16 millions vacant houses across the US, not counting the empty offices buildings. 11 millions houses empty in Europe. In both cases enough vacancy to houses the homeless population and more.

[–] peter@feddit.uk 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The biggest issue with homelessness isn't the lack of homes available to house people, it's the lack of mental health and addiction support

[–] bitsplease@lemmy.ml 28 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This has always felt like one of those arguments that just kicks the can.

Yes, there are 100% some homeless people who are in such a bad place that they'd outright refuse a home even if you gave it to them free of charge (or would immediately sell it for drug money/burn it down because it's filled with alien Spyware or something), but I'd wager that if you actually gave a lot of these people a stable home, and food in their fridge so they weren't literally fighting for their lives on the street, they'd be able to self improve a lot more than people give them credit for.

A lot of homeless are just people who had one bad turn after another and are just unable to break the cycle because our system really isn't built to let them do so. I think we should also be providing mental Healthcare and addiction support to these people, but saying that should come before giving them a sense of stability and safety is ass backwards imo

[–] azimir@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 year ago

Other countries are being more aggressive about providing housing for the unhoused. Notably, Finland has been putting people in sponsored housing since the late 80's. The net result is a rapidly decreasing unhoused population. Most of the people who are given homes get on their feet, get the kinds of support they need, and reach a good place in life. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/02/how-finland-solved-homelessness

Many articles title it that Finland has "solved" homlessness, which isn't 100% true, but the approach has been wildly successful compared to most other nation's strategies.

[–] kool_newt@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Exactly.

[–] hanni@lemmy.one 15 points 1 year ago

And rampant real estate speculation

[–] Tavarin@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A big thing is where are those homes located? Are they near social services? Are they near jobs? Skills training? Is putting a homeless person in them with no income going to allow said homeless person to build a life?

Most homeless go to cities where there are social services, and lots of people around so they can beg for an income. Most empty houses are not in cities.

[–] orcrist@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Yes, many of those homes are located in or near cities. Of course more public transportation is needed.

[–] cyclohexane@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Have these homeless people been offered houses in small towns and they refused? Feels like a lot of assumptions are being made here