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Comment by esalman | Hacker News Reader

If you put the puzzle pieces together, it spells s-o-c-i-a-l-i-s-m /s In other developed nations the government subsidizes housing for the disadvantaged- and more often than not this investment will pay back in the future.

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It does, but even in places in the US where that's actually been recognized[1] the political will to maintain it doesn't always stick around.

1: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-homelessness-housing-...

There are enormous subsidies for the homeless in San Francisco to the tune of hundreds of millions a year. Due to incompetent governance, those subsidies are actually making the problem worse.

Homelessness is often seen as a situation, rather than a consequence or an outcome of certain events. Giving people housing isn't always an answer. A lot of homeless people ended up being homeless because of addictions, psychological problems,and some unfortunate circumstances. Unless those things are addressed first and foremost,while also placing people in some sort of housing, whether it's a temporary hostel,or longer term social housing, there won't be any improvements in this situation.

I actually think there are tons and tons of "homeless" people who are completely invisible because they're otherwise normal people who just happen to be living in their car or a tent for an extended period. The people I've met who have been in that situation were not dealing with addiction or psychological problems. They were simply victims of circumstance. In at least one case I'm aware of the person was kicked out by her husband with no job and no address and was totally unable to access any social services. Her getting housing enabled her to get a job and access services she didn't have access to when she was homeless.

I think giving people housing is a huge part of getting them off the streets, and I think you underestimate the number of people who are homeless because you're not seeing the countless homeless people who are keeping their lives together in spite of not having a permanent address.

I'm very well familiar with homelessness, probably much better than an average person on this forum. I do agree that a lot of people are victims of circumstances, as I mentioned in my previous comment, and you are right that they often tend to be invisible to the wider society. For this category, getting housing usually solves majority of issues and they can take it from there. The other categories, whether it's mental problems or addiction or anything else, require much wider and more complex approach.

That makes sense to me. I'm used to people not understanding that getting an address solves a lot of problems for a lot of homeless people. And since we're on the same page about that I understand now that you're wanting to focus elsewhere.

> In other developed nations the government subsidizes housing for the disadvantaged- and more often than not this investment will pay back in the future.

It depends on who you consider disadvantaged. In Berlin, 20-25% (~776k in 2018) qualify for subsidized housing. The state owns about 320k apartments, though they're mixed and provide subsidized and market-rates (mostly to finance the subsidies).

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