patrick.net

Homelessness is not a housing issue. Nor is it a social issue. It is a mental health problem.

I am against public housing of any form because it causes market distortions.

As a society, we should encourage more housing units to be built. We should view zoning and NIMBYism as violation of property rights.

Welfare is not the solution.

Could there be a more perfect, complementary “market-based” solution to the twin problems of: a) homelessness, and b) housing bubble oversupply?

Auction is the best way to correct housing oversupply.

Homelessness is a disease caused by sub-humans who reject all good-faith help from the society.

Homelessness is not a housing issue. Nor is it a social issue. It is a mental health problem.

@Peter P,

Would you agree that shuttering the public mental asylums in CA was a bad idea then?

Here's the problem with a strict "no social programs of any kind" policy: there are retarded and mentally ill people out there who literally are not sane/coherent/responsible enough to care for themselves. Permanent homeless populations include people other than just the willfully lazy and/or criminal (though they are a subset).

Obviously, we must accept some social programs, like workfare and job re-training.

I've always thought the bubble oversupply could have been used somehow to help the Katrina disaster. Why build a bunch of mobile homes when the government could have provided temporary rent payments to house the Katrina victims?

Why build a bunch of mobile homes when the government could have provided temporary rent payments to house the Katrina victims?

I thought the primary function of a government is to waste taxpayer money.

I thought the primary function of a government is to waste taxpayer money.

Mission Accomplished!

Peter P Says:

> Homelessness is not a housing issue. Nor is it
> a social issue. It is a mental health problem.

I always laugh people in SF claim that “homelessness” is caused by a “lack of affordable housing”. I then ask them to name one guy who moved in to a doorway on Market Street or under an overpass due to a “rent increase”. A few years back I was working with a girlfriend and a Catholic priest serving food to the homeless and I asked the priest to guess how many of the homeless had substance abuse or mental problems and his estimate (after working with them for 20 years) was 99.9%...

Malcolm Says:

> Why build a bunch of mobile homes when the government
> could have provided temporary rent payments to house the
> Katrina victims?

Then Peter P Says:

> I thought the primary function of a government is to waste
> taxpayer money.

The primary function of most (but not all) politicians is to stay in office. To stay in office you need a ton of money. In order to get a ton of money each year to stay in office you need to pay off the people that give you money by voting to buy expensive mobile homes, build bridges to islands with only a few people and buying $350 hammers…

I always laugh people in SF claim that “homelessness” is caused by a “lack of affordable housing”.

And their solution:

1. More BMR units
2. More housing projects
3. Rent control

LOL!!! Liberals are so cute.

Hey, do you think there is a market for a keyboard that requires two people to type at the same time? We can sell it to the bureaucrats.

Hey, do you think there is a market for a keyboard that requires two people to type at the same time? We can sell it to the bureaucrats.

You forgot about "bilingual" keyboards and having to hire cronies --er, specialists, to retrain workers on using the new keyboards in a culturally sensitive and gender nuetral manner. ;-)

And the keyboard must cost at least $1000 and come with a 2500 page manual.

The manufacturing will be outsourced, of course. :)

"due to a "rent increase" LOL! Too funny, when you put it THAT way... I suppose not.

You have to wonder how many of these homes were actually foreclosed on and how many have never been lived in? In the end this will only compound problems. Here you have a home that's only as old as the teaser payment and it's already being trashed.

Not that any of us have sympathy for the lenders/builders but how can we drive down comps when they have to be condemned?! Here's a better idea, use them as "assisted care facilities" (Mr. Lender take me to court for all I care) and turn the asst. care fac. into homeless shelters. This way seniors get a 'real home' environment they deserve and the homeless will get basic shelter?

Talk about "Project Lifeline" or "New Hope" how's THIS for some hope?

Allow lenders and builders to DONATE their empty and un-sellable McMansions to the local municipality and get a HUGE tax break! Maybe even enough to make a dent in their ever-growing write-downs!

Simply sign the deed over to the City of Detroit/State of Michigan for them to use as 'they see fit' and you're OUT OF IT! No more growing and unpaid property tax bill! No more maint./"mothballing" expenses! YOU... just walk away! "And it's not like you'll feel bad about it"

This would be a great idea to all the crack-heads & junkies I know. They wouldn't have to spend their money on hotel rooms or have to worry about finding a couch to crash on. Also, they'd have more money to buy crack & heroin. My friend that died last Sept from an OD would have loved the free housing to go along with the free groceries he was getting at the food pantry. I really hope that while in his coma he knew he was getting free heathcare during the 4 weeks in intensive care. He never liked paying for something when he knew he could get it for free...

Don't get me wrong, I loved my friend & I know drug addiction is horible, but I really think he took advantage of every handout there was - thereby making it easy for him to continue doing what he was doing...

Gotta favor to ask......

I'm beating the crap out of a Relitter on another board and need some help. A while back they Feds/Lenders issued a rating by zip code for those according to risk. Can anyone point me to the chart?

Thanks

Keyboard that takes two people to use is a great idea.....

But I'm inventing a keyboard a with a 10 second delay built in after each keypress. Every government in America will have to upgrade to these to protect headcount or else lose headcount to the departments that upgrade(downgrade?) to them since it will take 10 times longer to do all data entry tasks (awsome!). patent pending.

The 'deluxe model' keyboard has 10 second keypress delay AND requires two people to use! cha-ching *cash register noises*.

>> Relitter

Cute.

my market plan is this:
1. partner with medical expert on carpal tunnell (give him 50% of company)
2. He publishes data showing that typing faster than 2 words per minute CAUSES carpal-tunnell and other health probelms.
3. Government employee unions then vote to require the Slo-Mo-KeyBo to be used by all state/county employees.
4. The state gets to hire 10 times more data entry personell AND needs 10 times the keyboards for em.
5. cash in.

And you just averted Great Depression II!

By 2012, every second person will be a government typist. :)

Actually there may be about 20% of the homeless that are the kind of people we once called "hobos". They prefer the rootless lifestyle and bum around the country. But that still leaves a lot of mentally ill homeless people.

They prefer the rootless lifestyle and bum around the country. But that still leaves a lot of mentally ill homeless people.

Urban survivalists?

Go check out the Criterion DVD of "Sullivan's Travels" for more on this. ;)

I think bums are really demons. I dare not look into their eyes.

Here's a fun exercise: try to spot the logical fallacies and contradictions in this gem of Realturd wisdom:

“Realtor Maria Rios called these types of sales ‘bait’ because they generate hype and attract people who think that they cannot afford a home.”

“‘They are cheating the people who bought the homes from them at regular price,’ Rios said.”

http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/feb/19/its-a-different-way-of-selling-a-home-unauction/

I talked a bit with a bum today. He had a little battery powered amp and a guitar, plays on the sidewalk here. I gave him some pocket change and he played a "song", well, the guy seemed to be a "bubble off level" and did not seem to have a sense of what sounds good musically.

I think most obvious homelessness is due to mental problems. There are a lot of homeless who do not look homeless. You see them around the BA all the time - neatly dressed, but why such a big backpack? The smart homeless make sure not to look poor - poor people are hated in the US and they know it. They also know substance addictions, even alcohol, are a luxury and stay away from them.

One factor has been the closing of the mental hospitals. Another has been the closing of SRO or Single Room Occupancy hotels, rooming houses, that sort of thing.

The homeless you see are maybe 10% of the actual homeless. And PeeterPee's venom towards them makes it all the more fun watching and waiting for him to lose his job or his fortunes turn downward somehow, and for most of us they have or they will, and his attitude change drastically.

My respect for Obama just went up a few more points:

Clinton: Obama "Right Of" Bush On Housing Crisis

The Fed Temporary Auction Facility (TAF) is getting some more press, this time from the front page of the Financial Times.
And Reuters said, hhmmmmm, maybe there is a story here (but don't panic, yet). And check out that last part of the sentence:
The Financial Times said the move has sparked unease among some analysts about the stress developing in opaque corners of the U.S. banking system and the banks' growing reliance on indirect forms of government support.
What's next? TAF2 - (any collateral will do)? GSEs get capital infusion from Uncle Sam?

Hey if YouWalkAway can team up with the homeless blogs they can advertise the 'good vacants' and maybe the homeless/semi homelss can bid on them on ebay for the right to squat in them. Winner gets address and they give you the 'sheriff shows up date'. thats worth $.

It sounds crazy... but im sure a certain percent of YWA clients vacate before the 'sheriff shows up date' so for a small fee ($200 a month? whatever is auctioned?) the owner could give out an acutal lease and legally let the homeless sqauter live there for cheeeeapp. Of course these are the web connected savy homeless/semi homeless,(like ex-sunnyvale renter) not the mentall ill/addicted sleeping in gutter kind.

I would bet ex-sunny might like to squat in a mcmansion for 2 months for say $100. Then he could sublet to roomates and auction off the right to recycle the copper wires,appliances, etc (thus saving the planet by sqauting!). And all the money is tax free from the ZOG!

Nope not at all interested in squatting.

I'm into improving every place I live, I'm kinda weird that way. Must rather rent, exchange for chores, buy a piece of land myself to build on, something like that.

ex-sunnyvale-renter Says:

> PeeterPee’s venom towards them makes it all the more
> fun watching and waiting for him to lose his job or his
> fortunes turn downward somehow, and for most of us they
> have or they will, and his attitude change drastically.

I’m sure that there is an exception out there but the main reason that people are homeless is that they are “bad people”. Even a drunk with mental problems will find a place to stay if he is a “good guy”. The only reason most people are actually out on the street is that they are evil rotten people who will hurt others and steal from friends, family and even the church…

Nah, I can't agree. I don't think that homeless people are "bad people." I haven't been that close to homeless people, but I do know that the homeless population includes kids who grew up homeless, kids who ran away from their families for good or bad reasons, and a fair number of people who just are not able to make it on their own and don't have family who can support them. Reasons could include mental illness and lack of skills. Tell me, how long would you float your mentally ill brother if you were living pretty close to the edge, financially speaking, yourself? Let's say he's a great guy--but you just can't carry him and your three kids. What are you going to let go?

Mental illness is shockingly debilitating, and it is exacerbated by stress and poor nutrition. So once those folks are out on the streets, they are likely to stay there. Are they going to lash out at people who try to help them? They might, if that is part of their problem and they haven't had their meds lately. I don't know whether it is possible to say that makes them "bad people."

A friend who lived in England for awhile said that squats were very very common there at the time (1990's). Nice, ordinary people, maybe a little edgy, would set up households in empty houses. For some reason, it was important that the squat always be occupied, so there was that inconvenience. Maybe because it is illegal to burst into an occupied home? However, otherwise--squats could be quite nice. And free!

My respect for Obama just went up a few more points:

Yes. Clinton's 'Freeze interests rates' (and keep housing prices artifically high forever and ever and ever), & spending $30 Billion of OUR money to pay for their overpriced houses is appalling . It's kind of nice the see that Obama is not pandering on this issue.

im tellin ya....YouSquatAway.com has a future

>> Yes. Clinton’s ‘Freeze interests rates’ (and keep housing prices artifically high forever and ever and ever), & spending $30 Billion of OUR money to pay for their overpriced houses is appalling .

I will NOT take any risk by voting for Democrats.....

Long time homeowners who've either paid off or else refinanced low mortgage balance when rates hit bottom, and who enjoy their Prop-13 property tax basis, are living like squatters in their own homes,

while the recent FB's carry most of the load of local government services making those huge housing and tax payments .

Vallejo On Brink Of Bankruptcy
by John Boitnott, Web Producer

The city of Vallejo is on the brink of becoming the first California city ever to declare bankruptcy, City Council members said Tuesday.

Vallejo may run out of cash as early as March, council member Stephanie Gomes said.

"Not only that, but now we have 20 police and fire employees retiring because they are afraid of not getting their payouts," Gomes said. "That means we have another few million dollars in payouts that we had not expected. So the situation is quite dire."

Gomes said the situation has been building for more than a decade.

"This has been happening for quite a while. For 15 years the city council has been putting Band-Aids on the problem. (It has been) extending contracts and deferring payments for public safety to the next years as a way of balancing the current budget."

Public safety contracts for police and fire services make up 80 percent of the city's general fund.

"We've been spending more than we've been making for 20 years and it's time to pay the piper," Gomes said.

Newly elected Mayor Osby Davis is downplaying the possibility, NBC11's Jodi Hernandez reported.

"I like to look on the positive side," Davis said. "I'm confident we're going to be able to work this out without having to file bankruptcy. It's not an alternative we want the public to believe we're moving toward with any intention."

Council members Joanne Shivley and Gomes have announced they will host a community town hall meeting this Thursday to discuss bankruptcy.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at 733 Tennessee Street between Napa and El Dorado.

"The meeting Thursday is not to persuade anyone about bankruptcy," said Shively. "It's just to give them information that I have been requesting starting Dec. 4. The taxpayers have a right to all the information that they can possibly get."

The City Council will meet in closed session Feb. 26 with the city's employees' organizations to try to find a solution to the budget crisis.

In a report to the City Council dated Feb. 13, Vallejo Finance Director Rob Stout projected that without deep cuts, including assumed agreements negotiated with police and fire departments by June 30, the City will be $6 million in debt and will have spent every last penny of its $4 million in reserves.

Gomes said the city has a plan to cut $20 million out of the budget in the next year.

That emergency spending plan could devastate city services. The police and fire unions must agree on the spending cuts before it can be considered.

The Feb. 26 city council meeting takes place the same day the City Council plans to vote on the plan.

In a report to the City Council last week, City Manager Joseph Tanner said the city faces a $10.1 million general fund operating deficit for the current fiscal year and a negative available fund balance of $5.9 million on June 30, 2008.

"Based upon the updated financial projections, the current estimate for insolvency is late April 2008," Tanner said. "It may become necessary for staff to recommend that the City Council consider filing and pursuing Chapter 9 bankruptcy in the event the city is unable to meet its existing obligations with its existing revenues," Tanner said in the report.

The city currently has a $135 million liability for the present value of retiree benefits already earned by active and retired employees and an additional $6 million a year as employees continue to vest and earn this future benefit, Tanner said.

"The problem is basically bloated union contracts," Shively said.

Gomes said she and Shivley wanted the meeting to be held Tuesday night at City Hall but one of the council members pulled the item from the agenda.

"We felt it was important to do it anyway so the public could hear and have a discourse on the budget," Gomes said.

Emergency Plan Would Hit Hard

The plan calls for cutting city salaries to 5 percent lower than June 30, 2007 starting on March 28. Police and firefighter salaries under the existing labor agreements would be reduced 15 percent, by 8 percent for the electrical workers and 5 percent for confidential, management and un-represented employees.

Thirty general fund positions would be eliminated, 16 of which are currently filled and will require layoffs.

Other vacant positions could be filled by transferring employees but the reductions would reduce the general fund positions from 494 to 411, or by 17 percent.

A single fire engine company would be closed each day on a rotating basis and there would be a three-month temporary reduction in truck company staffing from four to three.

"The cuts that are being proposed in order to remain solvent will decimate city services," said Shively. "Anything other than totally new contracts is a Band-Aid."

"No California municipality has filed Chapter 9 bankruptcy, and there is very little case law guiding the potential outcome of such a filing. The risks of this option are significant," Tanner said.

Some city officials, including Mayor Osby Davis, however, are hopeful a resolution can be reached and bankruptcy can be avoided.

Orange County went bankrupt in 1994. That was a one-time problem, Gomes said.

"They had issues related to some bad investments," Gomes said. "They just restructured their debt and figured out how to pay it. For us it's not as much a debt problem. It's more of a structural problem."

sybrib Says:
February 19th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
"Long time homeowners who’ve either paid off or else refinanced low mortgage balance when rates hit bottom, and who enjoy their Prop-13 property tax basis, are living like squatters in their own homes,"

LOL? I've never thought of myself as a squatter. Am I supposed to feel guilty that I made good choices?