Bulldozers kill man in tent in Atlanta clearing homeless camp near MLK’s church
Bulldozers kill man in tent in Atlanta clearing homeless camp near MLK’s church
Here's a couple ideas for dealing with the housing crisis situation, one of the primary causes of the homeless issues in the first place. Since all we ever seem to do is fail at handling symptoms instead of of causes.
But none of this will happen. Because the oligarchs have their money invested in real estate holdings that don't move or get and use, so they require little to no maintenance. It's a large reason why half of NYC looks like a shit hole with boarded up retail spots for decades while a cupboard under the stars costs $1800/mo to rent.
How about we just build apartments?
"Just build" only helps the developers who get to build and thus profit more. They'll just build luxury condos and "investment properties" since that's the most profitable.
There's more expensive housing units sitting empty than there are unhoused people. The problem isn't a lack of housing, it's a lack of AFFORDABLE housing. That and it's WAY too easy for landlords to evict people.
Right, let's build ... public housing!
Yep, but still need new protections such as rent control and better enforcement of the ones currently in place.
"Just build public housing" is better than "just build housing", but stil woefully inadequate to tackle a problem much more complex and insidious than simple supply and demand.
Would really like more rail. It's the only reason I'm a bit nimby about apartments, too many cars on the road.
Is there not a strong correlation between apartments and rail? I.e. China, Spain, Korea?
Good point, but is it chicken or egg?
I think a lot of cities with truly good public transit developed as walking cities. The population was first, and the transit came after. Not always true - look at Barcelona - but my city (Melbourne Australia) is pretty cleanly defined into the part that developed before everyone had a car (radiating train lines serviced by trams), and areas that came after (radiating train lines serviced by buses, or not serviced at all).
There's already enough living space. No need for more infrastructure.
Depends where. Not generally true.
Including in the places people want to live in?
Abolishing parking minimums, and, in fact, establishing parking maximums, would be a great, easy, and inexpensive step for most cities in the US. You literally can't build dense walkable places like old main streets anymore because of zoning codes and (chiefly) parking minimums. If you're like me, you probably assumed that these codes had their feet in good reasons for existing, but they actually don't. Parking minimums are often based on numbers that are essentially snatched out of thin air and not evidence-based, and many other cities simply copy what other cities are doing. Aggressive exclusionary zoning often has its feet in racism, and it's a big reason why only US cities seem to experience urban decay. This is something you can change! Go to your city council meetings, network with people there! Go to your city planning board meetings, read your city's zoning laws, and go give them very specific shit about it! These offices are infinitely more accessible and responsive than state and federal legislators, and you might be surprised to find that some of them even agree with you! It doesn't take much effort, it's pretty much free, and the cops can't stop you!
