Homeless residents brag about makeshift 'mansion' near Seattle's famed Space Needle

[Twoddle]

It's a picture of a tree.

[Hilhen7]

Maybe if they spent more time finding gainful employment and a real place to live, instead of constructing their hobo city...

After this project they will have experience on a construction site so they could put that it on there resume!

[Tijuana]

I couldn't imagine living like this...

I couldn't imagine living NEAR this. This is what extreme leftism leads to, among other horrible things.

[Hilhen7]

I couldn't imagine living NEAR this. This is what extreme leftism leads to, among other horrible things.

How does leftism lead to this? What does rightism lead to, trailer parks?

[PogChamp]

it's weird how places like seattle and san francisco have such a huge homeless population... it's almost as if these tech savvy cities have a lot of jobs being done by computers and automation and there isn't a need for as many workers... naaahhhh, that won't ever be an issue. the argument is that automation always takes jobs away and then new jobs come along, like how computers took away a lot of jobs but then it supplied all the computer related jobs we have now, and that seems like a good argument until you actually think about it. when AI and robotics can handle most of the jobs today, i will fully admit that new jobs will come from that, unfortunately those jobs being created will also best be done by more robots and AI and the current robots and AI will be able to build the robots and AI needed... it's a loop essentially where very few humans will be needed. we're a decade or 2 away from it being fully under way in most cities, but it's coming and the people following morons like trump claiming we need to be working in a coal mines and factories are so far behind it's painful.

then there's the compounding issue of these tech heavy cities that increase their rent because the people working those jobs are making a lot of money and increasing the average wage, so of course prices will rise, and the people working at their mcjob who were already struggling will now just be unable to keep up.

this is why leaders of tech companies are calling for UBI, because when the shit hits the fan and tens of millions of people each year can't find work they will blame the companies responsible for creating AI and robotics and companies that are mostly ran without humans, they want to get ahead of it and secure people financially before its an issue so our country doesn't go to shit, trump wants you in a coal mine... i wonder who will be right about this... not really though, trump is wrong and UBI will be a reality in the future, the only question is how fucked will we let the country get before we realize it's needed.

and im sure people will say i need to get a job or whatever, i have a job and i have had it for a long time, i also own my own house and i'm quite confortable financially, so this doesn't really affect me much, it's just too obvious and not enough people outside of the tech world are talking about it.

[AcidicSyn]

It's a choice to stay in the US when people can migrate to a first world country instead, like Canada.

At some point Canada might have to build a wall to keep all the poor Americans out though.

I know this is sarcasm; but doesn't Canada actually have income requirements in order to emigrate there?

[bladeXcrasher]

Oh god if that happens I hope we put up that wall and keep the Americans out.

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They will most likly be ignored like a lot of them are now as many are mentally ill.

How terrible of Canada. With UHC I would have thought mental illness would be taken care of.

What happens to places were the border plows through people's property, do you build a wall through their house and make it a duplex?

[McFuu]

I don't know why people bother with this stance. That's often easier said than done. Getting a job isn't that easy in this day and age, let alone a well paying one that could lift you out of poverty. A lot of homeless folk have managed to get a job, but they still end up having to sleep every night in the local shelter, or alley, or backroom of whatever McDonalds, janitorial gig, manual labor job, etc they managed to land.

Getting a job is always a step up, it means you can afford bus fair, cheap food, sometimes warmer clothes, etc, but unless you were lucky enough to land a high income job, it doesn't mean getting out of poverty. This doesn't even account for the difficulty of the mentally or physically handicapped either.

They are literally constructing a vagabond camp. I think the stance that if they spent that much time on self-improvement in their own lives leading up to and including the period when they are homeless... They wouldn't have been homeless in the first place.

[Tijuana]

How does leftism lead to this? What does rightism lead to, trailer parks?

Rightism would arrest them for vagrancy and trespassing. You know, enforce the existing laws.

[Coombs]

Here in Pdx we are dealing with people who are "willingly" homeless due to massive rent increases. The problem is rent and wages not the people trying to delude themselves that living outside is as nice as having an apartment.

Right?!

You fuckers take a gander at average rent and size of the apartment in Seattle, then look at the average income. I hope the city increases its homeless population exponentially so the price of living goes down.

[Celista]

it's weird how places like seattle and san francisco have such a huge homeless population... it's almost as if these tech savvy cities have a lot of jobs being done by computers and automation and there isn't a need for as many workers... naaahhhh, that won't ever be an issue.

Sea, SF and Pdx are cities that homeless people willingly migrate to due to temperate weather and nonprofits/social programs. On top of this, other states have in the past given their homeless one-way bus tickets to California, so they no longer have to deal with them. Due to choice + overt encouragement by other states, California alone has 21% of the US homeless population.

There are a lot of relevant issues happening right now in regards to supply/demand for housing, and cost of living outpacing wages, so of course that adds to the mix. Not sure how relevant automation is at the moment but I'm sure it may very well play a role, even if minor.

[Rasulis]

Rightism would arrest them for vagrancy and trespassing. You know, enforce the existing laws.

So are we going to start jailing people for having misfortune, or mental illness, or addiction then?

Not even the so called rightist red states would do something like that.

http://frontsteps.org/advocate/austi...essness-facts/

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/soci...-really-spiked

http://www.homelesshouston.org/

http://www.miamigov.com/nets/about/homeless.html


Well, maybe Nevada. They kicked Father Joe out when he tried to set up homeless shelters in Las Vegas.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/...-census-shows/

[Lorgar Aurelian]

How terrible of Canada. With UHC I would have thought mental illness would be taken care of.

What happens to places were the border plows through people's property, do you build a wall through their house and make it a duplex?

healthcare doesn't do much when the mentally ill don't use it.

[Ghostpanther]

What is the average income in the us $30,000 a year? I don't understand how people can live on less than $100,000 bare minimum. I guess you could by accumulating debt forever with no hopes of ever getting out from under it. Hobo mansion is probably better off than people that have to live in bad areas to afford housing.

Many do. Most do actually. Depends a lot on where you live.

This is from 2011, has gone up since of course, but has not changed a lot.

According to Social Security tax records for 2011:

151,380,749 wage earners (had earnings in 2011)

50 percent of US wage earners made less than or equal to the median wage, estimate to be $26,965

66 percent of US wage earners made less than or equal to $41,211.36

This information is at a granular level but extremely helpful. Since everyone pays into the Social Security system, this is a good sense of how many people are earning income in the US. According to this information 151 million Americans earned some sort of wages or compensation in 2011. The median wage in the US per person is $26,695. This tells us a lot since the median household income is at $50,500. Since the Census data looks at households, this data hones in on individual wage earners. 66 percent of Americans earn less than $41,212.

[bladeXcrasher]

healthcare doesn't do much when the mentally ill don't use it.

I would have thought that there would be some proactive group or government department to help the people that shy away.

[Elegiac]

How about to the East like in Goldbar or Enumclaw? And who said move away. I said who would want to live in a big city. You shouldnt have ever moved in the city to begin with

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What makes it so hard to start working at least a basic job if youre not on drugs/alcohol to start on your way to a home? Cant you go to a truck stop to shower and buy a comb for a buck and a nice pair of pants/shirt from a thrift store for a couple bucks so that youre clean for a job interview at some place like McDonalds? Then once you get some paychecks, only use them to buy food (Mcdonalds provdes uniforms) and save whatever is left for a deposit on an apartment

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Ive been to Seattle several times for vacation. Ive also been to New York City (I live about 3 hours away), Philadelphia, Chicago, San Diego, Las Angeles, and Memphis. All great places to visit, but Ill be damned if I would want to live there. I live in a rural area and have plenty of services as well as a job that pays plenty for me to have a comfortable life. You can be a millionaire living in a box stacked on 50 other boxes if you like, but whats the point if you have nowhere to put anything you want to buy. Nowhere to park your 5 expensive cars? nowhere to store your boat/trailer, and you cant have an amazing Home Theater because all the other people in your giant box will bitch about the loud sound. Guess youll just have to spend your millions on ugly paintings and wine for your snooty friends

This might be an odd idea for a Boomer American, but maybe I don't want to own five cars or a boat. Or even one car, if I could avoid it.

It really just sounds like the only principle attraction for rural areas is that you can engage in obscene levels of conspicuous consumption without having to worry about its impact on others. Which certainly sounds like a Boomer attitude, so.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

I would have thought that there would be some proactive group or government department to help the people that shy away.

I know atleast in Toronto some police have homeless packages when they can but there not gonna go and scoop up people to force into help. alot of the homeless seek help and no one forces them into it.

[Powerogue]

I admire their optimism. It sounds like they're doing what they can in the face of that whole issue with foreign investors inflating housing costs.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Rightism would arrest them for vagrancy and trespassing. You know, enforce the existing laws.

One of the furthest right states, Tennessee, is pretty infamous for its homeless tent cities on public land in the middle of cities.

And righties enforcing the law? Pfffffffffft, only the morality religious laws they want to push on everyone else.

[Tijuana]

One of the furthest right states, Tennessee, is pretty infamous for its homeless tent cities on public land in the middle of cities.

And righties enforcing the law? Pfffffffffft, only the morality religious laws they want to push on everyone else.

Yeah, GOP controlled cities are just lawless, amirite? They have WAY more unpunished crime that Liberal cities, right? /endsarcasm

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So are we going to start jailing people for having misfortune, or mental illness, or addiction then?

Not even the so called rightist red states would do something like that.

http://frontsteps.org/advocate/austi...essness-facts/

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/soci...-really-spiked

http://www.homelesshouston.org/

http://www.miamigov.com/nets/about/homeless.html


Well, maybe Nevada. They kicked Father Joe out when he tried to set up homeless shelters in Las Vegas.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/...-census-shows/

No, they aren't going to start doing anything of the sort, in this Liberal shit hole. But I guarantee you they have laws on the books to address this, as all municipalities have vagrancy and trespassing laws. Liberals only enforce the laws they agree with, rather than attempt to get them repealed. This shows a lack of moral character. For example, not one Democrat in Washington has called for the immigration laws to be completely repealed, yet they want them to be ignored. They don't have the courage to say what they really want. SAD!