2019/10/29/Attracting a higher homeless population with Durham's Affordable Housing Plan
- when: 2019/10/29
- author: Reddit/user/slaterockcalligraphy
- source: Reddit
- topics: US/NC/Durham/elections/2019/housing bond homelessness poverty
- keywords
- link: https://www.reddit.com/r/bullcity/comments/doqdvc/serious discussion attracting a higher homeless/
- title: [Serious Discussion] Attracting a higher homeless population with Durham's Affordable Housing Plan?
- summary: “With a proposed $10,455,838 (pg. 4 in the referendum) to be spent on homeless programs over the next 5 years, how do we protect Durham from attracting an even greater number of homeless people?”
What plans are underway to help curb the homelessness that could run parallel to increased affordable housing?
While it seems counterintuitive, a greater amount of money spent on homeless shelters/assistance programs can potentially draw even greater numbers of homeless people. Homeless services can have a magnetic effect on these populations as the homeless tend to migrate to areas that offer the best services.
San Francisco is an excellent cautionary tale and I encourage everyone to please read this article before commenting. Progressive laws offering free syringes, food, housing, a lack of policing of behaviors etc have caused increased homeless populations, open drug use, acceptance of aggressive assaults, spreading of typhoid, typhus, and hepatitis A along with massive littering.
The link cites City Journal; a reply notes that
City Journal is somewhere between a libertarian bastion and right-wing rag. It's not alt-right, but it is certainly not an unbiased source. It is run by a a conservative policy think-tank that strives to push urban planning in into free-market strategies and they regularly use their philosophy to choose the evidence they look at. City Journal would be very unlikely to report on positives of government intervention to increase affordable housing.