Agreed. I saw this in Portland and the Bay Area. Even the insistence on shaming people who use the world homeless- "They're the un-housed"- feels disconnected from reality to me. I do not want homeless people to be harmed or endlessly thrown in jail, nor do I want homeless camps and all of the social ills they can bring to bear to remain…
Agreed. I saw this in Portland and the Bay Area. Even the insistence on shaming people who use the world homeless- "They're the un-housed"- feels disconnected from reality to me. I do not want homeless people to be harmed or endlessly thrown in jail, nor do I want homeless camps and all of the social ills they can bring to bear to remain a part of urban life. There has to be a solution beyond the liberal clarion call, "We just need to spend a crap-ton more money."
I have also heard "houseless" and "people in transition". We can't find solutions because we are so far behind in building housing so all we can offer are new euphemisms.
There was a New Yorker article not that long ago that basically compared sleeping on the street to camping.
I live in NYC and, having grown up in the 1970s and 80s, I'm feeling pretty bad about the prospects for big cities in the near- to medium-term. Not because of remote work, but because things like large populations of troubled and sometimes aggressive homeless people, rising crime, declining services like trash pickup are going to make the calculus of where to live a no-brainer for most normal people, especially if they have or want to have kids. Add in the supply issues Tracy Erin notes, and the associated ridiculous prices, and it begins to look like a no-brainer for a whole lot more people.
I don't have much faith in the current crop of electeds here to bring about meaningful change - I was cautiously optimistic when Adams was elected, but having seen how the administration operates that's gone - and am seriously thinking of pulling up stakes while real estate prices are still pretty good.
Agreed. I saw this in Portland and the Bay Area. Even the insistence on shaming people who use the world homeless- "They're the un-housed"- feels disconnected from reality to me. I do not want homeless people to be harmed or endlessly thrown in jail, nor do I want homeless camps and all of the social ills they can bring to bear to remain a part of urban life. There has to be a solution beyond the liberal clarion call, "We just need to spend a crap-ton more money."
I have also heard "houseless" and "people in transition". We can't find solutions because we are so far behind in building housing so all we can offer are new euphemisms.
There was a New Yorker article not that long ago that basically compared sleeping on the street to camping.
I live in NYC and, having grown up in the 1970s and 80s, I'm feeling pretty bad about the prospects for big cities in the near- to medium-term. Not because of remote work, but because things like large populations of troubled and sometimes aggressive homeless people, rising crime, declining services like trash pickup are going to make the calculus of where to live a no-brainer for most normal people, especially if they have or want to have kids. Add in the supply issues Tracy Erin notes, and the associated ridiculous prices, and it begins to look like a no-brainer for a whole lot more people.
I don't have much faith in the current crop of electeds here to bring about meaningful change - I was cautiously optimistic when Adams was elected, but having seen how the administration operates that's gone - and am seriously thinking of pulling up stakes while real estate prices are still pretty good.