That’s easy. It’s because homelessness is a problem California can’t fix. It’s because we are willing to spend tons of money to *look* like we’re trying to do something. It’s because most communities that have a crisis of homelessness spend most of their dedicated money on what is essentially bullshit compassion marketing campaigns.
But, having lived for quite a while in San Jose, California, (in an area with *many* homeless encampments) I can venture to guess a few of the more specific reasons.
One would be the degree of NIMBYism that surfaces about nearly every solution proposed. Money is often spent on planning and developing solutions that look great on paper and have plenty of government and agency support then are inevitably shut down by the same residents or businesses who are screaming about the homelessness issue in the first place.
Another reason would be that the only solutions acceptable to the delicate sensibilities of some residents are impractical solutions focused on making homelessness invisible rather than on helping prevent homelessness. Most of the municipal investment in dealing with homelessness seems to involve waiting until the complaints about a homeless encampment get loud enough and then rousting the homeless people out of the area, tearing down and throwing away everything in the encampment, and pretending to have solved a problem that simply moves back in by the weekend. Rounding homeless people up and stuffing them in interment camps outside city limits would be preferred to the messy task of providing homeless individuals with the resources and support they need to get off the street. You can spend unlimited funds on providing rent support, but without all the other things needed to rebuild a life, you are wasting your money.
There are many homeless individuals who are working more than one job, but can’t immediately produce the resources to live as consumers. Still, the vast majority of homeless people I encountered regularly had profound mental health and/or substance abuse problems (there is also a significant population of homeless elderly). Solutions for these folk are much more resource intense and slow.
A related reason is the amount of money getting spent on healthcare. It is unlikely that a homeless person still has medical insurance and living on the street means any little thing can become a medical emergency. The emergency medical services are often clogged with homeless people needing medical attention for things that would otherwise require an aspirin and a little bed rest. {For example, Peter, a homeless alcoholic who lived in an encampment near us. Peter had lots of foot problems (pretty common) and wore out his welcome at the emergency service providers in our area dealing with things that most people manage for themselves. Eventually Peter got a cold which, on the streets, turned into pneumonia quickly and, by the time he could actually get a doctor to see him, it was too advanced to treat without massive expense. He died in the bushes.}
Dealing with homelessness at the local level is like owning a building that needs a million dollars in repairs, but you have $100,000 to spend. You kind of have to spend some money and make some effort, hoping for the best (or you’ll end up having to pay for the inevitable collapse), but no matter what partial repair you put that money into, it will never sufficiently fix the problems, only delay the inevitable.
Homelessness is a national problem. It is the inevitable result of public, political, and economic policies that unquestioningly support the needs of billion dollar corporations and are entirely willing to flush away the lives of people who wind up at the bottom. If you doubt that, just look at the way the FED raises interest rates any time we approach full employment in this country. American Capitalism *requires* a pool of people at the bottom and without resources, otherwise we get upward pressure on wages, and *that* cuts into corporate profits. Homelessness is designed into the system of predatory capitalism that we all celebrate. A big part of that design is to blame the homeless for their own homelessness and then pretend that we can’t possibly understand why the bandaid we put on the traumatic amputation didn’t fix things.
Just because places like California are magnets for homeless people (compassion + weather) doesn’t mean Oklahoma isn’t generating homeless people. Complain about it all you want but fixing the national problem with homelessness will require an unblinking look at our entire capitalist system, and it looks to me as though we are, as a nation, much more willing to just run out the clock and let everything collapse.
***TLDR***: *Homelessness is an intractable national symptom of a vicious economic system, and we lack the desire or the will to actually do anything about it.*
chikkienuggs says
Additionally, taxpayers in California want to know.
crazynife says
Because mental illness cannot be treated with money
Local_poggers says
There are many reasons, but they won’t admit the one that applies to them: themselves.
FreudoBaggage says
That’s easy. It’s because homelessness is a problem California can’t fix. It’s because we are willing to spend tons of money to *look* like we’re trying to do something. It’s because most communities that have a crisis of homelessness spend most of their dedicated money on what is essentially bullshit compassion marketing campaigns.
But, having lived for quite a while in San Jose, California, (in an area with *many* homeless encampments) I can venture to guess a few of the more specific reasons.
One would be the degree of NIMBYism that surfaces about nearly every solution proposed. Money is often spent on planning and developing solutions that look great on paper and have plenty of government and agency support then are inevitably shut down by the same residents or businesses who are screaming about the homelessness issue in the first place.
Another reason would be that the only solutions acceptable to the delicate sensibilities of some residents are impractical solutions focused on making homelessness invisible rather than on helping prevent homelessness. Most of the municipal investment in dealing with homelessness seems to involve waiting until the complaints about a homeless encampment get loud enough and then rousting the homeless people out of the area, tearing down and throwing away everything in the encampment, and pretending to have solved a problem that simply moves back in by the weekend. Rounding homeless people up and stuffing them in interment camps outside city limits would be preferred to the messy task of providing homeless individuals with the resources and support they need to get off the street. You can spend unlimited funds on providing rent support, but without all the other things needed to rebuild a life, you are wasting your money.
There are many homeless individuals who are working more than one job, but can’t immediately produce the resources to live as consumers. Still, the vast majority of homeless people I encountered regularly had profound mental health and/or substance abuse problems (there is also a significant population of homeless elderly). Solutions for these folk are much more resource intense and slow.
A related reason is the amount of money getting spent on healthcare. It is unlikely that a homeless person still has medical insurance and living on the street means any little thing can become a medical emergency. The emergency medical services are often clogged with homeless people needing medical attention for things that would otherwise require an aspirin and a little bed rest. {For example, Peter, a homeless alcoholic who lived in an encampment near us. Peter had lots of foot problems (pretty common) and wore out his welcome at the emergency service providers in our area dealing with things that most people manage for themselves. Eventually Peter got a cold which, on the streets, turned into pneumonia quickly and, by the time he could actually get a doctor to see him, it was too advanced to treat without massive expense. He died in the bushes.}
Dealing with homelessness at the local level is like owning a building that needs a million dollars in repairs, but you have $100,000 to spend. You kind of have to spend some money and make some effort, hoping for the best (or you’ll end up having to pay for the inevitable collapse), but no matter what partial repair you put that money into, it will never sufficiently fix the problems, only delay the inevitable.
Homelessness is a national problem. It is the inevitable result of public, political, and economic policies that unquestioningly support the needs of billion dollar corporations and are entirely willing to flush away the lives of people who wind up at the bottom. If you doubt that, just look at the way the FED raises interest rates any time we approach full employment in this country. American Capitalism *requires* a pool of people at the bottom and without resources, otherwise we get upward pressure on wages, and *that* cuts into corporate profits. Homelessness is designed into the system of predatory capitalism that we all celebrate. A big part of that design is to blame the homeless for their own homelessness and then pretend that we can’t possibly understand why the bandaid we put on the traumatic amputation didn’t fix things.
Just because places like California are magnets for homeless people (compassion + weather) doesn’t mean Oklahoma isn’t generating homeless people. Complain about it all you want but fixing the national problem with homelessness will require an unblinking look at our entire capitalist system, and it looks to me as though we are, as a nation, much more willing to just run out the clock and let everything collapse.
***TLDR***: *Homelessness is an intractable national symptom of a vicious economic system, and we lack the desire or the will to actually do anything about it.*
Frogggggsss says
Soon, Oakland Coliseum will be accessible.
Catebile says
We should establish a committee to look into this and add several political contributors to the payroll.
Realpapaghost says
How can I find out how many Californians are struggling from paycheck to paycheck?
Dragonneclipse says
This equates to about $118,000 per year for each homeless person.