[astroflection]

> The people we now call “chronically homeless” were once simply low-income tenants, housed by the private market in cheap rooms rather than by public programs. Once that market was dismantled, the result was predictable: the homelessness wave of the late 1970s and 1980s followed directly from the destruction of SROs. Today’s crisis—nearly 800,000 unhoused people in 2024—is the long tail of that loss, compounded by decades of underbuilding in expensive cities and soaring rents. As one advocate put it, “The people you see sleeping under bridges used to be valued members of the housing market. They aren’t anymore.”

[ProllyInfamous]

Over a decade ago I grew weed in the East Bay, and regularly sold weight to many of the warehouse artist collectives. Often they'd be stealing utilities (either directly from the utility, or more commonly from neighbors), but they were well-tolerated parts of their surrounding communities. The HPS lamps they often bypassed (for electricity) resulted in lower power usage, net.

I cannot imagine these still existing, at least not in the capacities they were after the last great recession brought rentals down. I used to grow/rent an entire five bedroom house for $1400 month (split with 2.5 others), although it was a mom&pop landlord [good rate even then] just outside of Castro Valley. About $2k/month commercial rent would set up an entire commune of about a dozen "artists," ~2010~, in LA outskirts... but these couldn't support grow operations (too much attention to hide).

Several of these "rat holes" burned down and often lead to stricter enforcement actions against similar hovels.

[throwup238]

I think the Ghost Ship fire [1] was the final nail in that coffin.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Ship_warehouse_fire

[ProllyInfamous]

In retrospect, these fatalities were preventable. Safety codes are written in blood.

Ghost Ship burnt a few years after I'd left California; what surprised me most was that it still existed into 2016!

I never saw their specific electrical infrastructure, but it's absolutely surprising that more structure fires aren't sparking up daily (everywhere). My recommendation (as a former IBEW electrician) to DIY sparkies is if you can't afford a thermal camera to verify your own inexperienced handywork then you can't afford to be doing your own electrical work [yes especially YOU Mister E.E.].

[kjkjadksj]

I think this discounts the fact that many of the most visible homeless are mentally ill and/or addicted to drugs, and would struggle to regularly pay a rent bill even if it were $100 a month. There is a fundamental lack of social services but also a fundamental lack of an ability to compel these people to make use of social services should they be available.