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Comment by revnode | Hacker News Reader

> That means about 50% of the US can not afford a place to live.

So 50% of the US are homeless?

They are either overspending or under non-standard living arrangements: roommates, living with relatives, living in cars, etc.

They are a couple of paychecks away from being broke, and a health condition away from being homeless.

Or they inherited a home and can barely afford insurance, taxes, or upkeep on it. So they could afford to live there but couldn’t afford to buy it.

Barely is not can't. You either can or you can't. If you can't, you get kicked out of your home and they auction it off to pay for the taxes.

It happens. It's disgusting when it does. It IS a problem.

But it's not happening to half the country. That's nonsense. And when you say nonsense, it keeps others from taking the problem seriously.

In some form or fashion yes. Theres a reason why there are so many homeless tent camps everywhere. These people are not choosing to be homeless. They just can't afford a place. But remember a lot of them still have jobs. At Walmart, Amazon Warehouses, etc.

> In some form or fashion yes

Can you clarify? Because I'd find it hard to believe that half of Americans are literally homeless. It might make more sense if you're referring to home-owners.

“Half of Americans are facing housing insecurity” is probably closer to the intent but I don’t know if that’s actually true.

170 million people living in tents? Wow.

Pretty sure half the US isn't living in tents. I feel like I'd notice that, especially living in a city with a larger-than-average homeless population.

I agree that homelessness is a problem, but you appear to be arguing in bad faith. If 50% of the US actually "can't afford housing", we'd have $170M people living in tents, and that is demonstrably not the case.

I would believe a claim that states that a large portion (maybe 50%, maybe more, maybe less) of the country are facing financial insecurity that makes them feel like their housing situation is precarious. But that wasn't the claim put forth upthread.

What we can't see is the amount of people that are living with roommates and in toxic situations they'd love to exit but are unable to due to a lack of housing options and a lack of money.

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