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by gamblor956 2376 days ago
We could do what the Midwest does with their homeless, but in reverse: we buy them bus tickets back to home and let their home states deal with it.

I don't know what the situation is like in SF or Boise, but in LA more than half of the homeless aren't even from California. They're just here because they were given a free bus ticket and told they would get free food and drugs and good weather if they rode all the way to the end.
2 comments
reaperducer 2376 days ago
We could do what the Midwest does with their homeless, but in reverse: we buy them bus tickets back to home and let their home states deal with it.

Expect a lawsuit.

Both Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey are suing New York City for busing its homeless over the Hudson River.

California has a long history of doing the same. It wasn't that many years ago that Los Angeles agreed to stop busing its homeless people to Nevada.

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gamblor956 2376 days ago
California has a long history of doing the same. It wasn't that many years ago that Los Angeles agreed to stop busing its homeless people to Nevada.

This is blatantly false. SF and LA were sending the homeless back to their cities of origin. Their is a great deal of reporting on this in the NYT and LAT. (See, e.g., https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/14/us/homeless-busing-seattl...)

Texas and the Midwest represent the biggest non-local sources of the homeless in Southern California. Combined, the Midwestern states generate more of LA's homeless than California itself. It was the openly stated policy of Texas for more than a decade to deal with the homeless by buying them tickets to Los Angeles, and it is still their official (but unstated) policy with respect to addressing homelessness. Their governor has admitted as much on television.

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Keverw 2376 days ago
I heard both Nashville, TN and Key West, FL does this too. Homeless people aren't good for tourism, so have to hide it from view. There's a little mini documentary on YouTube I seen before discussing this. Then if you accept the bus ticket, and end up coming back you are on some blacklist to not be able to receive any more services.
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