Utah homeless campus takes shape | Hacker News Reader

Utah homeless campus takes shape

ksl.com

5 pointsgscott6 comments

I lived in downtown SLC near Pioneer Park where there are a few shelters and affordable housing complexes. As a result, Pioneer Park became a place where most unhoused congregate downtown. IMO this is an effort to get the unhoused out of downtown.

The location of the new facility is out by the airport, in the middle of nowhere, cutting off the unhoused from the social fabric.

If the goal is to help the unhoused be woven into the social fabric the answer is to build up, not out, so they are a part of city living, and should include:

1) Small-scale, incremental affordable housing, 2) Mixed-income, mixed-use neighborhoods, and 3) Preservation of older, cheaper buildings

I like the spirit of the project. I don't like that is quarantining a portion of society.

“If the goal is to help the unhoused be woven into the social fabric” - I don’t think that’s ever been the goal. Maybe in some idealistic substack, but not when it comes to actual policy making. The goal has always been removal of anyone seen as a nuisance at best, or a threat at worst.

Many cities have mixed-income housing strategies to create a social and economic mix, including London where council housing is peppered in throughout the boroughs.

"Building more densely in the right places will not just enable the delivery of more homes, but will also improve access to jobs and services, while helping to fund desperately needed social and physical infrastructure. It will help people to be active and healthy, by locating more housing within walking and cycling distance of local amenities and public transport access, and by reducing reliance on car ownership. Furthermore, it will help to foster socially and economically mixed neighbourhoods, which are a key part of maintaining London’s vibrancy and economic success."

-London Housing Strategy https://www.housinglin.org.uk/_assets/Resources/Housing/Othe...

The only thing in common between Salt Lake City and London is that they are both English speaking cities. Might as well compare Paris with Cayenne.

Salt Lake also has https://theothersidevillage.com/ which is rather less quarantined. One specific goal of that was to be near transit.

https://homelesscampus.utah.gov/

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