Quote:
Originally Posted by downtown_eddie_brown
Since the problem fundamentally stems from the cost of housing being egregiously out of whack with wages in this country, I don't know how any problem could address homelessness long-term without a massive investment in affordable housing (to the extent that it actually has knock-on effects to make market-priced housing cheaper) or, worse, a complete housing crash to knock prices back to mid-2000's levels.
One of the reasons Hamilton became a regional hub for people on the margins was that comparatively cheap housing could be found. This led to a clustering of social and addictions services, and because of the lower-city/upper-city divide they're all clustered in the core instead of spread around the City.
Even with a tough love approach, without affordable places for people making minimum wage to live, very few people will be able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps into some semblance of an independent life. I don't see any solutions that wouldn't be massively expensive.
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Wait why would a housing crash be WORSE? Boo-hoo people selling houses get less money..
we NEED a crash.. everywhere.
The question becomes... what's the minimum you can sell a house for and still profit? How much of this is gravy on top of a house's ACTUAL value? Why do things have to cost as much as they do, esp existing houses? It's not like you're factoring in the cost it made to build it like lumber etc. If it was refurbished, then maybe the cots of materials used could play a role.. but enough to make it a million dollars? There is no excuse for that..