r/NoStupidQuestions • u/Garey_Coleman • 8d ago

Where are the homeless supposed to go?

Cities have been cracking down on homeless people so they can’t have encampments or stay on sidewalks. At the same time usually the shelters are full. So those who are unable to get into a shelter, where are they supposed to go?

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u/External_Tart_ 8d ago

Why not become a criminal? If you see death as the only way out, embrace free will. I'm sorry about your situation.

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u/PaisleyLeopard 8d ago

This highlights a really good point. The situation we put people in causes crime, not the other way around as is generally assumed. Basically, we want to think that homeless people ‘deserve’ their situation because they’re all druggies and/or criminals—that way we don’t have to feel bad for the inhumane ways we deal with them. In reality, the majority of criminals and addicts started doing those things out of desperation, because they didn’t have better options. When we take care of people, they’re a helluva lot less likely to turn to crime or self medication.

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u/MotherofBook 8d ago

Which gets to the core of it all.

Most people don’t want to actually solve homelessness, drug problems or crack down on crime. They just want it to go away.

In reality. The way we fix these issues is by fixing the system that makes it possible to begin with.

  • Universal Health Care: People won’t be going into debt because they got sick. People will have access to affordable pain relief, therapy and medication.

-Affordable Housing: Prevent companies from hoarding properties and jacking up prices. People should have to spend 2/3 of their monthly income of a roof over their head. One accident and they are on the streets.

-Cap Cost of living: Very simplified but for this point - CEOs shouldn’t be making Millions in a week and their lowest employees barely making a dime. I think CEOs shouldn’t be making more than 20-50% more than their lowest worker.

That would ensure people can afford to actually live

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u/clubby37 8d ago

I think CEOs shouldn’t be making more than 20-50% more than their lowest worker.

We need to find the Greedy Fuck Threshold.

If you set no limits, you have today's ever-decaying proto-hellscape.

If you set limits that are too tight, people will be too highly incentivized to work around them. Every system has weak points; the true art is balancing pressures such that the weak points never get stressed beyond capacity.

Greedy people are gonna get more. If the system doesn't allow it, they'll break the system. Based on nothing but my own stupid intuition, 1.5x won't cut it, and anything over 10x seems surplus to requirements. Not sure where the golden number is exactly, but if I found out that a pediatric oncologist made 10x as much as a carpenter, I'd probably tolerate it, and honestly, I'd be fine with 3x -- elegant coffee tables are great, but cancer-free children are better. If I were a greedy fuck, and I found out I could only make 10x as much as my janitors, I'd probably make a subreddit and bitch about it, but not do anything to jeopardize the 10x I'm already getting.

The Greedy Fuck Threshold is where the rich are just barely rich enough that it isn't worth risking what they already have to get more. We need to find it, and set taxes and minimum wages accordingly.