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Comment by toomuchtodo | Hacker News Reader

I don’t understand how local governments lack the authority to provide affordable housing, or housing for the homeless. Some citizens are land owners, but all citizens are stakeholders.

(TLDR non market housing)

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IMO a large part of the problem, as always, is NIMBYism amplified with lack of proper law enforcement. If you try to build a shelter everyone around it will do everything they can to prevent it. Which I understand because a large part of the homeless population and for sure the most visible one, now just meth and fentanyl and need money to support that habit. Open drug use and catch and release policing is a bad combination and nothing anyone wants near their home. At the same time I hear nothing but terrible things about being inside a shelter which also seems to be a anarcho nightmare of theft and frequent sexual abuse and violence. All these things need to be fixed and some of it is a chicken/egg problem.

The purpose of the government is to serve the interests of the taxpayers that fund it. Not to transfer resources from taxpayers to non-taxpayers.

Government exists to serve citizens, regardless of taxes paid. Tax obligation does not buy preferential representation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poll_taxes_in_the_United_State...

That is technically true, but it doesn't matter in practice. Local electorates are primarily wealthier people with time on their hands (tax payers), so they overwhelmingly prioritize local commerce, which usually involves fighting crime and attracting mpney, which is an effort that homeless populations are seen as undermining. The result is that punishing homelessness gets politicians re-elected.

They don't lack the authority as far as I know.

They lack the desire and use funding as an excuse. Where there's a will, there's a way. There's just no real will.

Local electorates are primarily wealthier people with time on their hands, so they overwhelmingly prioritize fighting crime and promoting local commerce, which are efforts that homeless populations are seen as undermining. The result is that punishing homelessness gets politicians re-elected.

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