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.