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Comment by rscrawfo | Hacker News Reader

This is a real question, not a retort.

But I have known addicts, they don’t exactly take care of their things. It’s very easy to imagine that much of the state supplied housing would quickly become unsafe and or destroyed.

How do you handle that?

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I’m almost scared to post this but — have you been in / around public housing in the US? (Genuine not rhetorical)

It’s not uncommon for it to be unsafe and destroyed.

That’s the reasoning for my question. Just last night I was reading about a local homeless man who was scared to go to the local shelter and had things stolen when he had.

But I also wanted to ask the OP (who mentioned housing as a right) how that could be avoided.

Fix things. You know, by spending money. And do better than we do now with state supplied housing. Plus, not everyone is going to fall into this category and we don't always have to use state housing, depending on the person. I think we should do the same with everyone, not just addicts.

And have different sorts of housing. Some folks - not just addicts - could really benefit from a place modeled after a motel or hotel: Cleaning services and so on, private room and private bath. Some folks could do with a kitchen or provided food. Some folks could use these things yet would be better with a seperate bedroom and living room... well, you get the picture.

At no time is everyone - addict or not - going to be able to take care of things. We should help those folks.

Spend more of your hard earned cash to do the upkeep. YOU suffer a little more for it and I'm all down for that happening to you because we gotta spread the burden around given it's going to be there, period.

it becomes assisted living, like for seniors. they can't live like that, so you get a maid service in every week. it works if just pour money into it, just like rasing children by the government.

the 70's abolition of mental asylums by Regan. We closed the thing with no alternative and expected anything but a disaster?

Concrete. Everything concrete. Anything not concrete is removable.

Concrete has poor tensile strength and is wash to damage with a hammer. Also as a building material is very expensive...

So the equivalent of putting them in jail cells, minus the bars?

At the lowest levels, yes, because people at that level destroy everything they touch.. and if they are above that level then they can decorate as they wish, rugs and furniture are a thing.

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