US homeless population.

[IIamaKing]

Stop foreign companies from buying houses and not living in them?

Also a living wage?

Seems like those two would go a long way.

A living wage isnt going to help people with mental health issues who cant hold down jobs, IE LOTS of our homeless.

[Rasulis]

There are many forces affecting home prices. Texas is a pretty good example. Texas current housing market reminds of California back in 2002 - 2007. It is almost an exact replay.

Land costs now account for 20.4 percent of Texas home prices, historically the highest percentage and up from 14.1 percent in 2000. In cities like Austin, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston, the ratio is even higher. The same thing happened in California back then. In some coastal communities, land value in excess of 60% of the home value is not unheard of.

According to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, many Texas cities have reacted to rapid growth by enacting strict zoning codes — ordinances controlling land use and construction — that remove tracts of land from development, driving up demand and prices. I am very familiar with this. California did exactly the same thing back then. Entire mountain tops where I used to live were declared open space limiting construction.

A 2016 study by the National Association of Home Builders estimated government regulations account for nearly a quarter (24.3 percent) of the final price of an average new single-family home in Texas. Between 2011 and 2016, these regulatory costs rose by nearly 30 percent. In other words, Texas regulatory costs are rising faster than the average American’s ability to pay for a home. Another exact replay of what happened in California back then.

The one thing that is different is the lack of workers which was not a problem in California at the time. Between 2007 and 2013, the nation’s builders lost more than 2 million workers, and only 40 percent of them ultimately returned to the industry. The shortage of carpenters, masons and other skilled workers led to higher wages, which increase the bottom-line price of homes. Construction worker pay is rising much faster in Texas than in the nation as a whole. Inflation-adjusted average hourly earnings in Texas’ construction sector rose by more than 20 percent between 2011 and 2016, versus just 4.7 percent for the U.S. construction sector — and nearly four times the 5.9 percent growth in Texas’ total average private-sector earnings.

The end results?

Housing price in Dallas, which is considered a middle class city, went up 11% in 2016 -2017, 16.7% in 2017 - 2018, and is projected to go up at least 12% in 2018 - 2019.

The latest Census estimates indicate 26.4 percent of Texas homeowners with mortgages are “cost-burdened,” spending 30 percent or more of their household incomes on house payments, still below the comparable U.S. figure of 28.1 percent.

In addition to mortgage payments, property taxes also make it more difficult to afford homes. In a Tax Foundation analysis based on 2014 tax information, Texas had the nation’s sixth-highest “effective” property tax rate (the average amount of residential property taxes paid expressed as a percentage of home value — in Texas’ case, 1.67 percent).

In general, renters are even more likely to be cost-burdened — 43.9 percent of Texas renters and 46.1 percent of renters in the U.S. spend 30 percent or more of household income on rent and utilities.

[schwank05]

I mean either one would help a huge amount. If people are paid decently they can start to save and actually think about owning a house one day.

It is cheap to buy a house there are decent houses around here for $25,000.00 the average house is $80,000.00 around here for something tickling the 2000 sq-ft size. I bought a 10 Acre Farm for $100,000.00 my payments are cheap like $480.00 a month. You can by a brand new Modular for $40,000.00 for a slab and some land all hooked up you can have a brand new house for $60,000.00 so housing is not the issue. It's the fact that there are an ass ton of jobs available out there that people are either too lazy or picky to work at. We take care of our employees very well have 2 houses we have purchased for employees they just do contract for deed on them so they could move closer to work. You can buy a house easily with no money down and just start making payments.

[eoyeffteedubz]

I live in a southern Ontario city of 130K and downtown we have a handful of homeless meandering around. The city is well policed and very conservative. Honestly seeing the few homeless downtown doesn’t bother me and they’ll rarely approach you and ask for change for the bus. With that being said I can’t imagine being in a big city in the USA with tons of homeless, I’d honestly be scared to get out of my car. I hope in the future the problem will be fixed and my fear will go away.

[Zensunni]

No one, at least in the first page, is addressing the two biggest and most fundamental causes of homelessness in the US - drug addiction and mental illness. The fact that people are trotting out housing and cost of living is just proof that no one participating in the discussion knows the faintest thing about homelessness in the US. If you want to know more about the subject, start googling and ignore this circle-jerk of ignorance.

[Zantos]

The simplest solution is to stop wasting our money on crap and spend it on homeless shelters. We could literally build 554,000 binishell homes, enough for every single homeless individual to have a home of their own, for around $2.5B. Plenty doable if useless things were not being rallied for instead. Put in solar panels on them and BAM, generating electricity enough for themselves and to help supply near by areas as well, further cutting down on costs and increasing their usefulness.

I can name a few things right now that could safely be halted to more then cover the costs of things. But no, they would rather try to get bs things made than to actually help the American population.

[The Stormbringer]

What is the solution to the US homeless population. The issue is getting bigger every year and nobody seems to have a good solution for it. We need to take care of our citizens better. I see Detroit is trying to use tiny houses as a way to offer affordable housing to people. I see so many empty buildings in the city I work in that could be used to give the homeless places to go

[video=youtube;qY4s5T6cLSw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY4s5T6cLSw

What a great group. I'd certainly be happy to live in a tiny house rather than an apartment! Having somewhere you wind up owning is such a huge thing.

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I think we need to differentiate between two groups of homeless people.

1. You have the homeless person or family who is down on their luck and motivated to help themselves. I think building free housing and sustainable income is something that should be offered for them through social programs. Shit can happen to anyone.

2. Then you got the real problem. Bums. People who are mentally unstable, constantly on drugs/booze and are beyond help. They trash neighborhoods and leave garbage and shit where they sleep. Putting them into shelters proved to either be ineffective or dangerous. There is nobody more dangerous to a Bum than another Bum. I say the best approach here to to force them into treatment for drugs and alcohol.

So send them to forced rehab, then drop them in the #1 bucket and help them find a job?

[triplesdsu]

What a great group. I'd certainly be happy to live in a tiny house rather than an apartment! Having somewhere you wind up owning is such a huge thing.

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So send them to forced rehab, then drop them in the #1 bucket and help them find a job?

How do you "force" rehab? Being homeless isnt a crime per se. It used to be an option for drug arrests to send to drug court/rehab but with the movement to decriminalize that is being less of an option. Plus you have to be invested in rehab. It cant be forced on you if you dont put in the work.

[Vash The Stampede]

Come to Ireland where the Government takes better care of allocating refugees/economic-migrants with council housing, and not its own citizens when there's a growing housing crisis here... though said "crisis" is due to the building height restriction.

The Irish government has too many SJW's in political power. If their homelessness isn't zero then they have no business using money to attend refugees.

2. Then you got the real problem. Bums. People who are mentally unstable, constantly on drugs/booze and are beyond help. They trash neighborhoods and leave garbage and shit where they sleep. Putting them into shelters proved to either be ineffective or dangerous. There is nobody more dangerous to a Bum than another Bum. I say the best approach here to to force them into treatment for drugs and alcohol.

From my experience the reason these people are doing drugs/booze is because they have a underlying problem. I have a friend who was telling me how it maybe genetic or something he was born with and I told him that's nonsense. He clearly has an underlying problem that only he knows and nobody else. Turns out I was right and he was molested when he was a child, but he didn't want to tell anyone that. He's not a bum but he is an alcoholic. He's surprisingly a functional alcoholic.

There's no fixing these people. They will eventually relapse and maybe even kill themselves by overdosing. I argue these people need a UBI. Once they feel financially stable then they can try to move on. No amount of group therapy is going to fix them.

A living wage isnt going to help people with mental health issues who cant hold down jobs, IE LOTS of our homeless.

I believe these people need a UBI. We spend a lot of money on them anyway so why not just hand them the money? It may take time but they'll straighten out once they have a source of income.

[IIamaKing]

I believe these people need a UBI. We spend a lot of money on them anyway so why not just hand them the money? It may take time but they'll straighten out once they have a source of income.

What is a handful of cash going to do for people who are not mentally stable enough to pay bills, go grocery shopping? Im not opposed to UBI, but I dont think its a real fix to the homeless problem. Unless your aim is to give them enough cash to drink themselves to death. Not saying it to be rude, The population Im referring to simply cannot function as is in our world. I dont know what the fix is, but I do not think its just giving them money.

[Jorlen]

The only way to fix this situation is a Universal Basic Income. When an economy is doing badly people move towards the city cause that's where the jobs are. The only way to get people out of cities is to give them a Basic Income. This is what Alaska does to get people since it's literally in an icy hell.

Are you comparing rural America and The Burbs to an icy hell? : ) Come on out of the city once in a while, its pretty nice out here.

[Independent voter]

.


60% percent admit to drug or alcohol abuse. That's the ones who admit it, many are ashamed and won't admit it.

10-15% are mentally ill.

We'd be better off setting up rehab centers and mental health centers.

[Hilhen7]

.


60% percent admit to drug or alcohol abuse. That's the ones who admit it, many are ashamed and won't admit it.

10-15% are mentally ill.

We'd be better off setting up rehab centers and mental health centers.

If I was homeless I wouldn't have much shame. I mean your life is miserable enough as it is, why the F would I care what someone thinks about me at that point.

[Vash The Stampede]

What is a handful of cash going to do for people who are not mentally stable enough to pay bills, go grocery shopping?

They do need to eat.

Im not opposed to UBI, but I dont think its a real fix to the homeless problem. Unless your aim is to give them enough cash to drink themselves to death. Not saying it to be rude, The population Im referring to simply cannot function as is in our world. I dont know what the fix is, but I do not think its just giving them money.

No they won't, a 2013 study showed that won't happen. That's just a stereotype. At least 10% of homeless Californians do indeed work, but don't make enough to afford an apartment.

Are you comparing rural America and The Burbs to an icy hell? : ) Come on out of the city once in a while, its pretty nice out here.

I actually visit Upstate NY all the time, and they're broke. Just a bunch of old people living off social security waiting to die. Young people don't move there cause there's no jobs. You want people to move into those empty homes then they need a basic income. So many homes that are left empty and they end up falling apart.

[Ghostpanther]

It doesn't matter if the fucker buying the home is foreigner or not, if they are not living in it, they should be banned from buying it. Why would it be alright to be fucked over by the local guy? There might be one city here or there with a lot of foreign buyers but that's not the case for many cities and many other countries who also have a huge problem with real estate and the prices. This is a global issue and we need drastic measure. Nothing but completely killing the real estate market will solve this issue.

Depends on the state here. In Ohio, the average home sells for about 145k. In California, it's 485K. High taxes can drive up the price of homes. And many other things.

[Kraenen]

Stop foreign companies from buying houses and not living in them?

Also a living wage?

Seems like those two would go a long way.

Are they really buying the houses that would be on the threshold of affordable housing for the poor? I was under the impression they mostly bought up west coast prime real estate, etc.

[Bodonius]

Solve domestic before importing new problems. Think you can solve others problems...

[jimboa24]

Stop foreign companies from buying houses and not living in them?

Also a living wage?

Seems like those two would go a long way.

The problem is, not every job is economically worth paying a "living wage". Flipping burgers, for example. Or serving coffee. Not every single job in the country CAN be paid out at $50k a year, nor SHOULD every job. And let's be real, if you try and force companies like Starbucks and McDonalds to pay living wages for serving coffee and flipping burgers, all you're going to do is make them automate their establishments as much as possible and not have to pay workers at all. Which will end up making people lose work, making the problem you set out to fix in the first place even worse.

[jeezusisacasual]

Depends on the state here. In Ohio, the average home sells for about 145k. In California, it's 485K. High taxes can drive up the price of homes. And many other things.

That is similar here in Wyoming, Laramie is more expensive then Cheyenne but even by that standard it is not very expensive overall so much so that a UBI from Andrew Yang would afford you a decent to moderate home. If you go much further north homes are even cheaper its just the middle of nowhere. I think alot of the costal cities problems due to housing prices is the overall population density and lack of housing. The speculative market is also deep in this but from all the bad things i hear from gentrification i have yet to see it first hand here anyhow. When we bought the home i am in currently it was considered a fixer upper which is fine overall as i enjoyed learning how to do that kind of work and saved me a good 40k or so.

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The problem is, not every job is economically worth paying a "living wage". Flipping burgers, for example. Or serving coffee. Not every single job in the country CAN be paid out at $50k a year, nor SHOULD every job. And let's be real, if you try and force companies like Starbucks and McDonalds to pay living wages for serving coffee and flipping burgers, all you're going to do is make them automate their establishments as much as possible and not have to pay workers at all. Which will end up making people lose work, making the problem you set out to fix in the first place even worse.

We will have a robot head tax at some point, i am sure you understand that. I dont think they want them to pay 50k but nothing wrong with 24-28k which is what i assume would be easily enough to live on ( just based on here again in Wyoming ).

[WinningOne]

It may turn out you can't help the poor. There are millions of hours and billions of dollars spent every year trying to help the poor. We've been doing it for decades and the situation is apparently getting worse. After that much time and effort maybe it's time to accept they can't be helped. Maybe the effort to help them is as much for us as it is for them.