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Comment by kerneloftruth | Hacker News Reader

The sad part is how long such spending has gone on across the state.

They're homeless because they're mentally ill, not because of the tautological nonsense of "they're homeless because they haven't a home". The mental illness is exceeded only by the stupidity of the policies.

Instead of the singular focus on establishing state-paid housing, _requiring_ treatment for the chronically homeless is far overdue. The option of shooting-up and camping on the streets clearly has not worked in any way -- show me the data for how that helps anybody.

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Not sure why you're being down voted, this is the most honest statement about so called "homelessness" in the united states. It is affordable housing advocates essentially leveraging the mentally ill while completely ignoring their plight.

But if you ask anyone who works to house the unhoused, the affordability of homes is the problem. If you don't have shelter to rely on, how can you possibly treat your mental illness in a safe environment. I actually think it is truly both. IT's the lack of available mental health treatment and the lack of affordable housing. Neither can be fixed with the perverse incentives of the current system we have.

If the goal really was to get as many people off the streets as possible, why don’t our builds look more like the dorms at ucla with shared facilities instead of private apartments with a kitchen built and bathroom built into every unit? Follow the money and see that this is a cash cow for certain developers and nothing more.

With the exception of treatment facilities/hospitals and housing as a basic necessity for all, housing really shouldn't be a central part of the discussion when it comes to people living on the streets, housing (or lack thereof) is not their problem.

Almost all people you see on the streets end up there after burning all bridges in their personal lives because of their illness. You may not be aware of this but there are in fact a lot of options in existence for housing such people, it doesn't work because they are ill and without treatment (forceful), it is hopeless trying to help them.

America can build houses but free mental health care for all? It took Democrats 50 years to get the paltry affordable care act through.

> They're homeless because they're mentally ill

Some but not all. There are many disparate causes of homelessness and mental illness is just one of them.

> _requiring_ treatment for the chronically homeless

That is hard to implement in a free country.

"That is hard to implement in a free country"

The past 2 years proves that entirely untrue.

Huh? How?

We required everyone to get COVID treatment. (Especially in california)

Not only was it not "required," nearly 30% of the state of California remains short of full vaccination and restrictions are dropping daily.

You can demand an end to "mandates" and public health emergencies, but you must then applaud when those things end.

Not technically required, but required for many workplaces. I do applaud an end to mandates even though I support vaccination and am vaccinated and boosted. And therein lies the problem.

> Requiring medical treatments

> Free country

That choice is a radio button, not a checkbox. Can't have both.

yeah communism is bad because it expects people to be fed and housed on state expenses while capitalism throws freeloaders off the wagon.

sure its such a difficult proposition to implement in a free country. i mean i am in india and every poor household gets basically free rations every month, free healthcare in government hospitals and now even a medical insurance for treatments in private run hospitals at no cost. sure that costs a shit tonne of money but what else to do with the tax collections? spending on weapons is one but other than that, yeah.

i have to ask, why is construction costs so outrageous in the US? here, labor costs ~$6-8/day, on an average the cost of construction per Sqft is around inr 2000-3500 or $25-$44 /sqft. there are resources that say usa average costs around $100-$200.

that is a lot confusing because the article mentions $837000/150=5580 sqft. is that a good size home for homeless?

Unskilled labor starts at $15/hr. A loaf of fresh bread is $5.

> communism

Who said anything about communism? I was talking about forcing people to undergo mental health treatment against their will simply because they can't afford a place to live.

i was talking about "Free country". i feel sympathy for mental health treatment, that is why i said in india, medical treatment is essentially free now for rich and poor alike which is kinda big deal when it comes to increasing the overall health of communities. if you have less people who are sick, only because they did not have money for procedures otherwise, that is great.

They're homeless because housing costs are absurd in California. There are mentally ill people all across the country, but few places have a housing crisis anything like that in California. Only a quarter of the homeless in California suffer from severe mental illness[1].

1. https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-08-07/men...

California attracts homeless people because of its relatively temperate climate, lax policies on camps, and pays more than other states (recent interview guy said he was getting 800 cash plus 200 food stamps a month).

Back in June or July 2021, the governor invited the homeless to come to California with promises of free housing during a press tour.

Treatment would IMO, include housing while under treatment, and some sort of halfway-housing afterwards.

Yes, exactly right. That is where they can learn and establish structure in their life, and build a foundation. These were once referred to as Independent Living Skills. Once taught and established, then they can hopefully translate that into a healthier life on their own.

Is there an "afterwards?"

I don't know if there are "one time" or "one shot" solutions. Certainly there are some unhoused that can be helped by that but I'm under the impression that most have issues that go substantially beyond a one time check or a pill or a one time treatment.

Requiring treatment as a prerequisite for housing is the status quo, and it has not been working.

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