Solving and who will pay for homelessness

In life there are many unexpected situations.
I agree with many who say things like .....one small setback can and will change your life and you could not make rent etc. I always when renting and when i bought a house bought something below what other tried to convince me I could afford.

i often made what if plans like how fast what job would i consider if lost one i had..... could i find a roommate to rent a room. i worked in a industry with lots of young folks..... what bills could i cut back on in a hurry etc.

I watched around me those who spent every dime they came across.... who asked friends to front them money for a utility bill then find that weekend they attended a concert whose bad seat tickets were starting at $75 and up.
i watched a person take funds raised by co-workers to get her out of bad checks she passed at work ... instead buy hair extensions. these are the people i saw first hand in between places or temporarily homeless...

perhaps Financial education is more needed but when i have asked those in schools etc ... I was told "they worry about teaching kids things that maybe their parents dont agree with or believe or do is wrong.........or making those who are poor feel bad"

Yes there are people trying very hard and failing but there are far more who if given a choice will always make a BAD one. minimum wage was NEVER meant as a living wage. what incentive is there if it all pays the same?
no one wants to take on tasks or responsibility if flipping burgers gets the same check.
 

For decades banks and retail corps have pushed the foolish in debt American lifestyle. Everyone does it...so it must be ok? Thus many become habituated living week to week over decades with trivial savings where a list of unexpected issues like losing employment, accidents, illness, etc can put them into financial disasters and in this era that may result in homelessness. Note as a financial working class peon my whole life, have never taken loans, even car loans, and instead always first saved money to pay for whatever.
 
Saving, investing, and maintaining a cash emergency fund are all great habits.

Scraping together a down payment and purchasing a modest home in a nice area with a fixed rate mortgage can pay huge dividends over a lifetime.

IMO it’s all about balance, good debt vs bad debt, needs vs wants, risk vs reward, etc...
 

There is no one answer, person, organization etc. Nor should there be. In the end it comes down to the individual to want to work themselves out of homeless or change their life.

No solution but help when wanted yes
 
Last edited:
fuzzybuddy said:
I agree with Aunt Bee about having two homeless populations. One is mainly people with mental disorders, who cannot function as a memeber of society. The other is composed by people, whose circumstances have caused them to become homeless. But I don't believe this is a temporary situation. If one is too poor to pay the prevailing rents, you will be homeless. Upgrading to a better job helps, but if there's increased competition for too few rentable units, you are most probably going to be homeless again., as rents will be out of your range. And when huge segments of the population are homeless, funding for re- training is inadequate, at best.
Click to expand...
Not only that, it's not just rent -- lots of places charge a security deposit, plus first month's rent, at the outset of the lease. Here, one also has to have a job that pays 3-4 times the rent, with plenty of pay stubs to prove it. Not only that, most require credit checks.

I could not get an apartment in my town (a safe complex) even when I offered to pay the rent a year in advance, all because I didn't have pay stubs because I am retired. The rental agent said she was sure it would be no problem, but I had to pay $150 to determine this officially, only for that to be rejected. At the time, I could have paid decades in advance, so it wasn't because of a lack of funds. I reported the charge to my bank, and they reversed it.

A homeless person would have a hard time saving the upfront money required (utilities, too, sometimes require deposits), and having references (sometimes required) from previous landlords, and surviving a credit check.
 
Anyone can become homeless in 2021, it’s easy, our society is slanted towards the rich. Bad luck if you are getting old, with no family support, and still paying rent, if you lose your job, tough luck, just suck it up and get another one. Total crap IMO. It can happen to anyone.
 
Aunt Bea said:
Being a single mom with three kids has never been easy and these days being poor in America can be like having a second job.

Today we are fortunate to have federal child care credits of $3,000 - $3,600/child, SNAP, WIC, Section 8 housing vouchers, children’s Medicaid and healthcare plus, free school breakfast and lunch, etc...

It would be so much easier and cheaper if the patchwork of benefits could be consolidated into one comprehensive plan, but once a government bureaucracy is created it fights to stay alive.

The system will never be perfect, but IMO it’s much better now than it was when my mother was raising my sister and me on a modest income.
Click to expand...

Some how ?? My mother managed to raise,feed ,put clothes on our backs & a roof over the heads of my 1/2 sister & I ......... in the 50's & 60's . All on minimum wage jobs. She received no child support from either my dad or my sister's .

It still amazes me, ...... we didn't have much but, we ate well, we lived clean, and i was never asshamed to walk down the street due to ragged clothing ..... etc.
 
Irwin said:
I've been saying for years that we need to stop real estate speculation — that as well as home flippers. They're all driving up the cost of housing and making it hard for first time buyers to get into a house. Housing is not a luxury item and shouldn't be treated as one. It's a necessity, like food, transportation, and utilities, (unless, of course, you include vacation homes, pleasure trips, etc...) And these real estate sites like Zillow don't just exist for people to sell their houses. From what I understand, they're speculators; they buy and sell homes for profit.

But nothing will be done. In this day and age when even a pandemic is politicized, the government no longer works for the people; it exists solely for corporate interests and for the rich to get richer.
Click to expand...

Well said ........... and I agree.
 
There are dozens of abandoned military bases and colleges campuses all over the USA that remain unused. The government can buy out or sell these to churches such as the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, Fed of Protestant Welfare Agencies, etc for a dollar or so. It can wave all taxes, and provide tax credits or incentive to persons and institutions that build up or make provision to the beneficiaries of the shelters. This could have been done going all the way back to Reagan's years in the White House. Unfortunately, nobody bothers to do so.
 
A month ago California began a program to combat house flipping corporations that are a prime cause of endlessly rising rents in urban areas. Today reports on their first suit, winning a $2.75 settlement against a Los Angeles corp buying up multi-unit rentals and then selling them to corporate speculators that jack up rents, often leading to homelessness. Much of the money speculating corps use comes from foreign investors and REITs.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/california-cracks-down-house-flipping-014703711.html
 
I think house flippers are criminals. We got the same problem here in Canada. Actually last month 50% of the homes sold here in Winnipeg had multi-bids on them. Just talked to a lady here who told me that her son is looking for a home to rent but can't afford the prices people are asking him. I think house flippers are greedy good for nothings that are making young people unable to afford some of the housing. Ya, I believe in freedom and I believe in free enterprise. But I don't believe in people being so greedy that it hurts a certain segment of our society. I'm afraid that there will be more and more homeless people because of these house flippers. I'm retired and I'm renting but what about the young generation?
 
The thing that I don’t understand about the anger over real estate flippers/investors is that they are selling into a market that is willing to accept and pay those higher prices.

If I owned property I wouldn’t want the government deciding how much I could own or how much I could sell it for.

Let the market sort it out.
 
The elite university world of Master of Business Administration, MBA, creates graduate degrees focusing on business administration and investment management. Some companies and ultra wealthy hire these people to find ways and implement functions to create wealth. In this era that is often by attracting enough others that have money that in aggregate can pursue some financial purpose. A source of that wealth is the large numbers of ordinary wealth individuals across the world with at least some savings that seek wealth themselves. Some bury their money in a hole in the ground, some put their excess money into banks savings accounts, some into bonds, some gold, and many into corpororate stock markets. In this era putting one's money in banks is no longer of benefit. That is in part by design. A favorite scheme is advertising in financial media real estate investment trust and real estate purchasing corporations of how a person can increase their money by joining such enterprises. Like some will show over the last few years how their investor made big multi-digit annual gains investing so. The last thing they are going to admit to prospective investors is this is driving real estate inflation, homelessness, and other ills.

The difference in this era is due to the Internet, across the planet, a connection to this wealth seeking world is just a mouse click away. This is an immensely unfair advantage because in many in demand real estate markets over years, there are always more new investors next year ready to buy at higher prices since outside of housing rent stabilization laws, there is little ordinary people can do since everyone needs a residence near where they can pursue a career. After the economic collapse of 2008, West Coast politicians on both sides created laws that made it easier for those outside the USA to invest in that way. Besides millions with modest assets in the the US and Europe, now enormous funds are also moving in from Asia to do so competing with we peons. We peons are being skewered and being fed by complicit news media and politicians everything but the truth as to why this is happening.
 
Aunt Bea said:
The thing that I don’t understand about the anger over real estate flippers/investors is that they are selling into a market that is willing to accept and pay those higher prices.

If I owned property I wouldn’t want the government deciding how much I could own or how much I could sell it for.

Let the market sort it out.
Click to expand...



The problem is that the government policies have continually increased the wealth gap so that it gives elites more options while giving the poor fewer options. You may have seen this in past forum exchanges:

Wealth_trickle_down.jpg




Make the market more equitable as in the days of FDR, give everyone the same options, and then see how things sort out.
 
Irwin said:
There's got to be a better way.
Click to expand...
Yeah, there is

Always has been

It's called work.....any

You work
Bunk in with someone
Eat peanut butter on cheap bread
Drink water

It's NOT income
It's outgo that's the issue

Do this 'til you can afford better

Immigrants did stuff like that
NY tenements
Not a leisure lifestyle
Just a place to hang yer hat when you weren't working wunna yer two or three jobs

Of course if some bleeding heart wants to hand you money and/or a place for free, the incentive goes out the window....
 
Last edited:
oldiebutgoody said:
The problem is that the government policies have continually increased the wealth gap so that it gives elites more options while giving the poor fewer options. You may have seen this in past forum exchanges:

Wealth_trickle_down.jpg




Make the market more equitable as in the days of FDR, give everyone the same options, and then see how things sort out.
Click to expand...
Don't buy into the notion that there is some elite force dedicated to keeping you down.

The only one keeping any of us down is the person that we see in the bathroom mirror every morning.

The poor have always had fewer options but IMO they have always had the same opportunities.

It may take longer and the process may be more difficult, but every able-bodied person still has the opportunity to get an education and a job.

"Success is when preparation meets opportunity."

"Keep walking."
 
Gary O' said:
Yeah, there is

Always has been

It's called work.....any

You work
Bunk in with someone
Eat peanut butter on cheap bread
Drink water

It's NOT income
It's outgo that's the issue

Do this 'til you can afford better

Immigrants did stuff like that
NY tenements
Not a leisure lifestyle
Just a place to hang yer hat when you weren't working wunna yer two or three jobs

Of course if some bleeding heart wants to hand you money and/or a place for free, the incentive goes out the window....
Click to expand...


Agree here ......


"It's NOT income
It's outgo that's the issue

Do this 'til you can afford better"

I have been preaching this for years ...... I have a 25+ year friend that never has grasp the concept.
 
Aunt Bea said:
Don't buy into the notion that there is some elite force dedicated to keeping you down.

The only one keeping any of us down is the person that we see in the bathroom mirror every morning.

The poor have always had fewer options but IMO they have always had the same opportunities.

It may take longer and the process may be more difficult, but every able-bodied person still has the opportunity to get an education and a job.

"Success is when preparation meets opportunity."

"Keep walking."
Click to expand...


There are tens of thousands of people out there who, like me, have two college degrees but who still live in poverty, eat on bread lines, and get some of their food in food banks. It would take too long to explain my history but all that is not relevant here. The problem is the wealth gap caused by decades of policies that enrich the wealthy and make the poor poorer.

The ratio increased in every decade since 1980, reaching 12.6 in 2018, an increase of 39%. Not only is income inequality rising in the U.S., it is higher than in other advanced economies. Jan 9, 2020 https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/
 
oldiebutgoody said:
There are tens of thousands of people out there who, like me, have two college degrees but who still live in poverty, eat on bread lines, and get some of their food in food banks. It would take too long to explain my history but all that is not relevant here. The problem is the wealth gap caused by decades of policies that enrich the wealthy and make the poor poorer.

The ratio increased in every decade since 1980, reaching 12.6 in 2018, an increase of 39%. Not only is income inequality rising in the U.S., it is higher than in other advanced economies. Jan 9, 2020 https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/
Click to expand...
What specifically would you change to make the system more equitable?

Personally, I'd favor communes where poor people who wanted to get ahead could live in decent housing and eat good meals while they learn skills or go to college and eventually work their way out of the commune. Of course, we couldn't call them "communes" because that's communism! We'd need to come up with another name.
 
Irwin said:
Personally, I'd favor communes where poor people who wanted to get ahead could live in decent housing and eat good meals while they learn skills or go to college and eventually work their way out of the commune. Of course, we couldn't call them "communes" because that's communism! We'd need to come up with another name.
Click to expand...
It's been done
Quite a few times
Been involved a bit
Overall, it doesn't really work
Too many miscreants bleeding the hand outs...or hand ups (whatever)

Really can't get away from the basics.
Work.....work......work
Live within yer means until you can do better

For those that want 'better' it's there
 
oldiebutgoody said:
The problem is that the government policies have continually increased the wealth gap so that it gives elites more options while giving the poor fewer options. You may have seen this in past forum exchanges:

Wealth_trickle_down.jpg




Make the market more equitable as in the days of FDR, give everyone the same options, and then see how things sort out.
Click to expand...
Right now I am working my way through a book that everyone should read but probably few will as it is rather heavy and the going is slow. It's called "DARK MONEY" by Jane Mayer. It is about the hidden history of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. I bet that most people don't know that cowboy actor and one time president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, slashed corporate and individual tax rates, helping the wealthy. Between 1981 and 1986 the top income tax rate was cut from 70 percent to 28 percent. Meanwhile, taxes on the bottom 4/5 of earners rose. Here was someone who "robbed the poor to give to the rich." Robin Hood would turn over in his grave if he knew. This is an example of where free enterprise has a very bad smell to it!
 
oldiebutgoody said:
The ratio increased in every decade since 1980, reaching 12.6 in 2018, an increase of 39%. Not only is income inequality rising in the U.S., it is higher than in other advanced economies. Jan 9, 2020
Click to expand...
Yup, a decadent society
Still, there's work
Sacrifice
Reward

Not too many are willing, anymore
Too much stuff within reach

There's no earning
Just getting
Or.....taking

Homeless have iPhones
Seems compulsory these days
I don't get it
 
Packerjohn said:
Right now I am working my way through a book that everyone should read but probably few will as it is rather heavy and the going is slow. It's called "DARK MONEY" by Jane Mayer. It is about the hidden history of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right. I bet that most people don't know that cowboy actor and one time president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, slashed corporate and individual tax rates, helping the wealthy. Between 1981 and 1986 the top income tax rate was cut from 70 percent to 28 percent. Meanwhile, taxes on the bottom 4/5 of earners rose. Here was someone who "robbed the poor to give to the rich." Robin Hood would turn over in his grave if he knew. This is an example of where free enterprise has a very bad smell to it!
Click to expand...


I worked for the IRS during the Reagan years. He also ended the IRS's Office of International Operations so that corporations could engage in every manner of corruption and make billions in tax free income. Then he expanded overseas tax shelters so that the rich could get richer. Bush I and Bush II started wars so that billionaires and those who have stock in the military industrial complex can make billions more tax free. Free market? Yeah, with billions in subsidies and abatements from the government. If anyone else got that kind of money people would be calling it welfare. Thus, when someone says there is a "free market" with people willing to pay for certain real estate, the truth is that the tax system is skewed so that they can make a daily killing on the market while working people are paying more and more for everything.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top