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Comment by mydongle | Hacker News Reader

>That's not the problem poor people have

Are you sure? I don't have any numbers on it, but I like to think the amount of homeless who are truly lost causes where money would not help is very small. I'm poor and if money was not a priority, I'd be able to work on stuff like programming and pursuing writing as a hobby. That's pretty much what I've been doing now that I can justifiably take UI and stay home for some time without worrying about how to pay rent and buy food. For me, hell yeah money is the biggest barrier. And the only options in front of me are to work at shitty minimum wage food service jobs which are now destroyed.

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Yes, I'm sure.

One of the things driving poverty and homelessness in the US is a lack of affordable housing in walkable neighborhoods. If you could work a shitty minimum wage job part-time while living without a car and cover the cost of a room while getting free medical care through the US government, you could write or program or whatever.

Poor people have no voice in things like what kind of housing gets built or how healthcare is paid for. Corporations and rich people design that and they design stuff that works for them and that increases pressure on the masses.

It doesn't have to be that way.

Money follows rights and power, not the other way around. If money gave people power, lottery winners would run this world. They don't. About 2/3s of them end up bankrupt within five years.

Edit: I've had a college class on Homelessness and Public Policy. I still write about homelessness, such as:

https://streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com/

I'm largely in agreement with you. UBI may not be the right path, but we are thinking toward the same goal probably. I'll take whatever I can get.

If you want to write, you can do that for money right now and develop your talent while enhancing your bottom line:

http://writepay.blogspot.com/

Not necessarily looking to become part of a content mill. As I mentioned, I want to write as a personal hobby/creative pursuit. Thank you though.

I grew up in a very poor family and the other poster is right... many people living the degenerate lifestyle have entirely bizarre understandings of reality, acceptable social behavior, mortality and ethics, quality and efficiency... We're creatures of habit and keeping your mind in the gutter long enough will soak it full of crud that can't be reversed simply by dishing out cash.

It's my opinion that these people would be most helped if they were given work. Work gives incentive, teaches values, gives opportunity, creates a foundation of something to be proud of, gives a platform to build a resume from...

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