Large Homeless Encampment in Oakland California.

Remy

Remy

Well-known Member
Location
California, USA
These videos are a few weeks old but what got me to look them up on YouTube was a news blip I heard in my car today talking about it. They want to clear this area and put in what they call "affordable housing." I'm beginning to wonder what that is exactly anymore. But they interviewed a homeless advocate or whatever and he was saying that (super paraphrasing, but the main idea) that these people are self sufficient (not they're not, all their trash and lack of sanitation for one thing) have developed communities and know how to interact with 'housed' people to get their needs met. Like what go to houses and take water from their outside faucets and their outdoor electrical outlets for their phones? There are small "cabin" shelters being offered. Not surprisingly, too many people are not interested. The ones in my area do allow the pets, so that's no excuse.

A couple of videos about 2:30 minutes each. This is a crisis. Some of these people have mental health, drug problems, severe personality disorders, on and on. I'm not without sympathy and I don't think we do enough for housing, it's all for profit. But seriously WTF? And played out all over.
 

portland oregon created those "affordable housing" by tearing down most of the old hotels or remodeling them. they paid around $400 a month in public assistance and charged
$400 rent for the low income housing they made. people had to eat at charity style centers, and a sunday 'picnic in the park' feed. that was may years ago and I don't think things have changed.
 
deaver said:
portland oregon created those "affordable housing" by tearing down most of the old hotels or remodeling them. they paid around $400 a month in public assistance and charged
$400 rent for the low income housing they made. people had to eat at charity style centers, and a sunday 'picnic in the park' feed. that was may years ago and I don't think things have changed.
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I've heard of these in the San Francisco bay area. Single Occupancy something or other. Basically yes, a hotel room. I wonder if some of the old ones even have their own toilet?
 
Remy said:
I've heard of these in the San Francisco bay area. Single Occupancy something or other. Basically yes, a hotel room. I wonder if some of the old ones even have their own toilet?
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They're a "Cabin" which can house 1-2 people. However, probably they'll do like up here and not permit "Hoarding" of various items. If you've ever seen such, they have 1-3 carts with basically junk, but "It's mine!"

Plus, there's bathrooms (portapotties) 1 per 10 people on site also. Our has oversight, rehousing help (usually 5 months and you're into a solid housing situation)

The main problem is many are handicapped with mental health issues, not easily solved
 
Too many different issues for one size fits all solution. Some homeless can't handle rules or structure in a shelter or a home/apartment where they must follow some rules. And they know potential dangers such as getting robbed or assaulted. This is why some shy away from shelters even if told absolutely free.

Also California has had working homeless issues for years. I remember seeing stories about Disney workers sleeping in their cars or on benches near the park.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/27/us/disneyland-employees-wages.html

And even though quality of life can stink they do what they want. They have no responsibilities or obligations. They are very free in their own way.
 
When I was traveling and staying at long-stay two-star hotels, there were lots of poor people housed in them, presumably paid for by some agency or service. I guess it would be good for the hotels to have a certain amount of steady occupancy, but I don't know what the rates were or what services weren't available. From talking to people in the elevators and parking lot, it seemed like the poor people had much worse wifi and didn't get any room cleaning service. But I think they got toilet paper and clean towels.
 
Occasionally I walk near a subsidized housing community. It used to a have a live-in landlord and rules were adhered to. The government decided to save money and without someone to enforce rules, it’s now a slum.
 
California had a series of mental and drug adiction hospitals, the most famous of which was in Napa. These were closed down and the residents relocated to halfway houses in the cities where they were to be counseled and transitioned into gainful employment. In San Francisco, and I believe elsewhere, the residents didn't like the rules and left for alley life where they were free to do drugs, alcohol, and whatever else they couldn't do in a halfway house.

My Son-in-law was a San Francisco cop who patrolled Market Street, a main drag. He carried free housing voutures that would give the homeless a room in local boarding houses. He was always frustrated that he could not give away those vouchers. The homeless don't like rules. The city installed very nice toilet stalls around the city. The homeless used them for drug deals, sex, and little apartments. They were removed. Today the sidewalks in parts of the town sport the occasional turd. The top floor of a parking garage near where I once lived is reported to have been taken over by the homeless and their tents.
 
The Netflix documentary "Lead Me Home" is worth watching. It is about homelessness in California.
The film "The Florida Project" is another one worth watching.
The local news had a segment on the housing crisis in central Florida called "Priced Out: Renting, buying, and the struggle at all price points". They explained that developers do not build affordable housing because it is almost impossible to make a profit!
One concept is used here, it is to convert unused hotels into affordable housing but it is difficult to find funds for this.
When we lived in NW Florida 41 percent of the county children lived below the poverty line. We used to assemble at the local Walmart at the beginning of each school year and buy children supplies and clothes for the year. At school, teachers would fill the children's backpacks with goods to hold them for the weekend. Here in my town, a woman's club provide for teenage girls.
In 2022, our governor was challenging the reduced-price meals as well as the free lunches for school children.
Homelessness is a serious problem in the USA and can't be ignored any longer!

Thanks for the link Nathan, I want to take the time to read it in full.
 
My local library is still shut down because of homeless people doing meth in the bathrooms and I guess contaminating the ventilation system. It's going to cost a lot of money to replace or clean all the ductwork. They're still taking bids.

AI is going to eliminate a lot of jobs in the next decade, which will inevitably lead to more homelessness. More neighborhoods are going to turn into slums. Crime will increase. We could be witnessing the beginning of societal collapse.

Oh, well. My dog needs a walk. :ROFLMAO:
 
Back in the day a Cambodian refugee, co-worker and friend, told me a heartwaming homeless story. One of the early refugees from Pol Pot's Cambodian massacres arrived in California and got a job in a doughnut shop. He worked there for awhile and realized this was something he could do on his own, but he didn't have the money to get started, so he and his wife lived in their car, saving money. After three years in the car he had enough money to open his own shop. In a few years they owned a chain of shops, were quite wealthy, and of course no longer lived in a car. (-8
 
Public housing has been demolished in a number of major American cities. I don't think those places were built for the real benefit of the people who lived in them.
 
Remy said:
Public housing has been demolished in a number of major American cities. I don't think those places were built for the real benefit of the people who lived in them.
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From what I heard they were too much work/money and breeding ground for crime in general including drug dealing, vandalism, assaults etc.
 
if you cram to many socially noncomformists into a small area you are gonna have problems. even among those more suited there are problems with living close. human nature???
 
deaver said:
if you cram to many socially noncomformists into a small area you are gonna have problems. even among those more suited there are problems with living close. human nature???
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That's the thing many homeless do not want rules, structure etc. Also with renting in general too many don't care of their rental because it's somebody elses-not 'my job' syndrome. So if people are given housing for free or low rents they or family & friends will not appreciate/respect the property.
 
deaver said:
if you cram to many socially noncomformists into a small area you are gonna have problems. even among those more suited there are problems with living close. human nature???
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Yes, it's going to happen. However I can only imagine that there were decent people trapped in those places also. Who were afraid and of course afraid to say anything about what they watched around them.
 
WhatInThe said:
That's the thing many homeless do not want rules, structure etc. Also with renting in general too many don't care of their rental because it's somebody elses-not 'my job' syndrome. So if people are given housing for free or low rents they or family & friends will not appreciate/respect the property.
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When I lived in Washinton State, I lived in an apartment complex that took section 8 and regular rent payers which I was. They were small. one bedroom. single level, 4 long rows of apartments. Because they were all one bedroom there were rarely kids. A lot of older people, they took 2 pets. It was a decent complex.
 

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