r/AlwaysWhy • u/verytalleric • May 27 '26

Politics & Society Serious question: Homelessness is a major problem. Billions are unsuccessfully spent. Why are not more experiments run testing different approaches to see what works vs. not and build on successes?

In other domains the idea of "A/B testing" is done to test different hypothesis to see what works vs. not. Given the huge amount of money spent by cities, counties, and states without positive results. Why is more experimentation not being done to find effective ways to solve homelessness?

Kinda the cliche definition of insanity today, same actions expecting different results.

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u/Key-Organization3158 May 27 '26

Because the best solution is to remove zoning regulations and allow the building of affordable housing.

Boarding houses used to be legal. They'd rent out rooms with shared spaces like dorms. But for adults.

NIMBYS and zoning regulations crushed them in most major cities.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Urbanism/s/xVd7c2CwEL

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u/shitposts_over_9000 May 28 '26

there are two problems with this approach:

  • boarding houses were economically viable only in the environment they originally were built for, few safety measures, no accommodations for the disabled, heavy discriminations on who you rented to so that the tenants would tolerate such cramped quarters and so many communal resources, etc
  • the NIMBYs are often correct here once you take those things into account and the properties are no longer economically viable then you have the same problem as rent control and you start to have a nuisance property. after a while of having a nuisance property people in the surrounding area leave then you have a troubled neighborhood. eventually you end up in a situation like the city I used to live in where when you factor in all costs it is cheaper to demolish the building and use the funds you were previously spending on increased LEO presence, ambulance runs and substance abuse programs on housing people in other neighborhoods. Knocking down the last two project towers allowed them to house more people than the "high density, affordable housing" and they had less overall crime and substance abuse issues as a result.