"No more talking about the homeless"

[technomadness]

In short, the more you do for the homeless, the more there are.

This is actually an economic truism.

It depends on whether what you do is voluntary or not. People giving discretionary income or time to habitat for humanity are helping the homeless.

But when a government taxes people— even just “rich people” say who have homes, the first thing that does is increase the number of homeless— because the people who were just barely keeping their homes before the tax are pushed under by the tax. Secondly it drives up home prices and rents because now there is a tax to pay, which reduces available supply. Thirdly the money spent to “help the homeless” goes they the government bureaucracy and in the process much or most of it goes to overhead. There’s little accountability and a lot of people who get rich in the government bureaucracy, or from it.

This is why voluntary systems are much more effective than involuntary ones. Not to mention they are moral because they don’t violate human rights.



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[ZoNiE]

I really don't think property taxes affect that much. More like "courageous borrowing" for a house that is too expensive or just plain losing their jobs. I get that property taxes are obscene in some places, but it isn't like they just double overnight. They gradually rise, and people know what's going on long before it becomes a problem. Many retirees sell their mortgage free homes due to taxes, but I think few actually lose them this way.

[technomadness]

Think about it this way. Take %100 of the population. Say %78 can easily afford a house. Say %18 are homeless and not going to afford a house soon. Then there’s %4 on the bubble. You raise taxes, increase regulation, prevent development and drive up the costs of houses. Houses/apartments going up %10 in a decade is quite likely (plus their inflation which is over %10 itself)... now those %4 on the bubble, some escape and buy houses anyway, but say %3 are now going homeless.

That’s a %16 increase in the size of the homeless population!

There really is no magical money tree. Taxes and regulations make people poor, and do far more harm than any good. Plus regulations for safety are better handled by courts. Right now industry writes the laws and gets liability coverage from them. So we are less safe.


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[Snikwahjm]

We bought the house next door to us for $5,000. We had to gut it and put in new windows and doors. It was vandalized in the middle. Then since it took for ever the city wanted a bunch of stupid picky stuff done. My daughter bought the house from us and is happily living there at a fraction of what it would cost in a fancy neighborhood. Because we live in a bad neighborhood, her kids get to go to the high end schools because they are smart enough to test into them. Our local grocery store has a lot of mark downs. We figured out the mark downs are coming in from high end neighborhoods because mark downs don’t sell... if you know how you CAN live cheap even in a brick and stick. We are in our van now and will soon be hitting the road. We did have to promise small children we would come back once in a while so they know we aren’t dead, too.

Doing all the labor gutting it ourselves and putting in all new everything we had around $20,000 in that house. There were houses in Indianapolis cheaper than what we paid. This town has more empty houses than Detroit... they leveled theirs. There are empty apartment complexes. Empty old factories. Empty schools and stores. Fishers is the next place up is winning awards for the best place in the United States to live. Go figure... We have Mexican neighbors and black neighbors, white people here, old people... The Mexican neighbors are polite and they turn off their parties around 10. I don’t mind. The black lady next door is a sweet heart. I don’t know about some of the other people down the block. I just don’t know them. Our mechanic is a nice young family man from Mexico. I hope he can stay he does good work. Who is going to do roofs? Indianapolis has a lot of weather related roofing jobs.... tree cutting? Nobody wants to do that. Costs a fortune to have it all done these days.

[technomadness]

Doing all the labor gutting it ourselves and putting in all new everything we had around $20,000 in that house. There were houses in Indianapolis cheaper than what we paid. This town has more empty houses than Detroit... they leveled theirs. There are empty apartment complexes. Empty old factories. Empty schools and stores. Fishers is the next place up is winning awards for the best place in the United States to live. Go figure... We have Mexican neighbors and black neighbors, white people here, old people... The Mexican neighbors are polite and they turn off their parties around 10. I don’t mind. The black lady next door is a sweet heart. I don’t know about some of the other people down the block. I just don’t know them. Our mechanic is a nice young family man from Mexico. I hope he can stay he does good work. Who is going to do roofs? Indianapolis has a lot of weather related roofing jobs.... tree cutting? Nobody wants to do that. Costs a fortune to have it all done these days.

This last paragraph is almost like a quote from the book.

Things are weird and falling apart because the economy is under massive distorting pressure.

Houses being empty is a symptom. Mexican immigration is a symptom. Most of the media’s focus is directed by politicians who focus on symptoms, not the underlying problem.

We were a country that built a stuff. An economic powerhouse.

But we made it so difficult to build stuff, with so many bribes required and red tape that communist China is more competitive!




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[weigh2ez]

My sister lives in Anderson, In just north of Indianapolis; my mother lived there until she died last year.  I spent some time there last year helping my sister with my mother.  Anderson is an old General Motors town with closed and tore down factories and I understand there are some bargains to be had on houses there.

[RepublicOfTXPatriot]

Credit is our path to destruction. National debt ,bank loans , to credit cards. Most people live outside their means. I'm guilty of it myself. But at 49 yr old I'm am headed directly to financial debt freedom from my loans of fiat currency.

[VanGrrl57]

My sister lives in Anderson, In just north of Indianapolis; my mother lived there until she died last year.  I spent some time there last year helping my sister with my mother.  Anderson is an old General Motors town with closed and tore down factories and I understand there are some bargains to be had on houses there.

My late husband and I lived in Anderson, Indiana! LOL! Our daughter grew up there (she was born in Daytona Beach, FL) and we lived there until moving back to Florida in 2010 which was a big mistake. SIGH! Anyway, I now live in Sioux Falls, SD. I am living with my daughter while I recover from having heart surgery. 

VanGrrl57 

[VanGrrl57]

Please excuse me for getting off the topic. LOL!


I have seen both sides of the coin so to speak. I have been homeless (before I lived in my van) and I worked at a homeless shelter here in Sioux Falls. There are those who are trying so hard to better their lot in life yet there are those who prefer to be homeless. There are also the "users and abusers" as well. My co-workers and I tried to help all persons but they have to want the help to begin with. There are those who talk a great game and there are those who "walk the walk" and do everything in their power to get back in a stable situation. It's a mixed bag in my opinion. What is so funny to me is every day, I have someone who remembers me from the Dudley House. LOL!


VanGrrl57 

[Ballenxj]

I am living with my daughter while I recover from having heart surgery.

God speed for a speedy recovery. Are you going to therapy?