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Comment by wang_li | Hacker News Reader

> Let's say it would cost about $1,500 per month to provide them with basic lodging and basic needs.

You can say that, but it's very, very incorrect. Seattle spends $1 billion on services, clean up, housing, and etc. for a homeless population of 12,000.

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2017/11/16/price-of...

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Then they're doing something wrong, because that comes out to $83k per person, which is much higher than the average yearly salary for Americans.

They'd do better just giving these people $1500/month to live on, along with some counseling services to get them reintegrated into society.

It's because we as a nation are obsessed with providing complicated services that attempt to address people's problems as something that can be "cured" rather than just go ahead and pay the price to meet their basic needs.

Every place that has had significant success in combating homelessness has done what you say. They've payed less attention to the "social ill" side of the token and have just put people in houses.

It's basically the keynesian hole digging problem. The real solution to the problem is not politically acceptable. Therefore we have to do mental gymnastics to make it palatable to the public. The end result is a completely inadequate solution that doesn't solve the problem sufficiently but is good enough to make people become indifferent to the problem.

A lot of this population can’t be stabilized at poverty line costs. Mental health treatment, rehab and life skills training, are costly. In addition housing can’t be provided at market rate due to property damage costs and risks.

It needs to be paired with housing. If you got shitty credit no one cares if you get 1500 bucks a month, they are going to deny you in this city, period. I know first hand.

Yet it's only slightly above the average salary in Seattle. Average rent here is $2000/month. It's rare to find even a studio below $1000.

It's just not feasible for anyone to live in this city on only $1500/month, even if they don't require any social services.

Many of the homeless have mental health issues and that requires a costly support support structure. Also cities are just downright inefficient in spending money. Just look at any infrastructure project in recent years.

Who gets that $1500? How do they receive it? Bank account? Cash? What stipulations come with that money? Do they get it in perpetuity?

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