Unconditional cash transfers reduce homelessness : science

[–] autumn@reddthat.com 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Our preregistered screening criteria were: age 19 to 65, homeless for less than 2 y (homelessness defined as the lack of stable housing), Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and nonsevere levels of substance use (DAST-10) (21), alcohol use (AUDIT) (22), and mental health symptoms Colorado Symptom Index (CSI) (23) based on predefined thresholds (see SI Appendix, Table S1 in SI Appendix, section 1.3.2). These screening criteria were used to reduce any potential risks of harm (e.g., overdose) from the cash transfer.

Kind of speaks to how bad homelessness has become that you can have pretty strict criteria and still have a ton of people who need the help.

[–] agressivelyPassive@feddit.de 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well. Yeah?

[–] BartsBigBugBag@lemmy.tf 39 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Studies like this are important to counter the reactionary perspective that giving money to those experiencing housing will just feed addiction.

[–] BlameThePeacock@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 year ago

To be fair they did exclude people who had severe levels of addiction from this program.

That being said, there's more homeless people without severe addictions than with them so the logic still works.

[–] Alto@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think you're vastly overestimating the proportion of people against social safety nets who would change their tune when presented with indisputable evidence that they are wrong.

[–] BartsBigBugBag@lemmy.tf 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No, i feel you, but once you have data, you no longer have to even entertain those people in debate. You just act based on the data.

[–] Alto@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Too bad the people that ignore it are the ones making those decisions in the first place

[–] BartsBigBugBag@lemmy.tf 5 points 1 year ago

Truth. Even the Dems in my state capital spent more time denigrating the housing first homeless advocate than they did discussing their own policies as mayor (which of course are just more of the same). Thankfully the dude who won was at least semi-progressive, he’s already declared a state of emergency and opened hundreds of beds. Here’s hoping he keeps it up and other places get similar quality politicians. In the meantime, I recommend joining your local Food Not Bombs if you can and getting to know your disaffected and unhoused communities.

[–] L_EnferCestLesAutres@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

The study specifically selected people with no substance abuse problem.. if anything the author of the study were wary of what you say is a reactionary perspective.

[+] gowan@reddthat.com 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

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[–] autumn@reddthat.com 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Aren't studies like this part of how to solve homelessness, though? Like this method helps around 16%, then other methods can be used to help people who need more resources.

Part of the frustration with dealing with homelessness is that it's so difficult to help the most visibly homeless, so people think the programs aren't working or are lining people's pockets.

[–] balls_expert@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I'd rather they make 4 stories tall, 4m by 4m, modern rows of apartments rented for free, with good lighting, plenty of outlets and furnished with bedbug resistant beds. One dude per dwelling, personal shower and toilets, and a door that locks. The prison basics with a coat of paint, respect and decency.

So that the homeless just get the issue of having a roof over their head out their mind, and have a fixed address, and the ability to keep possessions for good

[–] Hirom@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago

In many places there's enough vacancy to do that with either exiting appartements, or with empty office space waiting to be converted.

The answer to why it hasn't happen probably is complicated: lack of political will, ideology, the cost of building/buying appartements then maintaining and managing them so they don't turn into a shithole, NYMBY, etc

[–] FoundTheVegan@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago

But why allow it when you could make a profit?!?

Just ask anyone in the medical industry. You can't be giving away things that make life easier for people!!!

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 year ago

This and the housing-first initiative both work. Here's a great podcast series reporting on the issue:

According to Need

Science