I recently moved to California. Before i moved, people asked me “why are you moving there, its so bad?”. Now that I’m here, i understand it less. The state is beautiful. There is so much to do.
I know the cost of living is high, and people think the gun control laws are ridiculous (I actually think they are reasonable, for the most part). There is a guy I work with here that says “the policies are dumb” but can’t give me a solid answer on what is so bad about it.
So, what is it that California does (policy-wise) that people hate so much?
Fwiw (being a nonnative Californian) we have so many homeless because nobody else will even try to care for them.
Other states seem content to just let em die, ideally after shopping them to us with a free bus ticket.
We could do that too… But I’m glad we’re trying out here. They can be a bit gross, but they don’t seem to bother the locals. Some have interesting stories.
Success with this pernicious problem doesn’t seem guaranteed, but it never was against what’s usually a mental issue.
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There must be a better way than leaving them on the streets. That’s not a compassionate way to treat people. I know that addicts often resist help, but that’s a good argument for the Dutch model. When an addict appears before a judge they are given two options: prison or mandatory rehab. Unsurprisingly, Holland has much higher levels of rehab completion and very few addicts in the streets. They also spend much less per homeless person than San Francisco.
I don’t think this is about compassion. I think it’s about failed policies. What they keep doing isn’t working. It’s time to do something which is proven to work.
Oh sure, there must, and I don’t agree with leaving them on the streets to fend for themselves.
Because a lot of current homeowners view their homes as investments, nobody wants to ok building any kind of shelters locally. Since coastal areas are where the money from begging is, nobody wants to leave this area either.
We’ve come to an impasse, but nobody is brave enough to take the next step. Once we do, how much housing do we need?
And for the record: jail/prison in the US is a horrible option that some may mistakenly take. You will come out changed, and not necessarily for the better.