Nomads from Cyberpunk 2020/2077 were not on my bingo card for this year.
89Obligatory:
123The sad thing is that a Cyberpunk dystopia is nominally interesting. Violent, terrible, and impoverished, yes, but also fastpaced and exciting. Our world is dull, programmatic, largely predictable, and extremely boring unless you have disposable income. We all have cellphones, yes, but that doesn't make it cyberpunk.
17I appreciate the text file in the image
5
This isn't even new, just getting worse faster than it used to.
31But think of the profits from squeezing finite resources trying to achieve infinite growth.
13
Think of the prevalence of van lifers
It's been gaining popularity as it gets harder and harder to own anything
19You know it's getting bad when this news isn't shocking to you anymore...
5You better start believing in cyberpunk dystopia. You're in one!
2
I was homeless for 8 years and a good portion of that I lived in my car
What I wouldn't have given to have a safe place to park each night during that time
It's better than a tent, but not by much
82Any pro tips on that? Shit feels like I can share this fate anytime soon.
34Having financial plans in place is very important, I know it's hard but making a savings account will help a lot. Even if you just set it up so that $20 a week goes to it it will help.
Most Americans can't afford a $500 emergency so your first goal will be getting to that point in a savings account. Your second goal will be getting to that point plus having funds in your account for you deductibles for your insurances (car, health, renters, etc). Then your out of pocket max for health.
It's a slow roll building a savings account and it's hard to leave it alone but it will help a lot.
Of course even then it's still pretty nerve wracking so one thing that I've done is get a line of credit with my credit union and some credit cards with really high limits that I pay off every month and only use for like gas or groceries. That way they stay open and in the event of a financial emergency that surpasses my savings I'm not completely fucked. Which saved my ass 2 years ago when I had to have emergency dental surgery 3 times in one year. ($10k that I'm still paying off)
Basically trying not to over extend yourself financially will help immensely.
But a massive help is having a healthy social safety net.
16
Honestly, this is a lot better / more hopeful than other stories. These people are doing far better than the homeless in tents. In winter.
Like these poor people: https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-nenookaasi-homeless-encampment-packs-up-and-moves-three-blocks-south/600332431/
45the land is being developed, and crime was getting out of control. and they only had to move three blocks to a different one, supplied by the city. to cite the very article you posted:
There were more than 100 emergency calls for drug use, sex acts, theft, vandalism and unresponsive people in and around the camp. A number of neighboring American Indian nonprofit organizations urged the city to close it.
it’s a little more nuanced than mean people kicking out poor defenseless citizens.
2I agree that the situation in the article is complicated and that these homeless people were not exactly saints.
My point above is that these homeless people living in tents in an empty lot in January are worse off than the homeless people in the article that OP references. Those homeless people live in cars in a protected lot which I think is a big improvement from tent life.
2
I think step one is universal healthcare. For many reasons that we all are familiar with by now. (being tied to a job that has income limitations because you need the healthcare(ish) it provides, becoming bankrupted by healthcare costs, getting kicked out of your housing due to medical costs)
The revolutionary silver bullet to begin increasing housing availability is to eliminate the ability to depreciate assets via the tax code if they are single family detached homes. Many of these rentals are already fully depreciated and will remain rentals. But recently purchased (within 10 yrs.) rentals will likely be sold and importantly they will not be purchased by 'investors'. That shift will provide a flood of homes into the market which will apply downward pressure on prices. More people being able to afford to purchase those homes will free up rental availability, thus applying downward pressure on rental affordability.
Now that only addresses single family homes; there remains multifamily housing to be addressed which will be more complex. A robust government regulatory agency for housing is not something we currently have in the usa, obviously. (see picture) Reforms of those regulatory bodies are needed whereby penalties they assess would have actual teeth. I imagine penalties that remove ownership. I also imagine the countless tax incentives used in constructing and rehabilitating these structures being negotiated quite differently, to include public ownership.
Just a few thoughts here; I haven't all the answers. I'm curious when the last housing project was built in the usa.
25Totally normal fucking country we got here
19This isn't cringe. This is wince.
19They have cars? Must be fucking nice! /s
12We call them outdoor people.
5We didn't make big cars because we wanted to drive big cars. We knew we'd need them as small homes.
5Such an inefficient use of space. We should make parking garages for them! /j
4I have been living out of my car for a couple of weeks. My mental health that wasn't great to begin with has gone to shit and I have deleted some truly unhinged posts. I make just enough cash to eat and keep the gym membership for showers. I am not sure if I will make it before I deliberately put myself in prison.
1Homeless people finding a safe place to go is Sooooo Criiiinge! 😂💯😂
-25No, people being homeless in the first place is cringe. Quit being obtuse.
39
