Fact Check

Based on currently available numbers, there are about 31 vacant housing units for every homeless person in the U.S.

  • plz1@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Stats like that ignore the fact that they are polling “empty homes” nationally, but the homeless population is majority in densely populated cities, not where those empty homes are. So even if they were given these homes for free, they’d have to be relocated, too.

    • jorp@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      That’s another condemnation of allowing only the market to decide where we build housing. A socialist government would build houses where people need houses.

      • jj4211@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        In my experience, the vacant housing is not built without demand, it’s that the demand vanishes.

        There were two trailers where they would have been scrapped, but some relatives took then over and kind of refurbished them, and one of those is now home to another relative that would have been homeless otherwise, and the other is a “hobby” trailer until someone else needs it.

        Another is a house where the man died and the wife moved to a small apartment because she felt like she needed to be in the city near a hospital, but no one wants the house because the area is the middle of nowhere.

        Rural areas tend to have a fair amount of “nobody wants them anymore” housing laying vacant, but they all, at one point, were being used as housing.

      • dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        And… Float them in the air? Homeless in metro areas may not have started there, but that’s where a sizeable portion are now and it’s not like there’s abundant space for housing.

        People need houses but we need stores and office buildings and other things too.

        • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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          4 months ago

          There’s plenty of room; we just build nothing but luxury housing. And there’s an over-abundance of parking lots because of land speculation. Our land is not being used efficiently at all.

          • dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works
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            4 months ago

            Are you finding homeless people somewhere I’m not? The downtown metro areas are where there is a) not other housing by and large, and b) not space for anything else anyway. Maybe we are talking past each other.

            • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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              4 months ago

              I’m in downtown Los Angeles. We have lots of homeless people, vacant housing, and wasted space like paved parking lots. Where are you?

              • dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works
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                4 months ago

                Midwest, below Chicago burbs. We have in my area way way way more housing demand than supply and houses sell before market or within hours. We have some here and there homelessness but it’s never as bad as streets of downtown Chicago, where parking spaces cost as much as houses.

        • Glytch@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Most office jobs are done as or more efficiently by workers at home so we should downsize office real estate. This frees up a lot of space for affordable housing and encourages office workers to stay in their suburban communities, thus reducing congestion.

        • Crikeste@lemm.ee
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          4 months ago

          Have you ever thought that the houses don’t need to be in big cities? Why is that not an option in your mind? Other states bussed them out, they can pay to bus them back in and give them homes.

          Why would you advocate for keeping displaced people displaced?

          • jorp@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            it’s insane how people cannot imagine a way to make decisions that’s not profit driven. people’s minds are so poisoned by capitalism. If we’re around in 100 years, people will judge us like they judge any superstitious culture from the past. We sacrifice our own to the “profit motive” to appease “the market”

            • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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              4 months ago

              Oh don’t worry, the end of the world’s probably coming around 2045 with the start of the post-oil dark ages

          • dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works
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            4 months ago

            Did you read the person I replied to? You can’t house then where they are with socialism or marxism or Harry potter magic. Sure, yes, move them, that’s sane. But no you can’t just snap your fingers to generate housing in places with no footprint to build in.

            • jorp@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              Why are you hung up on the literal square footage of where these people currently sleep on the streets?

              People commute with public transit across great distances.

              But yes, downtown areas can be densified. Did we hit the limits of engineering? As far as I can tell we can still build tall buildings.

              Holy shit bro, just think.

              • dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works
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                4 months ago

                There’s no reason to reply to you at all if you can’t read dude. This starts with “we can’t house then where they are because capitalism” but this is the fucking point. You can’t house then where they are no matter, literally because of square footage. Public transit and house. Calm your tits and learn to read.

                  • dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works
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                    4 months ago

                    Well that’s not what you said. It’s not unreasonable except for the fact that you just eliminated all the green spaces from an otherwise concrete jungle. I could be persuaded anyway, but it’s a not insignificant downside.

        • jorp@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          This is your sincere and well thought out position? You think the homeless population in each downtown area is so large that there’s not enough real estate to house them?

          You can just say you don’t care about housing them, this is a safe space

          • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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            4 months ago

            And you can just say that you are not listening because you believe your position is the most moral one.

            This guy’s point is that it doesn’t matter what government is running things. There will always be some desirable areas where demand is larger than supply. You haven’t proposed any details besides “a socialist government would solve it”.

            Post your specific proposals or stop posturing.

            • jorp@lemmy.world
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              4 months ago

              You might want to sit down, it’s complicated.

              500 people need houses in an area. Ignore what the market thinks should be done. Build houses or densify housing in that area.

              Do you think there are any real world examples where you would need to “float them in the air?”

              It’s a stupid argument that’s not on good faith and completely lacks any imagination…

              How are houses built now? People speculatively buy land and build on them. Instead of market speculation telling people where to build, people tell people where to build.

              Planned economies aren’t a novel or theoretical concept.

              TL;DR use your brain

              • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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                4 months ago

                Do you think there are any real world examples where you would need to “float them in the air?”

                Yes, in cities. We were talking about downtown areas. Not anywhere that has land available. So any housing project will be more complicated than “build houses”.

                You obviously think you are more moral than everyone else, but you’ve provided no interesting solutions. so there’s no use talking to you.

                • jorp@lemmy.world
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                  4 months ago

                  On a more serious note i wonder why you think people that are currently unhoused couldn’t take public transit?

                  Do you ever have any ideas? What’s it like not being able to reason?

                  • dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works
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                    4 months ago

                    Watch out! Goal posts are moving boys!

                    This is not “house then where they are”. This is the sane argument of put housing and move the people, not “There’s no housing so I cast SOciALisM!” And poof it’s solved.

              • Shardikprime@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                “planned economies”

                My dude you can just say you have no idea about economics and leave it at that

                • jorp@lemmy.world
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                  4 months ago

                  ah yes true capitalism is equivalent to economics I’ve forgotten