Fartsniffage wrote:USS Monitor wrote:I don't really have the time and inclination to dig into the details of the proposals, but the broader concept of providing housing to homeless people is solid. In some cases, the cost of the housing is less than the cost of hospital stays, police intervention, etc. that occur because people are left out on the street. Being out on the street makes people more vulnerable to getting robbed, getting in fights, developing medical problems, etc. which then require intervention. If they were housed somewhere, they would not bother other people as much or get sick as often.
Also: Holy crap, LA. 57,000 homeless???? The whole state of Massachusetts doesn't even have that many, and I still see friggin' panhandlers all the time. That is way too many.
Homeless isn't always people living on the streets. There are people living out of their cars, couch surfing, cheap motels, etc.
A lot of them do live on the street, though, and it comes with costs because of the added strain on emergency services. Getting those people off the street, even just into a motel room or a bed in a homeless shelter, would help with those problems.