Ending Chronic Homelessness

[danbrotherston]

I am 69. Back in the '70s it was more possible to find a cheap room somewhere if you were together enough to work at some crappy minimum wage Joe job (There were more of those back then, too.) Like I said, there have always been those too addicted or mentally ill to manage stable housing, and the opioid crisis has certainly exacerbated that. However, back then welfare or unemployment insurance was enough to have a place to live, even if it was not a very good place. Now, even if you have a full time minimum wage job, you are hard-pressed to find a place to live and if you are disabled, ODSP is laughable. Before I turned 65, I only kept myself from becoming homeless because I had a lot of credit and was able to go heavily in debt.

Things have certainly changed from when you were younger. It's a lot tougher for anyone these days, addicted or not, mentally ill or fit, to make ends meet and have suitable housing.

My two main questions are, and maybe someone can point out some answers (and potential solutions).

As I mentioned in the post you responded to. Why are units cost close to 1/2 million? There is no way this is the true cost, and money is going somewhere. That somewhere is where it shouldn't be going....

What is a real solution for those that are too unstable for normal housing? While I heard from one homeless person that they enjoy living in the rough, because of the freedom it gives them.

"Because of the freedom it gives them..."

So...what freedom do they feel? Do they believe they are more free than you living in your home? Or do they feel less free in other forms of housing because of restrictions and limitations *WE* place on those forms of housing? Do they feel less free because those restrictions are placed ON them by others, rather than something they have agency over?

It's possible that someone does feel more free living rough, than living in a house, but I think that's probably more common in mild climates rather than ones where people routinely freeze to death if unhoused.

I don't actually know mind you...I have my suspicions...but I'm open to being wrong.

I do think however that it's an irrelevant problem...a solution which only solves 90% of homelessness is obviously a solution worth pursuing...and at this point, that's a low estimate.