I dont agree with Housing First Theory
A lot of local homeless advocates are in love with the Housing First theory for handling the homeless. I have serious concerns that giving people a home without proper drug testing and oversight is a recipe for slums and disaster. See the graph below, and let me know what you think. I am writing the expanded version of my book and welcome criticism.
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I just watched the video and read the graph, and first want to applaud your efforts to tackle this issue with words and analysis. That’s the productive way, and I do appreciate Stephen’s criticism about not talking to many of the homeless people themselves in the video but moving on.
I have also seen that what you’re saying is true, there are serious crime related problems locally and within the homeless population. Drugs are a serious issue that a lot of people don’t understand, but System of The Down explains it quite well in “The Prison Song.” Drug money is used to perpetuate crime, it’s that simple.
I liked what you said about having different treatment paths depending on the individual needs. I think as this problem is scrutinized and California acts on it in different ways, I can only hope there would be an individualized rehab approach. My concern is that they’ll create a bureaucratic standard for what mental health is and do a hack job of it, putting people in danger..
The ca population density bonus law should be deeply studied to see who it’s actually serving as far as how tax funds are being used, and the effect those funds have on communities. I believe the proper or improper use of those funds directly impacts communities, and politicians should be more transparent about where that money is going. Too often they’ll announce these developments bring jobs to the area but then fail to mention how much of that money stays in the area vs how much goes to developers.
The notion that building tons of low income housing will reduce prices doesn’t appear to be true when all of the houses are managed by a relatively small amount of rental agencies. For more housing to equal easier access, there would have to be more owners offering rentals to create a competitive rental market, which means there needs to be home ownership programs and programs that incentivize long term rentals - not temporary low income housing programs.
I agree that there should be programs to help people succeed in life, especially if they can be personalized to help that person achieve their actual goals. A lot of people just want to get a job or do something worth their time and be left to live peacefully, but for various reasons many choose to live on the streets. I think the imbalances and injustices in society cause people to lose hope, without it they start to lose interest in participating, and I’d like to see those rectified as much as I want to see the hurting people restored to good health and behavior.