[malfist]

Something that drove this home to me is that there is more vacant housing than there are unhoused people in the US. We could solve homelessness tomorrow, but we'd rather confiscate their camping equipment and throw them in prison than help. And I'm sure someone will be along shortly to tell me how wrong I am and what about mental illness and drug use. As if those people don't deserve our compassion too.

[selectodude]

Are you going to be the one to round up all the homeless people and ship them off to abandoned houses in Appalachia?

[ropetin]

Admittedly this is a few years old: https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/61000-homes-are-empty-in...

61,000 empty houses in San Francisco, 10,000 unhoused people. Even if the unhoused population is under reported by an order of magnitude, there is more than enough housing available to house everyone where they currently are.

[selectodude]

I mean, if we’re going to expropriate real estate then that’s a different discussion.

[malfist]

No, that is literally this discussion.

[tuatoru]

Nurse Ratched was not a sufficient argument for ceasing to protect the mentally ill from themselves, it turns out.