Doc, Homless in LA

[_subgenius]

Fair enough, Analytics. The short version is a change of building ordinances to allow microapartments to be built.

bad idea, the "projects" have already proven to be a bad idea. Building them again with Ikea furniture won't change that.

I'd have on-site mental health services for tenants, to include drug and alcohol rehab, workforce transition, a medical clinic, and security.

of course you would, because only top notch professionals would be attracted to such a dismal opportunity.
Again, your google-campus-meets-skid-row concept lacks some significant realities. Maybe also include an on-site university, an on-site police, on-site fire department, and an on-site ferris wheel.

I'd have a public-private partnership so builders get a guaranteed long-term ROI on their investment.

ooh, "guaranteed ROI"...do we get these at the public-private partnership store? Given your scenario it concludes that by "long-term" you mean "your great grandkids will get paid if your family survives the poverty that this endeavour will launch them into".

I'd probably have housing divided up by gender for security

like how prisons do it...for security...prisons are very secure...and nothing promotes mental health like social isolation.

[/quote]
and possibly further divided up for vets so the VA could partner with us.

- Doc[/quote]
Yeah, because the VA track record on fighting homelessness, inefficiency, drug addiction, and mental illness is what puts the "guaranteed" in guaranteed ROI.

wow.

[_EAllusion]

bad idea, the "projects" have already proven to be a bad idea. Building them again with Ikea furniture won't change that.

I laughed pretty hard at this.

For what it is worth, if it can be managed, it is true you are much better off integrating affordable housing within conventional housing environments. Rather than having a project, you just subsidize individual units within otherwise conventional developments dotted throughout the city. You get better outcomes this way. This is possible with some people and not with others depending on the nature of their problems. Usually, it's a feasible thing.

[_Gadianton]

So since we can't ban alcohol we can't ban marijuana either? Is that what you're getting at?

He's saying you can ban marijuana just to ban it, but it's not going to improve the homeless situation.

Just work a little more overtime and pony up the cash for the expensive problems people choose to create for themselves. Sounds fair to me.

Your solution is much better: Just work a little more overtime and pony up the cash for expensive polices that do nothing but create more expenses. Oh, my mistake! Right-wing fanatics sleep better at night knowing that conservative morals have been codified as laws -- well, you don't even get that benefit, as it turns out. It really must suck.

[_Markk]

\
There is no complete answer, but there will come a time for tough love, something will have to give...maybe a real life "escape for LA."

Drugs by and afar are a real problem that can lessen the problem...we really need to be tough on them in my opinion...this libertarian BS about making them legal...well, how is that working? Lets give them more needles, and make pot legal so the youth can grow up smoking legal pot and then take the next step.

When you build the cabin I will join you, I'll pitch a tent next to it, like SG wrote stock is high for the tent buisness.

You would think we were Portugal with the "how is that working?" line. The United States has an incredibly draconian war on drugs going on and that's been true for decades. It's not a libertarian utopia of legalized drug use. There is little evidence that legalization increases drug use rates as you might expect and some equivocal evidence that it might even paradoxically decrease it as was seen in Portugal. The idea that marijuana acts as a "gateway" drug is largely a myth. Ironically, there is a drug that is known to be a significant gateway drug. We call it alcohol. It disinhibits people and causes them to be more likely to make poor drug use choices. It's also a much more potent contributor to homelessness than marijuana is. The idea that marijuana is a significant contributor at all to homelessness deserves a raised eyebrow and meanwhile alcoholism is one of the main causes of why people are homeless.


But, by far the most important point is this reasoning completely neglects the amount of harm the drug war itself causes both in terms of black market associated crime and in how incarceration affects people and the surrounding community. It also is indirectly responsible for harms such erosion of civil rights in the US and foreign policy blunders. You could triple the homeless rate and that wouldn't touch the harms caused by the drug war itself. If you were to try and solve homelessness by targeting legalized alcohol use, you'd almost certainly cause more serious problems than what alcohol-related homelessness is.

This sounds like you are telling us it is necessary to burn the village to the ground to save it.

Pot leads to other drugs for far too many...Drugs and Alcohol are devastating to our society, I agree. Adding more to it does not help, and having pot head youth, does not help anyone at all.

I asked once, and I did not see your answer if you opined...do you believe drugs should be legal...specifically Heroin and Meth.

If you really believe that pot, drugs and alcohol are the village??? I am not sure how to even respond to that kind of ideology.

[_Gadianton]

A study conducted by Oregon State University found that Hispanic immigrants who adopt American lifestyle norms are more likely to abuse alcohol and use illegal drugs. Conversely, Hispanic immigrants who retained their cultural values to the exclusion of American traditions were 13 times less likely to report using controlled substances or dangerous amounts of alcohol.[13]

https://www.futuresofpalmbeach.com/addi ... addiction/

Markk, perhaps God is bringing illegals to LA for a reason?

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

bad idea, the "projects" have already proven to be a bad idea. Building them again with Ikea furniture won't change that.

...

Yeah, because the VA track record on fighting homelessness, inefficiency, drug addiction, and mental illness is what puts the "guaranteed" in guaranteed ROI.

You know what those people living in Section 8 housing aren't doing? Living on the streets. I suggested microapartments because it gets people off the streets, but isn't overly comfortable. But hey, if you're good with people living and crap ting on 6th street then so be it.

Also, I volunteer twice a week doing peer support up at the VA. It actually does a lot of good that isn't published. It helps many, many, many vets with their healthcare, mental health, and transitional needs.

I'm blown away by the crassness of a couple of posters on this thread when it comes to the reality on the streets. Markk took the time to film it so we could get a real sense of the depravity and problem in LA and the flippancy of some here is disheartening to say the least.

- Doc

[_Jersey Girl]

I found myself mulling this over while out driving. With regard to the concept of microapartments (in the desert or otherwise) how feasible/unfeasible would it be to develop that type of community with microapartments as temp. rehab. housing with Department of Social Services (CA) plopped right in the middle of the development along with the hospital and a child care center (eliminates foster care)?

In this case, DSS could be the gateway to various services including substance abuse rehab, occupational rehab, child care services, and a variety of other support services.

Whatcha think?

[_Gadianton]

Free market economics has given us a pharmaceutical industry that is making billions off of drugs that are addictive. They have zero incentive to invent painkillers that aren't addictive.

It's an interesting suggestion I hadn't heard before.

Are you saying that if a non-addictive painkiller were invented that policy couldn't simply stamp out its competitors? Or would the taxes received from the competitors ensure the government would never have an incentive to create such a policy?

[_EAllusion]

I found myself mulling this over while out driving. With regard to the concept of microapartments (in the desert or otherwise) how feasible/unfeasible would it be to develop that type of community with microapartments as temp. rehab. housing with Department of Social Services (CA) plopped right in the middle of the development along with the hospital and a child care center (eliminates foster care)?

In this case, DSS could be the gateway to various services including substance abuse rehab, occupational rehab, child care services, and a variety of other support services.

Whatcha think?

It sounds like you are proposing a standard mental health institution, but also housing children normally in foster care there too.

[_Res Ipsa]

bad idea, the "projects" have already proven to be a bad idea. Building them again with Ikea furniture won't change that.

...

Yeah, because the VA track record on fighting homelessness, inefficiency, drug addiction, and mental illness is what puts the "guaranteed" in guaranteed ROI.

You know what those people living in Section 8 housing aren't doing? Living on the streets. I suggested microapartments because it gets people off the streets, but isn't overly comfortable. But hey, if you're good with people living and ____ ting on 6th street then so be it.

Also, I volunteer twice a week doing peer support up at the VA. It actually does a lot of good that isn't published. It helps many, many, many vets with their healthcare, mental health, and transitional needs.

I'm blown away by the crassness of a couple of posters on this thread when it comes to the reality on the streets. Markk took the time to film it so we could get a real sense of the depravity and problem in LA and the flippancy of some here is disheartening to say the least.

- Doc

Who, exactly, is being flippant? People are perfectly capable of understanding the problem and believing strongly the problem should be addressed without believing Markk’s videos tell us anything about the problem or how to solve it. Or are you just virtue signaling and shaming here?