Are tiny homes the answer to the homeless problem

[Texashiker]

Not that homeless people are a problem, but getting them off the streets is a problem that needs to be answered.

Lady built herself a home on a lowboy trailer for $11,416.16. While building the home she fell off the roof injuring her back. the article says she broke her back, but she is still able to walk.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2524437/The-tiny-home-built-scratch-11-000-architect.html

Finding herself divorced, unemployed and losing her home to foreclosure two years ago, the Boise resident enlisted the help of her dad and later her boyfriend to start building her 196-square-foot dream home.

The house which is built atop a flatbed trailer - made complete with sustainable materials - has the unlikely boast of its $2,000 compost toilet being the most expensive amenity or appliance in the whole cute build.

The most expensive item in the house is a $2,000 compost toilet.

Why can't counties take land that has been seized for back taxes, get with a not-for-profit organization and build the homeless community a series of tiny homes?

Get the people off the streets, get them into a centralized location, get them some donated clothes, job training, health check-ups for stuff like TB,,, and improve the overall quality of the community.

 

[Jimzz]

Probably because many homeless have mental issues and/or drug problems. Contrary to what right wing nuts say most homeless are not homeless due to laziness but other issues.
A large number of the homeless are vets, most accounts show over 10% of homeless are Veterans.

 

[apac]

You're not solving the problems that got them homeless in the first place. Drug abuse, mental illness, extreme poverty. What you'd have is a slum where all those problems run rampant. You'd have people selling their $2,000 toilet for crack on the first day.

 

[Texashiker]

Probably because many homeless have mental issues and/or drug problems.

If the homeless were in a centralized location health workers could provide care to the people who need it.

You're not solving the problems that got them homeless in the first place. Drug abuse, mental illness, extreme poverty. What you'd have is a slum where all those problems run rampant. You'd have people selling their $2,000 toilet for crack on the first day.

Did you read the opening post?

Did you see the part where I mentioned providing job training and health care to those who need it?

 

[Triumph]

Because what you would be creating would be essentially a ghetto.

And I don't know that a bunch of "tiny homes" would be more cost effective than a simple apartment building. Which would also turn itself into a ghetto.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

10% isn't really a 'large number of' ratio.


Most of our "homeless" live with family members, cashing in $1100 welfare/SS checks along with $300 worth of food stamps.

They would prefer to continue getting that check to do with as they fit, rather than have the government take $400 and give them stable housing.


The vast majority of our homeless are there because they choose to be. They are in these situations because they put themselves there.


We are one of the few countries where the "poor and homeless" are grossly overweight. Oh wait, that's the working man's and woman's fault too, isn't it?

 

[apac]

If the homeless were in a centralized location health workers could provide care to the people who need it.




Did you read the opening post?

Did you see the part where I mentioned providing job training and health care to those who need it?

And how would you enforce this for those that need help but don't want it? Make it a prison camp? Homeless drug addicts are not going to make good decisions like getting help, that's why they ended up on the streets in the first place. Give 10 addicts a choice between getting clean and getting a fix and 9 of them will take the hit right there.

 

[Texashiker]

And how would you enforce this for those that need help but don't want it? Make it a prison camp?

Of course this would not be a prison.

But then again, should people with mental problems be allowed to roam the streets.

Serious question, lets say a homeless person has a problem with Schizophrenia. Police are called all the time because the person is causing problems.

Wouldn't putting the homeless person is their own space be better than prison? Kinda like house arrest, but the county or state providing the house rather than a prison cell.

Which is more humane, caring and providing for someone, or keeping them in a cage.

 

[Carson Dyle]

No. That can't even be a serious question, can it?

You think tiny individual houses are more economical than, say, a 500 unit apartment building? I don't think so.

 

[apac]

What you're describing is an institution. An expensive, environmentally friendly institution. A prison that's not a prison.

 

[Texashiker]

No. That can't even be a serious question, can it?

You think tiny individual houses are more economical than, say, a 500 unit apartment building? I don't think so.

Yes, serious question.

Yes, tiny homes may be more effective than an apartment building.

With each tiny home would come a small section of land. Maybe 50x50, or 50x75,,, just enough room for someone to plant a garden, have a compost pile, walk outside, setup a small white picket fence.

For hundreds of thousands of years humanity lived in small villages. Apartment buildings are a new and unnatural setting.

The small homes would form a village, which is mans natural state.

 

[feralkid]

10% isn't really a 'large number of' ratio.


Most of our "homeless" live with family members, cashing in $1100 welfare/SS checks along with $300 worth of food stamps.

They would prefer to continue getting that check to do with as they fit, rather than have the government take $400 and give them stable housing.


The vast majority of our homeless are there because they choose to be. They are in these situations because they put themselves there.


We are one of the few countries where the "poor and homeless" are grossly overweight. Oh wait, that's the working man's and woman's fault too, isn't it?

Any evidence to back up that rant?

 

[Agent11]

I think we should allow homeless people the opportunity to homestead in Alaska. Help them build a cabin, give them everything they need to be self sufficient and wish them luck.

 

[Texashiker]

I think we should allow homeless people the opportunity to homestead in Alaska. Help them build a cabin, give them everything they need to be self sufficient and wish them luck.

There is a documentary on netflix called "Happy People." Back in the 1970s the USSR in an effort to get more people to move to Siberia did just what you suggested.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_People:_A_Year_in_the_Taiga

I highly recommend watching the documentary, I found it very interesting.

Some people would make it while others will not. Not everyone is cut out for roughing it in the wilderness..

 

[piasabird]

Military Barracks and Dining Facilities. Don't ever give them any money. It is good enough for the Military.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

You're not solving the problems that got them homeless in the first place. Drug abuse, mental illness, extreme poverty. What you'd have is a slum where all those problems run rampant. You'd have people selling their $2,000 toilet for crack on the first day.

This is true, when I worked in Boston the vast majority of homeless people were simply not capable of caring for themselves. Various drug, drinking or mental problems seemed to make it impossible to get on their feet.
Think about the homeless problem, does everyone who is homeless really have no family, friends, co-workers or faith or are they simply too messed up to trust or have burned so many bridges that nobody will take them in?
We really need better psychiatric care in this country. I feel terrible for anyone who is homeless.

 

[Scotteq]

If the homeless were in a centralized location health workers could provide care to the people who need it.
Did you see the part where I mentioned providing job training and health care to those who need it?

Ah yes - Internment camps for ReEducation.

Maybe we could out up a sign to remind them of the importance of their studies - "Working for Freedom", or something similar.

 

[Texashiker]

We really need better psychiatric care in this country.

When I was in high school there were two brothers who lived a couple of houses down from my house.

The oldest brother was my age, lets call him J.

The younger brother was the same age as my brother, which is 2 years younger than me. Lets call him S.

After finishing high school S got off into drugs, disappeared, and ended up killing himself. Come to find out S had been dealing with undiagnosed Schizophrenia. His parents and family thought S was just a rebellious teenager. When the truth was he needed help.

If S had gotten the help he needed back in the early 1980s (when we were in high school), he probably could have lived a normal and productive life. But instead of getting help he turned to drugs and became homeless.

The people working the homeless shelter told J the voices told S the world was coming to an end. And that is why he killed himself.

Ah yes - Internment camps for ReEducation.

Maybe we could out up a sign to remind them of the importance of their studies - "Working for Freedom", or something similar.

What do you suggest? Keep doing as we are doing now?

 

[poofyhairguy]

Yes, tiny homes may be more effective than an apartment building.

Effective how? Make the homeless more mentally comfortable even if that means housing less?

 

[Doppel]

Dailymail often takes sheds with a window, calls them a tiny home, and represents them as some amazing invention.

 

[Texashiker]

Effective how? Make the homeless more mentally comfortable even if that means housing less?

The other option is to warehouse them?

Isn't that what an apartment is, a warehouse for people?

 

[SheHateMe]

10% isn't really a 'large number of' ratio.


Most of our "homeless" live with family members, cashing in $1100 welfare/SS checks along with $300 worth of food stamps.

They would prefer to continue getting that check to do with as they fit, rather than have the government take $400 and give them stable housing.


The vast majority of our homeless are there because they choose to be. They are in these situations because they put themselves there.


We are one of the few countries where the "poor and homeless" are grossly overweight. Oh wait, that's the working man's and woman's fault too, isn't it?

Can you back any of this up or are you just shitting out of your mouth again?

 

[Capt Caveman]

Plenty of shelters/housing for the homeless here but yesterday while walking along the river with temps in the teens, there was a homeless person setting up a bench to sleep on for the night. The availability of a tiny house wouldn't have made that person sleep in it.

Another retarded TH thread.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

If the homeless were in a centralized location health workers could provide care to the people who need it.




Did you read the opening post?

Did you see the part where I mentioned providing job training and health care to those who need it?

Moderate/severe mental illness completely destroys your ability to look after yourself in what most people would consider a civilised manner. I've visited homes of people with mental illness, some of the ones unlucky enough to have no social support almost may as well be homeless anyway - it's messy as shit, nothing ever gets cleaned, they don't have any sense of self-care. Not saying everyone with mental illness is like this, but it's not a rare circumstance.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Moderate/severe mental illness completely destroys your ability to look after yourself in what most people would consider a civilised manner. I've visited homes of people with mental illness, some of the ones unlucky enough to have no social support almost may as well be homeless anyway - it's messy as shit, nothing ever gets cleaned, they don't have any sense of self-care. Not saying everyone with mental illness is like this, but it's not a rare circumstance.

How many of these illnesses are passed on via genetics?

How do these people support themselves and their children?