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Comment by dclowd9901 | Hacker News Reader

Local law enforcement has told us that, off the books, many East coast cities have actually paid to fly their homeless out of their areas into other parts of the country, California (namely San Francisco) because of their homeless-friendliness.

People wonder what happened to all the crime and homeless in NYC? They were flown out west.

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Citation definitely needed. I don't see how cities would pay thousands of dollars to fly the homeless out of town. Most of the time they are mentally ill, and simply don't have the financial resources to get better. I'm not of perfect mental health, but I have the resources and the support network to make myself normal, where as the less fortunate do not. I know this is completely off topic, but everyone has I just don't give a shit any more point and say fuck it I'll live on the streets.

Maybe not flown, but could certainly have been bused, and how much exactly do you think it costs to provide benefits to homeless on a per capita basis? I'm not saying it's true. It's only what I've heard, and the economics of it work out, even if they were flown.

For what it's worth, the plane ticket seems suspect to me too, as you usually require an ID to fly, which most homeless are without.

I believe the solution to the homeless problem lies somewhere between a mental institution and a halfway house. A place where the homeless can receive ongoing care in a safe but controlled environment. But as a sacrifice, they lose freedom. These people need care and help, but some of them can also present a danger to society. That's the reality of it. I don't think people mind too much a person asking for a bit of help on the street, but when they accost you, they need to be managed.

Of course, if someone was willing to take them in and assume full responsibility for them, that'd be even better.

Several years ago I sat next to a homeless guy on a Southwest flight from Burbank to the East Coast. He told me he had just been released from prison, and California was paying for the ticket to fly him out to Rhode Island to live with his son. This might have more to do with prison than homelessness, though.

San Francisco does the same thing, only with bus tickets. http://www.sfhsa.org/79.htm

That program requires you have verified family/friends to take you in at the other end of the trip, which seems pretty legit.

i can't believe that. it fails the conspiracy secrecy test - there would have had to have been a bunch of people involved and eventually there would have been a scandal.

my bet is that we have mild winters in California that are much less Darwinian.

Alberta offered bus tickets to welfare recipients to leave the province. A lot of them ended up in Vancouver and in the Downtown Eastside.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_Canada#Cuts_to_...

"New York has found a novel, if expensive, way of dealing with its overcrowded shelters – buying one-way tickets for homeless families to leave the city."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/29/new-york-homeles...

From that article: “Families can qualify for the tickets if they have a relative in another part of the world, including the US, who says they are willing to house them.”

NYC also gets its share of people from outside the NYC region who actually fall for the myth of NYC as ultra-socialist nirvana.

There was an episode of South Park based on this. They specifically send all the homeless to California (because it's "super cool to the homeless"), too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Living_Homeless

While living in Japan, I've heard from numerous sources that Tokyo has gotten in trouble in the past for purchasing one-way bus tickets to Osaka for the homeless. (I'm having trouble finding citations, though.)

I've had people from Portland tell me that, on noticing the high number of homeless people around. Not sure if I believe that...

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