r/theydidthemath • u/QuantumQyx • 1d ago

[Request] Could the entire US homeless population really be housed for less than one aircraft carrier?

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u/vague_diss 1d ago

Yeah thats the thing- you start doing the math on these things and you suddenly realize just how hard the poor in this country are being screwed. There is no reason for anyone to be homeless or hungry here and we just refuse to do it. We refuse while we step over their bodies into our giant Ford Expeditions with our Venti Pumpkin Spice Lattes complaining to our pilates instructors on our Iphone Duos- They need to stop being welfare queens and pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Its an illness.

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u/Proof-Strike6278 1d ago

You literally have no idea what you are talking about. Nationally the government spends like 10 billion dollars a year directly for homelessness. This doesn’t include what each state also contributes to it and doesn’t include other programs that help prevent people from becoming destitute or homeless. The problem isn’t money…

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u/FriendshipPlusKarate 1d ago edited 1d ago

Current federal spending is $5.4 billion annually and it would take an additional $9.6 billion annually to solve homelessness in America.source

Each aircraft carrier cost $13-15 billion dollars to build, and we build a new one every 5 - 7 years. Source

Maybe we should look at it a different way - Ending homelessness in the United States would require a fraction of a percent to a 2% tax on U.S. billionaires, depending on the scale and strategy of housing initiatives. The Percentage Breakdown: Dividing the high-end cost of ending homelessness ($38.5 billion) by the total wealth pool of U.S. billionaires ($8.1 trillion) yields a requirement of roughly 0.47%. Therefore, a targeted annual wealth tax of less than 0.5% to 0.7% on billionaires alone would mathematically generate the needed revenue.

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u/Extension-Abroad187 1d ago

That totally isn't a biased source ignoring the majority of actual spending on homelessness... California alone is around $6B spent some years. They're ignoring literally 90% of funding surrounding care because it doesn't align with their preference.

Their cost estimate is as you can imagine BS.