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Comment by stochastician | Hacker News Reader

Note that SF already spends a large amount on the homeless http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/S-F-spends-record... and that at least some politicians are starting to take notice http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2016/01/25/s-f-supervisor-scott-wie...

It's not clear what the solution is to this complex problem.

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Part of the solution will be a realisation that not everyone has a right to live in SF. Just like not everyone has a right to live in Newport.

A part, but not a big part :)

> not everyone has a right to live in SF.

Ah, to see the American Dream expressed in such clarity in a comment on the internet. /me wipes a tear

Or the solution may be to accept that the city owes a duty to everyone in it's boarders and cannot deport human beings based on circumstance. The city could tax the rich heavily, to the point that a balance is struck that both shelters the poor and dissuades further gentrification.

I hate that gentrification has become this bogeyman. It is the effects of gentrification that can sometimes be negative.

What makes you think this duty exists? Can any person on earth move to SF and expect this to be fulfilled?

No, because of international borders. But within the USA there is freedom of movement.

What do we do when some of the poor simply do not want to be sheltered?

>owes a duty to everyone in its borders No. A local government owes a duty to tax-paying citizens who legally inhabit it.

>tax the rich heavily Yes, drive out the people who are capable of starting and maintaining businesses, investing in area improvements, and spending money. That's a good idea. /s

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