[jonwachob91]

>> Places like West Virginia have way less homelessness than places with high housing costs like the west coast.

COLD towns without major homeless shelter capabilities always have lower rates of homelessness b/c the cold weather is literally life threatening.

Warm(er) regions, like most of the West Coast that isn't known for blizzards, have higher rates of homelessness b/c there is little risk of death if a homeless person camps out in the woods. Note that a lot of homeless folks in warmer regions didn't become homeless in those warm regions - they often become homeless in northern regions and migrate to warm regions prior to winter.

Comparing homelessness in WV to Cali doesn't seem fair since so much of the folks that become homeless in WV are forced to leave the state to survive.

[giraffe_lady]

Chicago, Milkwaukee, Boston all have major visible populations of street-living homeless people. I feel like this is a myth west coasters believe or something. I don't see how you could have spent time in a cold city and think it's true.

[potato3732842]

Parts of NYC and Philly give SF a run for it's money but the homeless in Chicago, Milwaukee and Boston are neither as ubiquitous nor as troublesome as they are in the big cities on the west coast.

[davidw]

Until recently (not sure about the current status), NYC had a "right to shelter" so that people could have a place to stay for the night. This meant that they still had a lot of homelessness, but it wasn't nearly as visible as, say, San Francisco.

[mmooss]

Have you been to those cities? I've been to some of them and that hasn't been my observation or what I've learned.

[davidw]

Did you not read that part of the article where he discusses that very concept with actual data to back it up?

New York has higher rates of homelessness than West Virginia.

The part of Oregon where I live has a pretty extreme climate, and has way too much homelessness.

https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/or/bend - this is not a climate people move to because it's comfortable and easy like Los Angeles.

[FireBeyond]

I'm willing to bet that WV police have a less 'tolerant' attitude towards homelessness, even "non-problematic", and very a much a "move along/gtfo of our town" attitude.

[jonwachob91]

Did you not read the part of my comment were I clarified "cities without major homeless shelter capabilities"? New York has major cities that have the infrastructure and resources to shelter homeless populations during major cold events. Plenty of Northern CITIES have those capabilities, but WV doesn't. WV doesn't have a single major city and doesn't have the capabilities to shelter a homeless population during major cold events.

[davidw]

Cold and services are both covered in the article. Here's the section on 'policy' (shelters and such)

https://www.noahpinion.blog/i/106265050/claim-homelessness-i...

[blackoil]

Yeah, the homeless pool would automatically prune every year. Giving people also the incentive to be not homeless.

[giraffe_lady]

Do you think people choose homelessness because it's insufficiently dangerous?