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Comment by paxys | Hacker News Reader

Stuff like this is good while it lasts, then it quickly becomes apparent why modern cities exist like they do today. Sanitation, housing built to code, fire protection, permits, inspections, real construction materials, garbage disposal and pickup, official mail delivery, tenant protections etc. aren't all done just for kicks. Solutions like this should be seen as a complete failure of the system rather than celebrated. In any other country this would be called a slum.

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It's a common trope for stories from USA to sell something that's clearly evidence of severe disfunction of the system as something uplifting, down to earth and heartfelt.

Like a story about a kid working to earn money to pay off lunch debt of even younger kids.

Don't act llke there aren't slums in EU or elsewhere. Some major cities in Europe hide the homeless for the night - great, but doesn't really help them get back to normal life.

There are homeless people sleeping under bridges in Germany too, they're just expelled from the cities. Prague is full of homeless people - I see 5 from my window right now, and there are several slums too. Visit rural Slovakia or Romania and you'll see that the EU is just full of propaganda.

I wouldn't be surprised if the relative number of homeless people was actually larger than in the USA, the EU just doesn't bother to count properly and allocates a very minor amount of money to hide the problem.

Why don't the down voters explain what is wrong about my sightings here at home? Or why is the truth about the discussed situation unwelcome here?

You’re probably being downvoted because of how you started your comment, directing the person above to not “act like” there aren’t slums elsewhere, despite that being not at all relevant to their comment.

They are saying in a very sleazily suggestive way it is only the US where the system has failed - that is totally false and you can hear here.

I guess you missed my point. My point was about selling people heroically dealing with some results of systematic failures as uplifting stories. And that it's something I noticed about US news.

Some systems fail everywhere. In some places more than others.

There are, they are also not celebrated. I agree with parent poster that it's a systemic failure that people have to literally build slums to live even among all that wealth.

Squatter settlements are probably the only way to get around zoning restrictions in the bay area.

All the potential perils you described do occur in Oakland

https://www.sfchronicle.com/oakland-fire/

Yes. It might be worth a look at the Ghost Ship fire of five years ago.

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