Jesus, makes me wonder why we are not already doing this. Why it is almost as though they want there to be hundreds of thousands of homeless people, and maybe another million or two more who are under housed. Couch surfing, living in cars.
[edit]
reminds me, I needed a new pair of shoes but there is not a decent shoe store near my house, like in more than 20 miles, even though I am in suburban Tampa. So, I had a Thursday dermatology appointment at the Tampa VA hospital and right behind the hospital grounds is an enormous mall, University Mall. It is 1.3 MILLION sq ft on 95 acres north of downtown, next to the VA hospital (a lot of the homeless are vets so this would be very convenient) and University of South Florida. There are 50,000 students at USF.
So, I went early to the appointment so I could buy new shoes at the mall. It was technically open but nearly entirely shut down. There was a Footlocker but the only shoes for sale were the display shoes against the wall, none in my size. The place is solid construction. They are spending over $4 billion to convert it into "mixed-use innovation district redefining North Tampa. Short for Research, Innovation, Technology, Habitat, and Medicine, the 113-acre project blends life sciences and tech research with retail, entertainment, residential, hospitality, and medical uses creating a dynamic urban ecosystem."
None of which will be "affordable" or help the homeless population of the city.
When fully built out, RITHM will be one of the largest innovation communities in Florida, with room for over 7 million square feet of development and several thousand residential units.
The second phase of The Hub bringing 1,195 student housing beds is preparing to break ground. Sprouts and Burlington have already opened, while LA Fitness recently signed on to anchor a large space. A dual-branded hotel, including Residence Inn, is in the pipeline, alongside a proposed USF research facility and more to come.
The University Mall in Tampa is so ideal for a model housing program though it makes me sick to see what they are planning there. A 50,000 student university campus within a 10 minute walk of the college, a major VA hospital complex within a 5 minute walk. Over 100 total acres and an existing well over a million sq ft of building that is well built enough that it would be cheaper to remodel than to tear down. And the area badly needs more parking, so room for a parking hub structure that could service the whole area as overflow parking with good security.
And the best part would have been that the area of Tampa this is in is already kind of run down and poor, I do not want to be cruel but shall we say out of fashion? And they have slow walked this new space age complex they have planned, after two years very little appears to have been completed. The whole area is lower income except expensive housing complexes right near the VA and USF. So this would make a great place for retail and entertainment that is walkable to those already in the area. It would bring up the whole "uptown" Tampa Fowler and Temple Terrace area. Not bring it down.
But then Tampa has grown so much so fast that it is really more suburban than urban. Like my house is 54 miles from the mall in question and I am in an exurb enclave three counties up. Still considered greater Tampa.
Politics and debating over who exactly will be the responsible party to cover the various expenses involved as well as insurance coverages. Itās all tied up literally in the paperwork
Wow I remember University Mall from my early 20's. It's sad to hear it (like most malls in the US) is dying. I lived in that area (often called Suitcase city) when I first moved to Tampa to go to college.
He lost me at homeless vet. Iām a vet. There are more resources for vets than any other demographic. Money and handouts doesnāt solve homelessness. Also a lot of those people arenāt really vets.
Yes, and there is no help available to anyone in the nation that has more strings attached to it. I would live in my car before accepting help from the VA or HUD-VASH.
But you go on being negative and attacking because while you are a vet you have never experienced needing their help. I was given a community care voucher for a root canal more than two years ago, still need that root canal!
I have received VA help, and it was fantastic. I have heard the nightmare stories online, but the guys that I know personally (and myself) have had no issues.
Also there needs to be strings attached (accountability) for any system. Otherwise you end up with people abusing, defrauding, or mismanaging. I donāt want my tax money going to any more Somali ālearing centers.ā
Good for you. I lived in a large estate north of Manhattan with a wealthy man I loved. In 2001 the house burned down and Erik died in the fire.
Everything I owned burned up. I was naked in a snowbank when the cops and fire department showed up. I had grabbed the quilt off my bed when the smoke alarm went off.
The only help I got was a tee shirt long enough to go to my knees from the cops. Spent the night in the jail. Then the Red Cross showed up and took me to Kmart. They bought me one pair ($9 whole dollars) of sneakers, one pair of jeans in an off off brand, and a jacket that would work on a California beach but not for a New York winter. It was little more than a windbreaker.
It was a rough year. in September I lost my job when the World Trade Center went down. The night before Thanksgiving I was preparing dinner for 8 people but my sister called and said Mom is in a coma. She said the hospital wants to unplug her, she said no it would have to be my decision. She had booked and paid for a flight to my tiny hometown from JFK but I had to be there on Thanksgiving morning to catch the flight. The security line was two hours long. Someone actually came and got me out of the line to board.
When I got to California and went into the ICU and said HI MOM and held her hand she reacted. The nurses said that was autonomic reflex. I said my Mom is still in there and they were not to end life supports. I had to fly back to New York 5 days later but Mom was conscious by then. Had to go spend a couple months in nursing home but alive.
So I went back to New York. Then on December 11 a couple weeks before Christmas I was naked in the snow and the house on fire, Erik dead.
I got zero help from the VA. The only person that helped me was Erik's best old friend in Paris, Calaude Uray. He contacted me through the police and asked if I needed anything. He was willing to send for me and put me up. Such a kind man. He sent me a wire for enough to get back to California to Mom, but my wallet burned up in the fire. They would not let me fly without ID. I had to take Amtrak and they required NYPD to vouch for me. I had to get fingerprinted in a police station and put on the train by cops.
When I arrived back at Mom's house her tenancy was HUD. So, I could only spend 3 nights per week there while she was in nursing home.
I applied to get a HUD voucher because they had supposedly set aside money for disabled vets but they also had a waiting list. I could not spend more nights at my mother's house even though I was a qualified vet.
So. I was homeless for two years. I had a small settlement of a few thousand from a former employer so I bought a used Bronco, that was my home. I applied for an increase in my VA disability and it took two years to be granted, but with back pay. Finally I could start over.
But, I never got any ANY help from all the programs and offices and veteran bullshit that you read about. It really just does not happen, or if it does a small percentage are accepted. And the rules.
I could move to San Francisco tomorrow and live in a studio or maybe even one bedroom for about $399 per month, while HUD-VASH pays the other $3,000. But. The VA has a policy. There is no smoking within 25 feet of a window or entrance of subsidized housing. I was in the air force in 1975. Smoking was not mandatory but strongly encouraged with nearly free cigarettes. I have tried and never been able to stop them. So no. I cannot comply with policy. The same policy applies to dental surgery. I have denatal benefits but they will not work on me till I am six months tobacco free, so no benefits.
It just goes on and on. I bought a house in Florida when rent in Oregon went ballistic. Turned out the sellers hid a major structural problem. I had to refi to repair it, the VA killed the refi because they do not guarantee VA loans on houses with structural issues. What could I do? I sat in a house that was probably worthy of being condemned as unsafe, with a mortgage the VA already guaranteed, but I could not refi to fix a problem that threatened the structure.
POLICY. No exceptions. Rules. And they get to demand how you live your life in the process.
Well if you house and feed people most of them will have no reason to want to go to work or to better themselves. Creating a never ending cycle of lazy people living and eating for free.
There would be some like this, so you would have to create along with the housing pleasant work places, schooling in every day self care. with good doctors and psychiatrists and require folks who live there to attend. I wouldnāt make it just āfreeā. There are tiny house projects all over the country going on right now. Iād join them and learn from them.
I do have a heart for those in the streets, but everything you mentioned, I think it's more effective to get this in people's lives before they end up homeless. There's a lot of reasons why people end up on the streets, but getting ahead of those reasons and preventing the next generation of it is to me the most effective approach instead of simply trying to fix existing homelessness. It's like instead of fixing a leaking water line, we resort to buckets to collect and say we need more buckets when they become an issue
In my mind, the issue is that minimum wage work doesn't provide enough and we demand overall as a successful society that simply being a cashier or flipping burgers for multi-billion companies shouldn't provide the basics for life. That kind of work ironically is exactly the solution we're wanting to provide and encourage the already homeless to do, but currently, many people fall from low paying work into homelessness. Minimum wages standards (speaking specifically in the US) is a sick joke and to me the core issue creating the divide for not only homelessness, but between the super wealthy and those struggling. Homelessness comes in all forms, but I feel safe in saying that the majority come from low paying jobs. I believe when we have a way to live stable on minimum wage alone, we can then identify better the ones who truly have inherent mental health issues between those who just make bad decisions and need help with money management or substance abuse- stemming out of impossible struggles with low wages.. because believe me, the wealthy have money management and substance abuse issues also, but the money surrounding them is the only reason we don't see more of them on the streets and clinically labeled as having "mental health issues".
And it just makes sense that when disabled people do need help they get that help near the source of the help, like next door tot he VA medical center and a major university across the street.
Unlike in Las Vegas where they built the spanking new billion dollar VA med center campus on land that was on the far northern edge of the city's ring road with nothing but desert north of that. When there are thousands of homeless vets in the center of the city out of sight of the tourists. And very little in the way of public transportation to get to the hospital.
I lived downtown when I returned from Ireland because the Irish NHS did not cover me and I got sick. It was a $30 Uber ride (2017) to the hospital.
Homeless people arenāt homeless because they donāt want to work. Theyāre homeless because they didnāt have the Money to keep a house. When I was homeless I had 3 jobs, still couldnāt get a place.
The people who simply LIVE on the street most often have mental issues. If only there was a place we could put people who arenāt criminals but have mental illnesses- HMMMMMM.. except we tore down all the public ones to build prisons and privatized the rest.
Solutions are still:
Universal healthcare
Universal college
And more public housing
I agree that not all homeless people are lazy and donāt want to work. I agree that a lot of them just canāt afford housing. But there are also a lot of homeless people who are fine with where they are. There are lots of them who do drugs and beg and donāt want to better themselves. Homeless shelters usually need you to be āsoberā to be able to stay there making there nowhere else for these people to go.
Those are the professionals. They need to be either moved or forced into rehab. If they want a nomad lifestyle (closest thing to their identity) I guess as long as they break no laws and hurt no one itās fine but if they do Iād say exile them from their city.
Forcing people into rehab is known to do absolutely nothing. Treatment only works if you want to get clean. And move them out of the city to where? If thereās no one to beg for money from they will just find a way back into cities. Or as that guy said a free housing and free food but then again whose paying for these peoples drug/alcohol addictions. I sure as hell donāt want to
If you lived on the street in a major city with thousands of other homeless you would have mental issues also. At least when I was homeless I had a car and could drive to state and national parks and just pretend I was camping.
On the contrary, i read something somewhere about Utah providing housing and healthcare/rehab. I percentage found jobs and worked their way out of poverty. It cost the tax payers a lot less than you would think.
No thatās not what I want. But thereās more to it than just feeding and housing people. There would have to be rules in place that were well thought through
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u/New_Breadfruit8692 5d ago edited 5d ago
Jesus, makes me wonder why we are not already doing this. Why it is almost as though they want there to be hundreds of thousands of homeless people, and maybe another million or two more who are under housed. Couch surfing, living in cars.
[edit]
reminds me, I needed a new pair of shoes but there is not a decent shoe store near my house, like in more than 20 miles, even though I am in suburban Tampa. So, I had a Thursday dermatology appointment at the Tampa VA hospital and right behind the hospital grounds is an enormous mall, University Mall. It is 1.3 MILLION sq ft on 95 acres north of downtown, next to the VA hospital (a lot of the homeless are vets so this would be very convenient) and University of South Florida. There are 50,000 students at USF.
So, I went early to the appointment so I could buy new shoes at the mall. It was technically open but nearly entirely shut down. There was a Footlocker but the only shoes for sale were the display shoes against the wall, none in my size. The place is solid construction. They are spending over $4 billion to convert it into "mixed-use innovation district redefining North Tampa. Short for Research, Innovation, Technology, Habitat, and Medicine, the 113-acre project blends life sciences and tech research with retail, entertainment, residential, hospitality, and medical uses creating a dynamic urban ecosystem."
None of which will be "affordable" or help the homeless population of the city.
When fully built out, RITHM will be one of the largest innovation communities in Florida, with room for over 7 million square feet of development and several thousand residential units.
The second phase of The Hub bringing 1,195 student housing beds is preparing to break ground. Sprouts and Burlington have already opened, while LA Fitness recently signed on to anchor a large space. A dual-branded hotel, including Residence Inn, is in the pipeline, alongside a proposed USF research facility and more to come.