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by zacharytelschow 1118 days ago
If it's a federal failure why are the homeless highly concentrated in certain areas?
3 comments

Certain areas are inherently easier to be homeless in, regardless of local programs.

Try sleeping outside for a year in Phoenix or in Minneapolis. Try getting resources in a sprawling suburb without access to a car. It seems clear that SF, with its dense, walkable layout, access to public transit, and year round moderate climate, would be vastly preferable to most areas of the US.

People and resources are concentrated in certain areas

https://xkcd.com/1138/

Yes, because obviously Houston has just as big a problem as SF.
Of course, not all cities experience homelessness at the same rate. However, Houston is in the top 25 cities for the total number of homelessness.
In sprawling cities like Houston you can also just not see that area of town. In a dense place like SF, it's harder to avoid.
Houston is the fourth biggest city in the country. If it’s only in the top 25 for some bad metric, that’s great news.
Yes, I agree. Despite Houston being one of the top cities in the US for homelessness, they have a slightly lower rate of homelessness than the US average. However, their homelessness rate is higher than the Texas average.
Because certain areas of the country have better services for homeless people, because certain areas are livable/hospitable year-round, because some places bus homeless people to other areas? Probably mostly the first 2 reasons but the third doesn't help.