Austin Residents Can’t Agree on How to Fix the Homelessness Crisis

It's an American and global problem.

It’s only going to get worse unless we make long term solutions and try to address the root causes of long term and short term homelessness. The rise of housing costs all across the country outpacing salaries/wages is only going to make things worse.

@@ricardobarahona3939 nonsense. Housing cost has almost nothing to do with it. Drug and alcohol addiction and mental illness - period. Don't believe me? Go volunteer at a homeless shelter.

@@BeeHash - just try to buy home this days. Housing market is hot, it's in a bubble!

@@BeeHash housing cost is absolutely an enormous factor. Addiction too. Mental illness as well. Wages have not kept pace with the cost of living. Not even close.

Seriously.

krplus.net/bidio/g9qJhICgg3mulYJp

Not gonna lie, I live right next to a camp... it’s a strange dilemma for all of us

Nobody had any choice as to whether or not to come into this world, therefore we ALL should have the absolute and indisputable right to euthanasia if we want to leave. To withhold the means to leave in the most clean, fast, painless and safest way possible is hands-down the biggest egregious violation of personal liberty and bodily autonomy. ~
~
It’s even worse than criminalizing @bortion imo

When Biden opens the border maybe all the new people that come will help these people

Probably better said as perceived safety.
People often feel they are at higher risk than they are. It's both instinctive and a bit paranoid.

@@parkerxgps8101 tent camps have no sanitation so this is a public health crisis in the making. Raw sewage breeds diseases. Do not allow tent cities

You seem to assume what I advocate.
Sanitation is a lot easier for a government to achieve, than a few people in a homeless encampment.

I live in Austin. Riverside and Pleasant, literally there is a spot here called "tent city" most of these folks, honestly are drug addicts, you'll pass them and they are either arguing with imaginary people or hallucinations, themselves or each other. Someone was murdered there with a machete last year and another died in there tent from fire, whole tent went up in flames but I'm sure more stuff has happened since then but I don't keep up anymore. And most of these homeless are coming here from other cities they're not even from Austin. I had a talk with a female from "tent city" that admitted she was a prostitute and a crack addict to me and was from Queens NY, I was on the way back to my place and and she randomly started talking to me and I was interested in her story so I asked her questions. I'm only sharing this just to explain what happens in these areas so people know the truth.

@@parkerxgps8101 you are correct abt sanitation being the bailiwick of govt and why tent cities should not be allowed. There is no way for them to deal with their own filth.

22 years? GFYS!

That’s a CRIME
contact United Nations

Good.

The Immortal 2r3333 (ADOS) it was voted by the people it can’t be overruled idiot. Adler needs to be overruled

@The Immortal 2r3333 (ADOS) Just accepted the fact that both parties voted on the bill. My liberal friends voted on it. Yes, they feel sad that homelessness is a thing but know if they didn't vote on it it would only get worse. Basically saying that allowing this people to remain in the streets and parks tell others it's OK to camp out and trash the city.

@The Immortal 2r3333 (ADOS) Yes they are. They hate Trump

I agree, as long as your area was keep clean and free of 'fire causing' ANYTHING (not a danger to surrounding structures), you were OUT OF THE WAY (SIGHT) & not 'harassing' anyone in nearby 'residential or business' areas, then you should have been left alone. On top of that, you were 'gainfully employed'!

Glad to hear you overcame! Asking out of curiosity: Were you drinking/using drugs? I’m in Austin and I find that is the case with 100% of who I’ve talked to. We have shelters that will get you back on your feet, but the issue is most of them have no desire to be sober.

save up for a non hybrid toyota and live in it until you can pick yourself up

My girlfriend is a streetworker, and unfortunately storys like yours are very rare. Most of people ending up homeless have to deal with mental health issues and/or drug abuse. And i think you dont help these people by allowing them to do whatever they want, the opposite happens. Most of them need strict guidance to escape their situation.

Yep the state sanctioned domestic Terrorist slavers with badges always have to harass and terrorize and rob people because they are homeless,all about profiteering, keeping every American citizen being a paying slave just to live/survive. Slavery never ended, America is not a free country it is a country of brainwashed slaves. They didn't end slavery they just expanded it to include every human being.

I was homeless in Seattle twice while working full time. It's a shitty way to live. It really fueled a bad drinking problem because I couldnt sleep at night.

I wish you the best. Hopefully you can get some scholarships to help offset your costs.

why not try van living...it might work

I’m by Austin bro I work around there I know it’s expensive there get out of there if you can afford it move a hr outside the city then you can afford a place

Been homeless twice and I have a criminal record, it's twice as hard for me to get a job and a place to stay. I'm currently living with my folks rent free and I'm struggling to pay off debt from a weekly paying job and it can get frustrating. It sucks not being able to afford the cost of living because of the pandemic and living around people you can barely tolerate but I'm keeping my head up as I always do. I hope that I'll squash my debt quicker and put myself in a better position financially and mentally so that I can get right back on track.

The issue is the upkeep you can put someone in a house but like the guy said someone who hasn't lived in a house for 10 years is prepare to be able to take care of a house so then the government has to take care of the property which gets expensive and isn't fair for the tax payer who has to take care of their own place at their own expense you could put a person in a place and say here you go but what is going to happen In say 10 years when it looks like a flop house and burns down then the lawyers come out I guess you could give them little 1 room apartments and charge them money or if not make them work to keep the place the city picks you up takes you somewhere you work you turn in so many hours for your room anything else you get paid I could see this working but then you circle back to drugs of some sort being a issue any city program is going to require some type of sobriety whether it's to get the job or to keep the apartment in my experience a large percentage of homeless people are users or some sort wether is booze or hard drugs they do something in an amount that would invalidate them unless the city turned a blind eye but then someone ODs and the lawyers come out

This isn't a municipal problem. It's a federal problem. You can't make enough if you're on minimum wage and then you get sick

Or how to get them to move along somewhere else

Can’t help someone who doesn’t wanna be helped

@@luisgutierrez4521 But most homeless people want to be helped.

Most people dont want a hand out, they need a hand up. A lot of them dont have all their mental faculties and just cant care for themselves and need help from the government and society as a whole to get them back on their feet - it's not impossible but it's going to cost some tax dollars. Better spent tax dollars than on tomahawks.

krplus.net/bidio/g9qJhICgg3mulYI

You check how new houses are not sold to individual buyers but corporation for renting thus creating shortage of homes and driving price up.
Look it up

Pretty sure he's just referring to his neighborhood. Not the whole 512.

@@Flatrocker512 this. Imagine putting like 60k into home renovations and this happens in your neighborhood and significantly drops the worth of your house.

If anything gains 40%....it is a false narrative

Exactly. I was waiting for them to mention tech companies as a driver

So everyone just gets a free house? For nothing? That’s not how reality works.

Or just the government?? How do you look at private companies to fix a public issue when the military budget is as huge as it is?

No, the homelessness crisis was actually CREATED by the pro-apartment "affordable housing" propaganda, and by the media which portrayed manufactured homes as "trailer park trash" and led to many cities banning trailers/manufactured homes, etc. It used to be that manufactured homes/trailers were a LOW COST way to get housing and NOT have to pay endless rent, and you could build up savings to pay for a down payment for a home and it kept housing prices in check because people had an alternative if housing prices got too high. Now we don't.
Bill Gates is actually buying up massive amounts of land to PREVENT people from buying them and building manufactured homes on them. Much of that land is $20,000 an acre, and you could put a manufactured home on it for $35,000, so only $55,000 for an acre of land and decent housing. But the billionaries are buying them all up to either A) prevent you from living on it ("polluting it with your presence") or farming it, and B) to build apartments on them and charge you endlessly rising rents in a sort of Neo-Feudalism.
And the Big Tech overlords cannot afford it IF the solution is "Permanent (un)Affordable Housing" (aka Apartments). Biden is estimating it will cost $800 billion, which is more money than the top 20 Big Tech overlords combined. The problem is the LIE that is "affordable housing" which a fancy word for Neo-Feudalism, whereby rich landlords charge the poor 30% of their income in "rent" forever (often worse than serfdom which by law could not take more than 1/3rd of a serf's labor).
The solution is either Georgism (a more socialist idea of land tax) OR even the capitalist version of a "Land Value Tax" the inventor of capitalism, Adam Smith, called for: a land value tax (which he said is the best kind of tax so long as it ONLY taxes the ground and NOT anything that gets built upon it, basically encouraging people to "use it or lose it").
Adam Smith decried the "Rent Seekers" as a leech on capitalism, which they truly are. Georgism, we need to TAX land speculation. Millions of acres of land sits unused by speculators who pay LESS tax on it than those who USE the land. In Texas if you buy 10 acres you pay about $2,000 a year in property tax, but if you build 10 homes on it, you will pay $25,000 in property tax. You are punished for improving your land. Build a business on it? Tax goes up. Just sit on it and speculate for decades and pay next to nothing in taxes and you wait for the price to rise exponentially and sell it.
Here is an excerpt from capitalism's creator Adam Smith's magnum opus, The Wealth of Nations, who calls landlords "monopolists" basically:
"Ground-rents are a still more proper subject of taxation than the rent of houses. A tax upon ground-rents would not raise the rents of houses. It would fall altogether upon the owner of the ground-rent, who acts always as a monopolist, and exacts the greatest rent which can be got for the use of his ground. More or less can be got for it according as the competitors happen to be richer or poorer, or can afford to gratify their fancy for a particular spot of ground at a greater or smaller expense. In every country the greatest number of rich competitors is in the capital, and it is there accordingly that the highest ground-rents are always to be found. As the wealth of those competitors would in no respect be increased by a tax upon ground-rents, they would not probably be disposed to pay more for the use of the ground. Whether the tax was to be advanced by the inhabitant, or by the owner of the ground, would be of little importance. The more the inhabitant was obliged to pay for the tax, the less he would incline to pay for the ground; so that the final payment of the tax would fall altogether upon the owner of the ground-rent. Both ground-rents and the ordinary rent of land are a species of revenue which the owner, in many cases, enjoys without any care or attention of his own. Though a part of this revenue should be taken from him in order to defray the expenses of the state, no discouragement will thereby be given to any sort of industry. The annual produce of the land and labour of the society, the real wealth and revenue of the great body of the people, might be the same after such a tax as before. Ground-rents and the ordinary rent of land are, therefore, perhaps, the species of revenue which can best bear to have a peculiar tax imposed upon them. [...] Nothing can be more reasonable than that a fund which owes its existence to the good government of the state should be taxed peculiarly, or should contribute something more than the greater part of other funds, towards the support of that government."
- Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book V, Chapter 2
Ironically, the type of tax that Adam Smith would be the most efficient, best tax possible, a Land Value Tax ("ground tax") which would reduce rent-seeking behavior/leeching , is the ONE type of tax that we do not implement.
It's partially because the landlords are immensely powerful politically and bribe the politicians with donations...

Bingo

Take a look at Portland. So many other cities. The new normal (again)

So weird, I visited Austin for the only time in my life in 2011, and Austin was clean as hell. Haven't been there since, wow

I was student in UT and lived there for 8 yrs 30 years ago. I missed Austin, and it is a beautiful and friendly campus city.

Boston is the same way

I felt the same way.

Sir, buying up trading cards is not a real job

Texas homes are actually cheaper then most states.

It is all fentanyl. 2 grams either kill you, or make you addicted to till your soon-to-be death. We are in very bad situation, and it will get only worse. Liberals, and conservatives, and noone has solution for fentanyl.

Start working smarter.

Maybe getting a better job?

It's true another prob of over-population

@@vee7470 nothing to do with overpopulation and everything to do with poor allocation of resources

@@1Geeked very much this

@@smokedbeefandcheese4144 Good point. I think the association between 'poor people' and 'danger' creates this feedback loop. If we can't agree that homeless people are worthy of trust then...we can't do anything

It's over population. People are continuing to have kids with no plan on how to take care of them. Those kids then grow to be adults and an adult with no plan ends up on the streets.🤔

You don't know that

He lives at the w hotel

I really don't get how he has the gall to run a social experiment to see how long the resident's tolerance lasts. How are the needs of the homeless more important than the actual residents'? Even the homless don't like to camp in the city, why is it such a big issue to ban camping in the city? I really don't see the upside of allowing it.

They should go camp right in front of the w hotel

Man Fr we should go camp in front of the w hotel and see what happens

@@Gabebeendrankin the law would remove us so fast 😂

This in my opinion, is the best resolution.

or inside their houses, got no problem with that either

And then what? Their still homeless

Lmaooo

@@EnthrallingBass140 so they haven't been accumulating money in order to get a place to live...while they're homeless? How can you support someone when they don't wanna support themself?

Probably shouldn't call him "it" 🤣🤣

@@dylanjkiernan3432 they didn’t

We can blame Government and covid. Why? Covid caused the loss of jobs. People now don’t want to work anymore because they milked unemployment from Biden. Housing prices have gone up gas prices have gone up. Yet government wants to impose more lockdowns with the “delta variant” making small businesses go bankrupt
You stay safe, I’ll stay free.
Have fun wearing your mask, loser

You are baffled because you don't understand that JOB NUMBER ONE of government is national defense. Homelessness is like #33.

It's true. I'm a lot less compassionate after 10 years in San Francisco of this issue, in part cause you realize a good portion of the homeless we have here would rather live on the streets than in any shelter or living situation, because they don't like the strings attached i.e. that they get drug tested in order to get a roof over their heads. I'm convinced your never going to solve this problem at a local level. If rural America wasn't so harsh on the homeless, we wouldn't have so many homeless people in major cities. People go where he resources are, which is why it's a double edge sword to provide more aid. When SF decided to give every homeless person a $1000 check every month for being homeless, it creates a no win situation for the city, as any homeless with half a brain would cross the bay and flood the city. Which is what happens, we can't decrease the population because as soon as we house people, more homeless show up for their house. Thus, this needs to be dealt with federally, because other wise, you have cities offering various services, and who ever finds the best solution, will be flooded by more homeless moving from other cities with less services. It's the same reason so many people in tech flock to the bay area. People go where ever they have the most opportunities, and homeless people are no different.

What's she's really saying is as the value of my home declines so does my compassion.

@@heyaisdabomb I don’t think the issue is that simple. Many homeless people chose not to go to shelters because they could possibly be surrounded by drugs etc. Many times shelters are crowded, unsafe, and unsanitary. Also the majority of homeless people are not addicts.

@@TheQuinto2010 nothing wrong with that. Recycle these bums into tires.

@@nelmoon1981 The problem isn't the push factor from smaller towns but rather the pull factor into these larger cities that give benefits to the homeless. Why live in reno when you can live good on the streets in SF? The benefits the provide seem good on paper. Treat those who are unfortuante with greater passion etc etc. Problem is its bringing more of them in. Like rats to a big hunk of government cheese. Cities obviously have to walk a fine line between providing too many benefits that they literally become the homeless preferred destination. Or providing nothing and letting some good people out to rot. So far there doesn't seem to be a good solution. However we can definitely see what's not working.

Sounds like he just used a bunch of buzz words. No?

@@coldestnapoleon No - you should listen before assuming. He’s proposing a more flexible approach to give the homeless a transition zone that bridges the awkward gap between destitution and societal re-integration. You can tell he understands the drivers of homelessness because he’s clearly a hands-on volunteer, an attitude which is often lacking in city halls.
If you look at the homeless, they often have a pattern of going back & forth between halfway homes and the streets. Many of them can’t shake off old habits, because often the halfway homes are too large of an adjustment for them.

@@ikik1648 It's not just that it's a large adjustment, helping people move from a survival mentality to longer term strategic thinking is something that can take decades. This is why countries who have basically solved homelessness have moved to a model of housing first with no means tested bullshit or prohibitions along with robust social services to help those with specific needs. I doubt this will happen in America when we care way too much about money instead of people's lives.

I think he just was.

@Icantthinkofachannelname ' when they are drug free'... ' releasing them back into society'... 1. you make it sound like becoming drug free is possible when you don't want to be drug free. 12 step programs have about a 10% success rate for people have desire to become clean. What do you think the success rate is for people who don't want to become clean. 2. Not sure if you know this, but we have a legal system in the USA. You can't imprison people for nothing and set some arbitrary release date based on your opinions. Your solution is to just go around and pick people up, lock them into some prison and don't let them out until.... you decide they are a useful part of society? that doesn't even work for mentally ill people, you can't just lock people up randomly because you are distressed at seeing a tent while going under and overpass.

Can you force these people to get mental health if available? Each case is different, many want this life .Do their drugs ,no bills,no work & destroy others property values.

That's the thing. Most places do have stuff like that. In my area of Texas (SETX Golden Triangle area to be specific) we have many organizations and local city and county leaders trying to help the homeless. Problem is as said by many former homeless people, especially one I got to know well while working as a news photog is Eric Ardouin. He's a very compassionate person, but he also is a person with perspective. He himself had to change and it was a loooong process of realizing he can't keep doing this. Mental health and drug counseling cannot be forced and most times he says, you can't coddle folks like this unbanning camping in city limits. Defeating homelessness requires a loong process of dealing with each individual which isn't something that a lot of folks like these people interviewed will be willing to put into it. They want a magic wand to wave it away, but it doesn't come that way. It may take good 20 years for some kind of change if we're lucky.

Naive ass

@@stevenbui8043
"Starvation CAN be ended.
Private Corp's have deemed that Milk that's out of Date OR is NOT even that, tomatoes that arent shiny enough and bananas that arent crooked-enough, are to be thrown ito Dumpsters AND BLEACH SHALL BE POURED ON TOP, so the Homeless wont eat it. Yes, you heard that right. Want me to repeat that last Fact?"
-Second Thought, a KRplusr with much to say, but who also is not a Doomer.

also your liberalism haha

@@brandonromney2881 💯

You're not a victim of your choice to be less compassionate? Safety is an illusion (you only feel as safe as you believe you are). You're using the issue of Safety to justify bad choices.
The people who are homeless are human beings and also have a right to safety, and hope.

@@ryanrivard1455 Boom..Mic drop💯

@Belinda SS The good Christian value of NIMBY.

this is the outlook of everyone who just wants to keep these global issues out of their sight, yet speak like they care - "I feel bad, but can you please just kick them out of the city for me?"

Good Lord. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Dude is so woke

He’s just a coward.

Exactly

It's actually not half as bad as it was when they made this doc (it's still pretty bad though). We passed Prop B and they are still clogging up the sidewalks with their tents and bullshit plus harassing people for spare change at every stop light.

That’s why I’m moving after college. I love this city and grew up here, but damn this is too much.

@@SexyTCAPdecoy4Hansen ha ha, I actually left the state altogether. Glad I did.

Travel around, find a place you love to visit. There are so many safer, better places to live. I moved from Austin to a smaller town in Ohio and I hate having to go back down there to visit my family. I dread it.

If it doesn't actively effect the American then they won't care.
We our the nation of pretending our problems don't exist.

Before Covid I went to visit a friend in Austin and I was not aware of how many homeless people there were. I assume it has gotten worse since then. As all cities are struggling with this crises.

@@charlieortiz5399 I haven't been able to return post-pandemic, but I will say that when I was there some years ago, circa 2015, homelessness became dramatically and noticeably worse every few months. I was homeless myself for a while there bc the economic circumstances were so unavoidable, and I was an engineering student attending UT, who was otherwise doing well (I had a straight-across 4.0 up until the end, and even after failing out I still had a 3.4 bc of how many credit hours I'd had up to that point), but there just wasn't any help available, period. Living conditions in Austin, even for the housed, are just unbelievably miserable and precarious. Minimum wage is still $7.25/hr, both in Texas and locally in Austin, which is absolutely something that they have the ability to change but just refuse to (San Marcos, which is just south of Austin, has had a $15/hr minimum since like 2014 or thereabouts). I genuinely think on some level that the broader collapse across the economy (both nationally and in Austin, hence the homelessness issue getting so much exponentially worse), is going to trigger a crisis that requires the government to intervene, and here's hoping that that translates to a new social housing system or something very similar. I can't imagine any other outcome at this point

UBI

@@randal_gibbons hell, they may try and do a UBI in the stead of social housing, but I really don't know if people would accept that or not

Rightly so. Look at the Arc. Bunch of drugged out people all around red river and 6th area. It’s ruined downtown.

Well you will literally be putting whatever distract at risk.

WilCo doing exactly that

You can't blame them. Look at the area around the current shelter in austin.

@@christopherharrisintexas Hell yea. I'm in wilco and we don't have much of a homeless population here. Gonna keep it that way!

We need to ID why each person is homeless. Mental issue, short/long term under/unemployment, simply the lifestyle they prefer, whatever. Then figure out how to deal with that.

Yep. I lived like this in California 20 years ago. No one listened no one cared it was our fault for being homeless. I had to stay in some of those disgusting shelters. I was raised in shelters my first shelter was 4 years. these newly homeless people voted to cut a lot of programs without doing the math. They just wanted a celebrity to run their state. So that middle class is now sleeping outside. The middle class never invested in these programs now they need them.

end the drug war . supply the hopeless addicts . this might keep people from falling into homelessness . then reinvest the money spent fighting ther drug war on mental health treatment and addiction .

@@who2u333 fentanyl, and our liberalism toward drugs. All street drugs are now days laced with fentanyl. It is destroying humans beyond the point of repair.

A minority of homeless have a mental illness issue. Stop spreading this baseless bullshit.

Liberals are closeted republicans.

How Nice to be able to life a life with accessible bathrooms

I couldn’t agree more with Zamarripa.

Best statement for 2021

It's because their homeless neighbor's are inconsiderate

"Starvation CAN be ended.
Private Corp's have deemed that Milk that's out of Date OR is NOT even that, tomatoes that arent shiny enough and bananas that arent crooked-enough, are to be thrown ito Dumpsters AND BLEACH SHALL BE POURED ON TOP, so the Homeless wont eat it. Yes, you heard that right. Want me to repeat that last Fact?"
-Second Thought, a KRplusr with much to say, but who also is not a Doomer.

The state of Texas as a whole is conservative. The city of Austin as a whole is liberal. What were you saying?

Just like california worries about plastic straws while having homelessness and needles all over SF->LA

Logical fallacy.
Abortion laws and anti mask laws have nothing in common with homelessness
People should vote more properly.
Personally, I haven't seen any homeless people in Texas outside of Austin. Must tell you something.

That only takes into account the safety of the speaker.

@@genevievewalsh2007 ok liberal

Maybe they shouldn't have gentrified the low income part of town in East Austin so they could have cheap housing and jack the prices up, thus putting tons of people out on the streets. They thought they could make East Austin safe by moving a bunch of rich white people there and pushing everyone else out onto the streets. It's real rich of them to then complain about the people they pushed out onto the streets. UT Austin did a study that showed there is active gentrification in East Austin, "Jake Wegmann, a professor in UT’s School of Architecture who co-authored the study said in a statement that the report shows “striking levels of change, including an alarming loss of low-income persons of color from several areas in Austin’s eastern crescent.”

Same the other way. When people become so affluent that they think they can cure all social ills by redistributing wealth, they find in the end it doesn’t work. This is liberalism at work. You can’t lift people up that will not help themselves and you certainly can’t do it by tearing people at the top, down.

Predators, thieves, murders, lunatics, and dangerous people live everywhere not just the streets. Dangerous people will get to you one way or another. Not being able to afford housing doesn’t make someone more dangerous than another person.

•Insufficient affordable housing.
•Service sector wages NOT keeping pace with increasing cost of living
•AMERICAN service sector jobs increasingly being given to ILLEGAL central/south americans (ie. CHEAP LABOR)

Don't 4get the drug problems

@@tacobell4968. Lack of shelter is an ECONOMIC/FINANCIAL condition. When you can show a credible study that shows a direct causal link (or correlation) between substance abuse & homelessness, then we can examine it further...

@@SoundScientist1 ok 👌 😐 from my experience all the homeless people be smoking crack sleeping under bridges

@@tacobell4968 Causation and Correlation are TWO very different things. Many people simply lost their jobs...or their houses...or their family...or had tremendous health issues or healthcare bills. Once you're homeless and on the streets it's not a far slide to being addicted. Either way, that's something that needs treatment...not ridicule.

Typical as$hole republican

@@Leondon73 who do you think I was referencing? It's doubtful the guy who identifies as a progressive is a Republican. Do you believe inserting a party into a discussion on cowardly behavior isolates that characteristic? Judging by this man's own admission of fearing for his daughter yet not being willing to vote for something he wants to see happen but wants to appear virtuous by not voting for it, is the epitome of a coward. Irregardless of political affiliation.

@@abefrohammer3105 agreed Abe. Thats called "spineless" as far as im concerned. He wants his conscience clear, but ultimately wants other people to do the bidding for him. What a jackass. Thanks for posting

@@SouthernSilverExchange I guess that's one hot take.
What you're ACTUALLY seeing is the internal conflict that comes when dealing with the dichotomy of both wanting to honestly help the less fortunate but also improve your own quality of life ... and there's nothing wrong with that. It's a natural human response to the situation.
You're tossing out a really pathetic "False Dichotomy" in order to reframe the actual issue through the lens of your own personal political bullshit and it makes you look like a bigger dumbass than you already seem.

You just ain't lived in texas bud, and you wont get it till yah do

I, like you, had my truck. We were the lucky ones. We could still move around easier and we were safer in our vehicles...for the most part. I still remember going into interviews without having had a shower or being able to wash and iron my clothes. It still hurts, years later, remembering the looks I got just waiting for the interview.
Thank God for my loved ones. Thank God for my resiliency. Thank God.

Thank you for sharing your story. Yes, people being unsheltered is an outcome or like you said a symptom. Your story illuminates how becoming homeless doesn't just happen overnight, it is compounded by all of the oppressive obstacles. And once you have reached a certain bottom is it is so incredibly hard to overcome it, by no fault of your own. The system does not support us and value our work. There is no financial safety net in this country. So many people who lost their jobs or had to find a different job that paid less during COVID are going to feel that hit for the long-term.

A high percentage of homeless are mentally Ill or drug addicts. If you can be helped, aren’t a drug addict or insane, then I don’t think it’s going to be impossible to help you. The rest need to be moved far away from the city, build something in the desert and get treatment or lock away those who are a danger to society but letting this get like this is insane.
It’s not their property to sleep on. Whatever the solution is, this isn’t it.

I always think about the foster kids. The ones that grew up without a stable home, being abused, nobody to love them… then they are put out on their own at 18. No family to help them. Those of us who grew up middle class with loving parents… we haven’t a clue how easy it is for kids who grew up in the system to become homeless adults.

Thank you for your compassionate story and view. Too many bigots in this comment section.

It’s so funny the mayor says by allowing them to do it it didn’t make it any worse. Liberals at work my man. There’s a reason Austin is dealing with this in Dallas isn’t.

And drug addiction

Unless you are a Billionaire, for the most part, everyone working is 1 Paycheck away from losing everything they own. COVID Killed Jobs, and the Economy is Shut Down over 1 Year Later...

@@johntore6108 that’s the government’s fault not covids

@@adamd416 2 years ago you would see some homeless people time to time but now it’s camps and tents in every park, every trail. Needles everywhere. Our mayor is a fucktard

Reads of actual solutions and results and that's refreshingly novel!

At Camp Abbott? This thread is wildly outdated and inaccurate related to right now.

Cost of living IS way too high.

Supply and Demand right

Supply and Demand right

Rents are only five grand a month!

Anyone that claims that the widespread tent problem (in LA, SD, Austin etc.) is a housing/cost of living issue is either a dum dum, blissfully ignorant, or politically motivated. I've been in and around various tent towns across the nation. It's mainly drugs and mental health, with a tinge of actual "I lost my job and now I'm on the streets (and likely now on drugs too)." They don't want food and they don't want shelter. I've tried, it doesn't fucking work. They need housing with intense treatment. Now, how we get them there in a humane way is the real question/issue to be addressed. This "cost of living" debate is inert, and quite frankly, slowing down the progress towards a real solution.

It's a hard situation for both working and homeless people, it hasn't been actually dealt with and is becoming a bigger problem. Society and political administrations need to make more housing available, but the prioritization of wealthy-middle class construction stops this. Lumber is at a historic high and becoming a commodity as well as other resources. A lot of Universities and vocational schools still use out-dated teaching practices for constructing homes. If we can't move towards substainability how can it be fixed? I wonder if politicians truly think or just daydream.

All Democrat cities

The only way to deal with the mental health issues is to force people to get help, which many Americans would find unethical. I say this because I’ve talked to a few homeless people who don’t want to live in housing. They preferred living on the streets. I think the mental health issues feed those thoughts. So, do we force someone to get treatment and live in group homes?

@@Student0Toucher Nah Atlanta has always been republic till now, so it have nothing to do with democratic or republicans. It has to do with our government not giving a ish about us! This is why I live in a rural area and not a big city anymore.

Cities don’t have the money to solve these issues. State and federal government does.

US spends nearly 1 trillion a year in the military,
US has nearly 800 military bases around the world,
US is getting out of Afghanistan but is picking a fight with Russia, China, Iran and so on...

@@tuntematonsotilas3533 Then, what’s your point? Unless you welcome a few homeless people into your home, shut up. You don’t even know what we go through everyday.

And yes, I would call the authorities if a homeless person took up residence on my property... but only because I'm not allowed to handle the problem on my own with whatever means I deam fit

@@cy8999 ,,, i went through a homeless stage decades ago.. A tent would have been great,, as some of that time was minnesota winters ... You walk for days without sleep or drugs ... because you know if you lay down you stay down ... same as alaska i'd say ... and at the southern border they are being given motel rooms ... and not the budget inn types,, the good ones...

@@cy8999
You dont go through anyhting. I live near homeless people and they hardly have any impact on my day to day life. The people who actually need help are those homeless people you dont care about.

I took it as he wants his streets clean, but doesn't want them to disappear to different areas where they are not seen and have their issues not adressed. How's passing it going to help the people?

100% fake af lmao just vote Yes bro.. you don’t have to please your liberal friends.

Honestly infinitely better than the reverse. He feels a certain way but doesn't find it an action he can stand behind advocating

@@jacemasood3019 he wanted to vote no so he could maintain his fake sense of moral superiority, but irl deep down he feels the same as everyone else. Dude needs a spine

Global warming will ruin you and your child’s life more than any homeless problem can. Why is no one concerned with fixing that problem first? Especially all you folks WITH children? Doesn’t make any damn sense.

@@shasmi93 Oh please. Opinions like this are the reasons why people don’t like liberals. Liberal policies destroy cities. NYC, Detroit, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, LA, San Francisco and now Austin. Thank god for Texas Governor Greg Abbott for signing a statewide camping ban. Now these tents are going away! Take your liberal propaganda to California where it will be welcomed.

@@dano3803 yeah…. I’m not liberal. I support many republican initiatives and I am more in the middle. All I’m saying is, it’s funny how people want to argue sides on a planet that lets them have that privilege. Yet we are destroying that planet that even set the stage for debate. It makes no sense. None. But you calling me a “liberal” and shutting down conversations that really need to be had are a prime example of why our species is on the door out. So thanks for your input. But it won’t change the underlying issue we should ALL be focusing on.

As a homeless guy myself, I want to add:
Bureaucracy is a big thing. I tried to get assistance. But they would look for any excuse to reject the application.
Didn't get anything. Lost my apartment. And was on the street the next day.
My story is pretty common with disabled Homeless too.
One guy I met did landscaping for 20 years. Got a knee injury, and couldn't keep the job. Same bureaucratic mess too.
There's a reason why other countries have lower Homeless rates.
I mean, there aren't any Tent Cities in places like London, Copenhagen, or Helinski.

Exactly how can you go out and look for a job apply for applications,get back on your feet if you don’t have a stable place to lay your head that is safe.

You really don’t think it’s about mental illness? And rehabilitation?

@@SirStoneFace do mentally ill people not need a bed and a shower???

They don't want to live by the rules of the housing centers. They rather be on the street.

it's a symptom of late-stage capitalism

@@graydendonner3793 It's a symptom of government land use restrictions that prevent an adequate supply of new housing from being built

@@graydendonner3793 yup. Capitalism and liberal policy. Just like here in LA

Capitalism is evil we need to adopt communism 🌹✊😎🤟

More like in blue run cities.

When wages dont increase but rent does thats how you get homelessness.

That's because living in the third world isn't the same as hearing about it in an infomercial.

Reality is hard.

Why are they having to use the bathroom like that? They havent a home

A Republican would step in it and track it into your house and on to your carpet. They are the most unkempt savages.

That’s when the moron should just turn conservative, it’s the best way to go

Exactly! Sheltering homeless and helping people does not provide a direct ROI. Therefore it’s overlooked, as corporate America mostly influences the polices passed.

Yeah, they don't want to upset big business so they sit back and allow big business to trample all over their citizens.

California, Oregon, and Washington have spent 10s of billions of dollars on homelessness and the problem has gotten a lot worse for all 3 of these states. Spending money on them doesn't fix anything, it makes stuff worse.

@@youraverageimperialguard7932 lol what’s the solution then , because it can’t be in cutting taxes and federal aid to favor big business in Texas. This is coming from a native Texan

@@youraverageimperialguard7932 it's true in the sense that they haven't spent enough money building homes. They spend more paying the cost of homelessness sweeps, policing, and emergency services. It's cheaper for the state to build a home than it is to pay for homelessness

Can't have junk cars in yards, that seems fair.

Get the commies out of leadership. Casar on council has been elected twice as a communist. Adler is as far left as you can go.

@@marissas7282 so get the people who wanna give the homeless housing out off office for the people that dont wanna help them at all thats ur solution?

@@Masterho310 The conservative solution to this has been to just keep the homeless out of sight so they don't need to think about them and do nothing beyond that.

@@marissas7282 Commies? So long as these people are out of sight, no need to think about them right?

@@Masterho310 nope. both sides have no "funding" solution. What the difference is. liberals don't like segregation, thus allows camping anywhere (so the homeless can have access to stores, public services etc). Conservatives want segregation. out of sight, out of mind. Neither makes the problem go away. But the latter allows you to be more selfish.

why only outside?

Lol we want to start sending our homeless here in the SF Bay Area to Texas

@@kushal4956 LOL!!

He lives in a high-rise condo inside The W, so that won't work. He can hide from them.

Most of them probably need to be in mental institutions. No one should be homeless - they belong somewhere, under a roof.

They actually did that.

They’re the problem! They all came here at once! My city wasn’t ready for this move!

@@SexyTCAPdecoy4Hansen Ironically, there are a lot of homeless people because everyone and their mom moves there, both rich people who drive up housing prices and people who can't afford it and end up homeless.

They already have a shelter, shelters are terrible for many homeless people and they never address housing. I do agree that there should be a main area where they can live and it will take time until there’s a way to build low cost housing. I think people are open to live next to low cost housing but I understand the safety and sanitation concerns with the camping in the city.

You can’t drink and do drugs at the shelter so the bums don’t want to go there. Maybe they can stay at your home?

Many shelters also don’t allow people with violent criminal records in. Secondly also many of those people don’t even want to stay in a shelter, some you wouldn’t believe actually like the freedom of not having all the responsibilities of residing in a house.

just give em housing and healthcare boom problem solved. Once you have a stable residence; it’s easier to get a job

They don’t want a job you idiot, that’s why they’re bums. They want to drink hang out and do drugs. What do you think they do all day, fill out job applications?

Mayor Adler's plan is to create a crisis so the cronies get your tax dollars in the form of contracts to house them. Redistribution.

@@gerardgmz Yeh taxes are meant for that. Helping the community and building infrastructure

@@cherryslat5702
Housing the homeless is not infrastructure, tho.

those malls are owned by companies and people, you can't just convert them to apartments without their permission

Most of these people are severely mentally ill and have violent tendencies or drug addiction. Thinking that putting a roof over their head would solve the problem is just ignorant.

US spends nearly 1 trillion a year in the military,
US has nearly 800 military bases around the world,
US is getting out of Afghanistan but is picking a fight with Russia, China, Iran and so on...

As a friend said, “attempting to be the city of LA in the body of a town”. SF works in place too

it's almost like every major city in USA is full of homeless people because the USA has no social net, and because most residents of rich areas would rather sweep homeless people under the rug and ignore their existence then lobby to support them.

@@tuntematonsotilas3533 no they're picking fights with us. it's only a matter of time until china moves on taiwan. the constant cyberattacks fucking our infrastructure from russia and of course iran is the world's number one state sponser of terrorism

@marc Lmao. China has forced work camps, and forced sterilization of China's native muslim population.
Funny how a liberals empathy only works when it's convenient for their politics.

krplus.net/bidio/g9qJhICgg3mulYI

They brought their homeless problems with them lol

@@gordonmccracken1209 It's a lot worse in California than everywhere else though. Also Austin is a lot bluer than Houston and Dallas and there's less homelessness in those two cities (especially Houston considering it's fairly easy to build enough supply of new housing to keep up with new demand)

in short, no

In short, yes

Austin isn’t Texas, we don’t claim Austin.

So? Billionaire don’t waste their lives getting high and blaming others for their failure.

@@jameslong2618 I don't even know or care to know why you even responded 🙄

krplus.net/bidio/g9qJhICgg3mulYI

@Jing Bot you are using a phone or a computer whose creators and marketers are billionares, on an app whose managers are also millionaires. You are actively benefiting from the hard works of the millionaires almost every single moment, yet critise them so thoughtlessly.

I think you're confusing personal taxes for corporate taxes. Billionaires pay millions in income tax, some of them have billion-dollar tax debts.

that is my experience in Austin also. A lot of homeless people are just people who like to do drugs (and probably addicted). There isn't a solution for them because they are choosing to live there. If you give them the option of a sidewalk and drugs, verses a free apartment and drug testing, they will stay on the streets. Another big percentage are mentally ill who cannot live on their own.

It’s been stated that most homeless people have jobs. A vast majority also have phones as it’s almost essential to have a job these days.
So yeah, a handful or smaller percentage does ruin the image for the rest

Unfortunately politicians just play dirty politics..
Democrats: Don't really have a solution for homelessness...but hey at least the problem is out in the open now!
Republicans: Look what the libretards are doing to our beautiful posh cities...let's just sweep the problem back under the rug and make America great again!

Those are the ones who are high af

that's your fault for buying a store in the hood and don't tell me it was a beautiful place before you bought that store

I got an unsolicited text from someone telling me I should oppose the ban measure. Instead of ignoring her I prodded and tried to hear if she had any tangible solutions. She just kept dancing around the issue, saying we need "more services and support" for the homeless. I tried to get her to be specific on what services and who's paying but she couldn't.
At the end of the day these people opposing the ban have have no real plan in mind to solve this crisis, other than "someone (not me) needs to throw money at this and that will solve the problem."

Take this from someone who is from a poor country, the homeless being brought to the cities isn't because they want to help them it is most likely to gain extra votes from them. This is corruption 101 and you guys really need to be aware. They're just taking advantage of the homeless at this point. That's clear as daylight. So please vote wisely

Yeah, addiction is an illness that should be treated. It's difficult to see how to get out of the cycle once you are caught up in it, and there's usually a lot more to a given homeless person's story than "I got into drugs". It's unfortunate that it effects you and your co-workers, but isn't the problem a little bigger than all that? Saying as someone who worked right by the Arc. You get these people the help the need by treating them with compassion and showing them that it can be worth working to get out from under the weight of addiction and to begin forming goals for the future. It takes time and organized effort, and asks a lot of a community, but is well worth it in the end. Also, "Multiple offers from others"-what does that even mean? Someone walked up and offered a homeless person a place to stay, consistent meals, and health insurance for treatment? or? And then they proceeded to say no to that...? No, that didn't happen.

@@bmona7550 a couple thousand votes isn't likely to sway an election in a city of more than a million, but I'm curious how you think that would even work?

@@icoz7 The problem is there is no easy single-bandaid solution, it doesn't work that way. She couldn't reference a working service or option for support because they didn't exist yet. You should check out Community First, the tiny home project trying to help provide shelter and assistance

Affordable housing isn’t affordable when you spend all your money on Heroin.

@@jessereading8973 those that are addicts aren’t going to stop being addicted if you just shove them from city to city or throw them in jail.

Exactly!

That would be better then tents and garbage under freeways and the sides of the road.

Righto!

US spends nearly 1 trillion a year in the military,
US has nearly 800 military bases around the world,
US is getting out of Afghanistan but is picking a fight with Russia, China, Iran and so on...

@@tuntematonsotilas3533 1 trillion is also spent on tax breaks

Oligarchy and Plutocracy in action

HouseholdHandyman That is far from the truth with the leading causes actually being (1) lack of affordable housing, (2) unemployment, (3) poverty, and (4) low wages, in that order.

Same thing in Dallas. You can thank all of the Californians that are moving here ☺️

Stefon Adler

@@tango31313 Oooo how exotic.

😂😂😂

or a Johnny Cash impersonation

Or cut his salary & benefits & reallocate them to the homeless.

Nobody had any choice as to whether or not to come into this world, therefore we ALL should have the absolute and indisputable right to euthanasia if we want to leave. To withhold the means to leave in the most clean, fast, painless and safest way possible is hands-down the biggest egregious violation of personal liberty and bodily autonomy. ~
~
It’s even worse than criminalizing @bortion imo

@@JD-jz5rr Great so the solution to homelessness is to let them legally kill themselves?

@@JD-jz5rr who would finance that? There needs to be more hospital workers, hospitals, judges properly trained to deal with people with mental problems if that's actually achievable.

That happens every year and many children lose their parents to ODs.

@@JD-jz5rr You did have a choice to come into this world. out of all the sperm that swam to enter life, you are the one that made it and beat them. so you did choose to be here. i know you might regret it now though now that life isnt what its cracked up to be as a kid

Sadly it does

#FACTS

@@petrinajc so couldn't you argue that they weren't really truly liberal in the first place? Couldn't you argue that the person is sheltered... or (no disrespect,) ignorant or inexperienced on how life in America really is?

@@Dude-hm4eu Why would you argue that Michael? Is someone being honest about their experiences threatening to you? Being liberal or conservative or moderate is irrelevant...when you come across human tragedy. This isn't a theoretical discussion. It's REAL people in REAL pain and a Community that is Suffering. Arguing about liberal or conservative when human lives are at risk is a bit of a lack of humanity.

@@davidc2838 I agree with Michael, the further you are removed from the consequences of your own ideology, the more radical and liberal you become.
If these people were truly liberal, they would allow the homeless into their homes, instead of just acting compassionate.
If they want the government to solve the problem, they need to vote to make it illegal to camp outside.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

💯. It’s extremely weak and he’s putting his daughter at risk. He must be deranged to not see that.

It's a great first step, and it's the only real solution to the homelessness crisis

They have those over on the East side of town. It was started by Mobile Loves and Fishes.

In Japan, They have tiny little houses for the Homeless. The government supplies them. They are really small but are a Godsend until they can get something better.

You can't transition back into a normal life without first addressing what led you into homelessness. A tiny house doesn't fix a severe heroin addiction.

@@Indigololz Yah just skip over the "Mental Health" portion of the comment.
You are the problem.

@@johnsnow5955 Mental health may lead people to drugs, but once someone is physically reliant, it's no longer a mental health issue.

How is it financially possible to provide mental health support to all these homeless people? Not possible you need to think realistically

House ? Lmao
I live in the Bay Area and pay 2 grand for my apartment and there’s feces everywhere

@@therealityofthings9574 gtfo of california my friend theres nothing left to pick under that tree

@@vinceiopez3657 I just don’t know where to move to

This mayor is a coward. He’s unwilling to make difficult decisions.

@@therealityofthings9574 so move to Austin lol

krplus.net/bidio/g9qJhICgg3mulYI

profits over people

Unlimited resources for bombs and tax cuts for the rich

@@ryanharvey9800 at some point the people must wake UP,

America isn't even a country; it's just one big corporation.

I was threatened to be stabbed by a homeless person at I35 Frontage and East 6th.

Quit voting for liberals then

My workplace is in the middle of downtown, and it was problematic a few years back. It's out of control now. I also live on the east side and working from home since last March, it's just as bad here now as it is downtown. I've found used syringes tossed into my backyard and had to chase random people away from my front yard when they thought no one was home.

Yup! I feel you. We were thinking of moving to Austin, but then we saw the homeless problem and said no.

I always carry so threats are empty

Wow your life is so difficult.

Exactly

Displacers get displaced

Okay, assume they didn't move in there, where would the middle class people live then? It's easy to point fingers at the evil gentrifiers, but at least in my city, they have nowhere else to go and live either. If there are not good policies in place to ensure enough affordable housing and you live in a capitalist society, the problem will keep moving down the wealth ladder until it's the people with the least financial means who end up on the streets.

And the gentrifiers HATE the homeless in their neighborhoods, but they'll vote down any new shelters or ballot measures that help get the homeless off the streets.

​@@e.t.ethics1771 I've never seen that happen. At least where I am, they only build them in already really rich neighborhoods. I don't think people move somewhere just for access to a whole foods! I think the only way to stop gentrification is to allow for new high-income residents to build *new* homes in an area, instead of having to buy up old housing stock and kick people out. Unfortunately, zoning laws make building anything but single family homes nearly impossible in most areas.

You took the words out of my mouth brother

Are you homeless? Must be nice to live downtown for free and never worry ever using a trash can.Just dump it in the streets or tow lake.

@@staywoke2198 it's very difficult to be homeless. You know nothing about it.

U ain't lying....makes u wanna save until u can't no more.....life is scary man at times

@@staywoke2198 your name must be a joke, because comments are far from woke, homie