saying I agree with this position, but I’ll pass along the argument that CA’s governor makes.

CA has a lot of empty shelter beds, and they couldn’t clear some camps unless they had enough beds to house everyone. It was all or nothing. They couldn’t say “we have enough beds in the county for half of the encampments, so we’ll only clear the half that have the largest public health and safety problems.”

Basically, CA only wants to jail people if a bed exists and isn’t being used. Problem is, some states / counties will look at this broad ruling and will just people in jail, bed or not.

Also, this ruling doesn’t account for shelter quality. Sometimes the street is actually safer than a shelter, and arresting a person for prioritizing safety is pretty shitty.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

I know it sounds rational but that's not a good faith argument from the governor. What he wants is to be able to force people into subpar living conditions instead of making shelters and temporary housing actually work.

It's just another way for them to use the police while telling everyone they're really actually helping.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

Doesn't California notoriously have an extreme shortage of shelter beds? I've heard it compared unfavorable to New York this way plenty of times.

Overall the state has a major shortage of beds. Cities and counties across California reported in 2023 a little more than 71,131 beds in either an emergency shelter or transitional housing. The state would need more than twice that number to accommodate everyone.

http://calmatters.org/explainers/californias-homelessness-crisis-explained/

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Was it written by a human with no sense or by an AI (also with no sense)? 🤔

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

It's the BBC, so I'm giving the benefit of doubt that it was just written by a really out of touch human. The actual article is pretty good coverage and highlights why it's such a terrible decision.

The only thing in the article that even slightly implies "help" is this line:

Jailing the homeless? ‘At least I’ll have a bed’

So, headline seems to be intentionally click/rage bait even though the article itself is pretty sound.

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[–] [email protected] 81 points 4 months ago (4 children)

While we’re at it, maybe we can solve the healthcare crisis by punishing sickness!

[–] [email protected] 29 points 4 months ago

Don't we already, with what amount to astronomical fines for getting sick?

[–] [email protected] 21 points 4 months ago

I think the 2025 people reading this just got an idea. You can’t be sick if it’s illegal. Thanks for giving them ideas.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

Cancer diagnosis? Believe it or not, straight to jail.

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 4 months ago (33 children)

Jesus. How could locking up homeless folk make things better? The headline is bad, and the article is not informative.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago

They have to fill the prisons since a bunch are getting out from old cannabis charges.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago (2 children)

It puts more people in prison, making private prisons' income better. This kind of shit is never about helping anyone but the lobbyists.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

And then prisons rent out these people's labor to corpos for slave wages. It's a win-win.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 4 months ago

Storming the Bastille was done (in part) to free prisoners who were being indefinitely held for reasons related to being poor. I'm mostly just bringing that up because history has lots of interesting themes we should all be considering in our decision making during daily life.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 4 months ago
[–] [email protected] 28 points 4 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

You aren't thinking this through and all the wonderful possibilities.

Just imagine if we let private prisons "loan" out low risk prisoners to local businesses.

BAM! Now you get to spread the cost savings of prison labor to the wider economy.

And that's just me spitballing. I got so many good ideas on what we can do with our newly enslaved poors, err... I mean criminally homeless deviants.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

Now now. It’s all in how you frame it. If the crisis was homeowners having to see people living in poverty and on the edge of society, this is a big win.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 months ago (2 children)

The fuck is wrong with America?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

$$$,$$$,$$$,$$$,$$$

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

Late-stage capitalist oligarchic shithole.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago

It will hurt. Terrible idea.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Aurora Colorado used Cannabis profits to build a sweet homeless shelter a few years back. Where does all this revenue go in other states?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago

Same place where tobacco taxes, opioid settlements, lottery money and any other money-raising idea states come up with go- anywhere but where they're supposed to.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago

Politicians pockets.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It will help a whole lot with any private prison which is having trouble making a profit. So there's that.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Plus it's also free labor they can lease out since there's that handy-dandy loophole in the 13th Amendment 😡

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

Nations with their citizen's health as an actual priority have (mostly) solved these problems. The US is not a developed nation, nor a humanitarian one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Housing_First

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago

Finally we can put these homeless people under a solid roof with their own bed where the government will pay for all their meals and ensure they have time for recreation and socializing.

As long as it's prison.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

How can u even punish homelessness?

What you gonna do, put them in a home??

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

"It's not easy...", sure it is. Ban corporations from owning residential housing for rent, real estate prices drop, buy the cheaper houses, give homeless a permannent roof, done.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

Politicians want to SAY they are doing something without actually DOING anything to help homeless people.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

Jfc this country is falling apart

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