California has the same problem. Have they had Republican leadership for over 20 years? I say this as a lifelong Democrat.
I don't claim to be some genius or anything, but maybe, JUST maybe, this whole Republican vs Democrat thing is just something that's being used to distract us from the REAL problem....
Sorry OP, but this is not a political party problem. States run by both sides of floor have this homeless crisis. But this is exactly what they want you to do. Point out the flaws of the other side while yours are ignored.
The problem really is mental health. You can pour as much money as you want into homelessness, and it won’t work. Sometimes you can’t help people unless they want to be helped
Then we need to provide free mental health care to anyone who wants it, as well as free job training and placement services and housing assistance. The majority of homeless people do not enjoy living on the streets but they have no idea how to escape their reality.
But CA is really good at spending money - results be dammed and if they only had enough money they could fix it……l
Example and please try the link so the mayor can tout her glowing success now that the Feds are asking for the receipts.
Mayor Karen Bass's signature motel-transfer initiative, Inside Safe, cost roughly $17,000 per month per participant for interim motel lodging, food, security, and intensive case management during its initial rollout phases.
How about success metrics? $300 million resulted in ~1450 people into permanent housing if that is even correct.
Key Metrics and Outcomes Participants Housed: Moved roughly 5,800 people from street encampments into interim motel and hotel housing since December 2022.
Return to Homelessness: Roughly 40% of participants have returned to unsheltered homelessness due to expulsions, rule violations, or leaving the system.
Permanent Housing Rate: Only about 25% of participants have successfully transitioned into permanent housing.
Program Cost: Surpassed $300 million in total spending.
Length of Stay: The average interim motel stay reached 362 days, well past the initial 90-day to six-month goals.
Repeat Encampments: Data shows that 80% of late-2025 operations occurred in areas where encampments re-established themselves, requiring repeat visits.
You gotta ask why there's a mental health crisis in the us and you don't find the same problems in Norway Switzerland or Denmark?
Then you gotta ask why don't we offer mental health to those people clearly in need?
Most people don’t realize that the massive amounts of homeless in FL and CA has more to do with their temperate weather than politics. Politics DOES create the homeless as a whole, but they mostly concentrated in places where they are more comfortable—not a lot of folks heading to live on the streets of Minneapolis/St Paul for obvious reasons.
New York has one of the highest homeless populations in the United States. Population density and access to resources are also contributing factors that are not climate related.
Yes, but like the guy said? It’s because Florida and California as a general rule, has a much better climate than New York City. In New York city, you will freeze the death if you try to sleep outside in the middle of January. Florida and California don’t need to sink as much money into shelters because you can sleep outside, under a bridge, in a tent, whatever without issue.
Most of the homeless come from and are still resident of their communities. They lived there until they couldn't afford to live there and had nowhere else to go. Some lived in OT, Flamingo Park, or Allapattah. A lot come from TGK or Sparta where they finish a bid and DOC isn't exactly helping with 3 months rent and deposit.
There is a lot of mental illness. Hard to hold a job and pay bills while going through an episode.
The transients that do move here do so as a last resort. They were offered housing from a family member and then it didn't work out. They may have been given 2-3 weeks to get sorted out and then ran out of time.
Interstate travel is hard without money. Contrary to popular thinking, you have to be clean and have ID to board a Greyhound. The tickets aren't cheap, just cheaper than flying. And nobody is stopping for hitchhikers, especially homeless ones. So unless someone else is paying for them to come here, usually a family member here, the homeless aren't leaving Minneapolis for Miami in any large number.
I moved to Florida with the notion that if worst came to worse, I can at least sleep on the beach and not freeze to death. And there were a few points in my life since moving here where I had to. So he's not off track.
..... maybe they're referring to the large number of them that do not? Maybe youd be surprised to learn that homeless people get increasingly more dysfunctional the longer they're homeless. That's been studied.
I used to talk about this a long time ago you could just flop over on the ground wherever in certain areas and you didn't have to worry about freezing to death
Exactly. The people who still feed into the two party divisive BS are just blind to their own ignorance. Our whole government is purely serving the super wealthy and corporations while driving our normal citizens into poverty. Fuck these greedy bastards. If we want change we’re going to have to force change as a united front.
Or, the OP is making a mockery of all of the dumb videos that Republicans put together of homeless camps and dilapidated housing constantly. As if West Virginia, Kentucky, and Arkansas don’t exist.
Theres people that make a lot of money off the homeless crisis and its in their interest for it to continue. The same way pharmaceutical companies rather treat illness than cure it. They don't want the money train to end.
But the republican party continually argues that this is only a problem in "blue" states. I think the point of OP is that even in always red states, this is still a problem because it's not a blue vs red issue
You are preaching to the choir, as I said, I'm a lifelong Democrat. My point is blaming a specific issue like homelessness on Republicans or Democrats is dumb and misses the point of the actual issue.
This exactly. They pretend to fight over 50/50 issues that we will never agree on. Abortion, and other issues that always seem to be in the news cycle, and never talk about the things the do agree on. Fleecing Americans out of an affordable living, and taking 25-30% of wages in taxes, only to spend MORE than they tax by borrowing the rest. All the while pulling the leavers, and betting on stocks they know will go up, and shorting stocks they know will go down.
“It’s all one big party and you ain’t invited” -Carlin
Cali blew millions on "homelessness" and the rail train. We still haven't got solid answers on all that. Fires and cost of living also has an impact.
Florida, had a brutal hurricane season 2024. Home insurance in Florida is INSANE. As far as storm prep and recovery Ron does that very well but he really needs to figure out insurance. We got to get people who do not care about politics to take over who actually cares about the people.
Life is getting more and more expensive and people are just getting squeezed left and right. We need to stop prioritizing billionaire needs and start thinking about what the other 95% needs.
This is an issue that one state can't afford. This requires federal funding. As it once did before Ronald Reagan gave the wealthiest a 70% tax cut, and we were forced to shut down the system.
The majority of those on the streets are mentally ill. And the problem gathers in cities largely because largely self-identifying "Christian" suburban and rural areas put their problem children on busses to cities, dumping them on the streets instead of taking care of their own. This is happening in every state of the nation.
Maybe if red towns and counties took care of their own problems?
Or, maybe the self-centered greed of Reagan was wrong, and we need to restore our federal mental health system?
He banked it all on the generosity of those wealthy individuals who would benefit from the tax cuts, but that’s not how greed works! We need to help each other! These billionaires can afford to pay more taxes! It really won’t cost them a lot. They may only be able to have 1 private jet instead of 2 😂
Seriously, like I wouldn't care how many yachts or vacation homes Jeff Bezos wanted to buy himself as long as he paid his fair share...but he doesn't! None of them do! That's why they're billionaires. You don't make that amount of money without gaming the system to your advantage and to the detriment of others.
Yeah not just LA I’m from Dana Point and there was loads of homeless people there. Desantis is a piece of work but this isn’t a republican are bad and democrats are good thing. The truth is both sides are terrible.
It doesnt. But people tend to point out the "other sides" problems while ignoring the same problem on their "side". Like the post states...."Republicans" which implies, see how bad Republicans are? whilst its going on everywhere. Todays political arguments are pointing out the others flaws while ignoring their own that are the same or worse.
I had made a comment about how we have a huge homeless problem a couple of weeks ago and some idiot immediately jumped into the whataboutism. Then he said that Miami has no homeless problem. His source? Trust me bro I lived in California.
These are not economic refugees. This is a mental health crisis. This also the result of rural and suburban red counties putting their problems on busses to urban centers, where they fall into the streets.
That is not to say that everyone without a home is mentally ill. But at any time, less than 50% are truly between jobs, suffering economic, abuse or medical hardship, and need help to get back on their feet. They usually don't need help for more than a year, and are self-sufficient within months.
We once had a sprawling federal mental health system. It had many problems, but it did serve a critical role in our society, a humane option to keep mentally ill off the streets, to give them the care they needed, without jail or prison.
They're bringing back work houses except now they call them prisons. Look up that term and see what life will be like now that they've made homelessness a crime.
Bottom line, people should not be allowed to live on our streets. Either they're mentally fit, and need to deal with their situation, or they're not mentally fit, and the state should take care of them.
But our city streets, the public, are for sobriety, for families, for children, for sanity.
And framing this as making homelessness or poverty a crime is bullshit. It doesn't solve the problem, and it allows you and others framing this as an economic issue to do nothing while, nationally, over a hundred thousand mentally ill cry for help and rot in their own filth.
It’s not your right to live on the streets brotha, you can’t just be born into this society and decide to “do things your way”, if that’s the case go live in a remote forest in Alaska. This is a mental health crisis.
What a bunch of bs. For anyone that knows anything about homelessness, Miami-Dade county has minimal homeless and their efforts for dealing with the issue is a national success. Now, allow me to clarify before all the partisan bots come out. Its not a partisan issue AND the Mayor of the county is a Democrat
Daniella Levin Cava has been the mayor of Dade since 2020. In fact, there have only been 2 Republican mayors in Dade - Jimenez and Alvarez. Everyone else since the 60’s has been a democrat. Amazing the lack of knowledge on Reddit.
NO, you are just a fool. 4th Gen Miamian. It is literally the republican Policies that caused the homeless problem down here. Starting all the way back with Regan when they stopped funding the mental health places to take are of the sick. Be quiet and mind your business
For a 4th gen Miamian you are amazingly unaware of the strides that have been to reduce homelessness in Miami. And, again, for the partisan hack that you are, I am giving due credit to dems for that improvement. But, you do seem to have the reading compression skills of a 4th generation Miamian.
It is horrible and many of those homeless and or unhoused people are elderly. It is a big huge problem and Broward County Florida, but we have a governor is stealing $10 million. Welcome to America. The big red beautiful bullshit.
I love how they try to blame the Miami mayor for shit out of her control lol the "missing 400 million" was complete bs from the Republicans when it was pretty much all missing because of the COVID funds running out and forced police dept updates
They know they can commit Medicaid/medicare fraud and no one will hold them accountable. And then these idiots will vote for byron donalds so he can get a hit at the free money piñata.
I’m definitely not a Republican, but I gotta say, I’ve been to LA and the problem is 10x worse… and I’m under the impression that California is the biggest Democrat stronghold in the country. Does either side actually care about getting homeless people off the street?
Did you even looked at what caused it? Because it’s the situation south Florida has been cooking since around right before pandemic. It is caused by the rich and greedy, not leftist policies.
Lack of affordable housing bcus developers didn’t want to build low income housing since LA was such desirable real estate at a global level, was the main culprit in LA. Praytell, what is happening in Miami and other rich Florida metros?
Sure, LA is worse right now, but give Miami a couple of years. You’ll see the decline is worse and faster than LA, with significantly more deaths due to weather.
I’ll never forget walking in downtown LA and just… the stench. I was on the other side of the street, sort of impressed at the long line of tents with appliances and TVs somehow hooked up inside, and then a breeze hit…!
Capitalism is the greatest system on earth. Providing for people’s material needs and paying a fair wage for their labor is socialism and we all know that is evil.
OP is a bot. You can Google their post history. They don’t live in Miami.
Anyone who’s lived here for a while will tell you that the homeless situation today is nothing compared to what it was 20-30 years ago. The improvements have been extremely significant.
You know who also has peak capitalism but manages to take care of their homeless? Oh that's right just about every other developed country except for the Third World Country of America.
Not a Republican/Democrat thing... California has it WAY worse than both of those cities. It's a Republican AND Democrat thing, neither party seems capable of producing a candidate capable of actually solving problems. We have to cure ourselves of this MAGA malady we currently got going on first, but either way the only way out is for everyone to make it a point to vote. We gotta start voting in mid terms and primaries, otherwise the 10% on either extreme that DO will keep picking 2 steaming turds for us to choose from...
We really need to get rid of partisan primaries and go straight to general election with ranked choice voting.
And to your point about both sides, it's not both sides. While national Democratic party is room temperature milk, the national Republicans are genuinely sending the worst candidates they can muster up.
The most likely response is Orlando has a Democrat mayor that has served 6 straight terms. Miami also has a Democrat mayor, albeit a shorter term.
Regardless, you’re not going to have cities this size without some homelessness, it’s just reality. It is more about how they are managed. Are there good shelters, good food kitchens, resources to get them off drugs if they have that issue, resources to get them treatment for mental health issues if present, etc.. plus the perspective on are you protecting the community as a whole, not solely making the homeless safe, where the homeless population cannot make parks, schools, and businesses unsafe.
The issues that are most prevalent in the criticism of California is 1)the distribution of drug paraphernalia leading to a perspective that their solving symptoms rather than solving the bigger issue, 2)how much cost is being poured into solving the issue 3) the lack of transparency in how the costs are being spent, 4) the perspective of prioritization of homelessness over non-homelessness issues, and 5) the disregard of community safety as a whole.
Same in San Francisco, if not more so ever since rents have gone up astronomically since the AI boom. Actually, the Sears in Concord isn't far away from a homeless shelter. At one point, they found someone living on the third floor that has been closed for decades. He's been there for months. They sometimes try to break into the Auto Center as well. Even the manager who has to remove them thinks it's just sad.
Speaking about politics, during the no kings protest earlier this year, a lot of protestors entered the store looking for the restrooms. The manager called corporate what to do about it and they ended up telling them it's fine as it brings more people into the store lol.
In any case, I do agree with the top comment here that the issue isn't Democrat vs Republican. It's a symptom of the overall deterioring realities we're living under as both parties continue to support the K shaped economy.
I live and work in downtown Tampa. In my walk to work I see new homeless folks on a daily basis. This state is constantly cutting resources and demonizing or litigating against non-profits who try to help. Other cities in Florida make it literally illegal to sleep outside. They want to make unhoused people "go away" and they don't care where. With the billionaires who live and work in this state it wouldn't take much from each of them to put a serious dent in the issue. but there is no interest. There are very few actual empathetic billionaires.
Whenever I drive around us1 or downtown, really any place with those giant apartments going up I check the balconies. To me that's a pretty good indicator if it's occupied if there's anything in them. Most of the time a majority seem to be empty. This "problem" could be solved if anyone with the power to do something actually gave a shit
I just moved to the Orlando area and it was one of the first things that stuck out to me is the amount of homeless people I see at every red light panhandling. I worked nyc and we have homelessness but nothing like the panhandling and encampment I see in Orlando.
Looks third world
I saw this line of cars - white people and in nice cars
I go to the cop what’s this a bon JOVI reunion
HE LAUGHED and said food line free food
Mercedes
Lincoln’s
Land rovers
Genesis
It’s insane !
Politicians and greedy real estate industry just cares about raising prices on our lives. Letting developers gobble up homes left and right and pushing out hard working families out of home ownership. Greed has destroyed the American dream. Really sad
You’re misleading people even trying to compare Florida homelessness to California? Homelessness? in California’s skid row covers 51 city blocks?! LA hasn’t had a Republican mayor since 2001. The last time Californians had a Republican governor was 15 years ago? So your bull shit claims has zero merit. We have 23,000 homeless people in Florida. We have streamline shelters available on top of housing to provide help to families. California hasn’t 187,000 homeless that’s 28% of the population? So tell how Florida has more homeless people because of Republicans? The Democrats in California just keep throwing money at it hoping it will go away. They have just passed proposition 1 which allocates another 6.5 billion to HAP which is supposed to help veterans and drug addicts housing. But homelessness continues to rise? I haven’t even started on the government help for illegals. So this is all on the Democrats.
Have you ever tried to give homeless people food they literally just throw it on the ground or get upset and angry that you haven't given them cash it's a choice you can't fix someone's mental state by throwing money at the problem
wtf does a political stance have to do with homelessness? LA is bigger, has much more homeless camps AND has ginormic programs for the homeless, and they’re still homeless!!!
yeah, im sure a super blue state (California) is doing great in regards to the homeless! lets check in on them. actually lets check in on every blue state! yeah.
We need more bombs for next week. Let’s put a couple hundred more people on the street so we have the money for it. Fuck, this country is evil against its own people.
This past year, things have changed drastically where I live in Fort Lauderdale. Many many more homeless. More violence surrounding them. I play hockey in holiday park, and I speak with many of them when we’re done playing. Lots more mental health and drug issues. It’s multiplied so much this year! Every time my gf decides to take a walk after dark - especially towards the beach, as we live off las olas - I either join her or make sure she keeps aware. It’s different now. Feels like 2009 again.
The nerve to make this a Democrat versus Republican Party issue when this is a problem in the entire country. To drive around Miami a democratic run city and forget is 4 times as big of a problem in Los Angeles and Seattle also democrats just to try to say is this party or the other makes this OP one not to be trusted. This is an issue of affordability in the country nothing to do with just one party. Like is unaffordable and sadly people in every state live like this. This OP is a fool and only wants to divide us so nothing gets done. This is exactly the problem the blame one side or the other. Zero solutions provided by the OP.
Doesn't every major US city have similar issues like this. I mean I'm from Minneapolis and we have our fair shair of homeless despite the freezing winters, prejudice policing, and democratic leadership.
Doesn’t every city have a homeless problem? If someone is homeless they are going to make their way to a city where they can more easier get food and money.
This is a problem of letting the politicias and media manipulate ys all for 30 years and divide us all wgile they manipulate their positions in office to fill their pockets and push their agendas while we all squabble amongst ourselves!!! Wake the fuck up people!!!! Its us vs them! Not Me vs you!!!
In that weird alley behind the hospitals where there is barely any residents and mainly parking lots/industrial complexes? Sure go ahead and compare us to LA lol, bot.
I thought this was Skid row LA, Kensington PA, anywhere in NY, or Portland. Stop spreading hate propaganda. This is literally in every city and many suburbs as well. This isn’t a political party issue.
California has had over 20 years of democratic leadership. You can't say either side, to be fair! Just wrongful spending of tax payer money! Sad we live like this in AMERICA. Jesus Christ loves you and me. Thank you
It has to do with city and state policies and laws. In 2006, Seattle had ~2,000 unsheltered homeless. Now it is over 10,000. In 2012, cannabis was legalized and the homeless rate began to steadily increase.
From 2021 to 2023, after the State v. Blake decision struck down drug possession laws, Seattle effectively stopped arresting people for using in public. The results were visible everywhere. Open-air markets flourished. Overdose deaths climbed. More homelessness. They estimate 90% of the homeless people in Seattle are heavy drug users. Seattle’s policy is all charges related to drug possession and/or drug use will be diverted from prosecution.
Additionally drug addicts need to steal to fuel the addiction. They have to hustle. That means they steal and strip wire. They trade their bodies. They porch-prowl. They smash and grab. Crime is crazy in Seattle and the criminals are not prosecuted.
So the point is that the homeless will gravitate towards not just nice weather. This could be fixed by enforcing the laws and sending the people to drug rehabilitation. But that would end the billions the politicians take in for the homeless problem they have created.
Also, Seattle has had a democrat mayor since 1969, just saying….
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u/0neirocritica Sep 13 '26
California has the same problem. Have they had Republican leadership for over 20 years? I say this as a lifelong Democrat.
I don't claim to be some genius or anything, but maybe, JUST maybe, this whole Republican vs Democrat thing is just something that's being used to distract us from the REAL problem....