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if this were a socialist country, rent would be abolished and everyone would be living comfortably. would socialism/communism help reduce homelessness and such?
Not in the long term, because owning a house is not free. The houses would fall apart after a few years without money for maintenance, repairs or upgrades. Any expenses that come with house ownership are paid by rent. My parents own their house that was build maybe 120 years ago, and every 10 years or so there is some expensive bill because something needs modernisation or repairs like roof, windows, plumbing, power, facade, wet basement, heating, ...
Ignoring the equity you gain when you're paying down a mortgage on a house.
Any expenses that come with house ownership are paid by rent.
Just ... No.
"Entrepreneurs" will soon be snapping up parking lots and charging rent for a space. Capitalism!...yay?
I N N O V A T I O N
Next step will be to provide totalled cars for students who are homeless AND can't afford cars. They'll be dropped in these "safe zones". And then ask for a rent…
This is not a solution it's a workaround. Sleeping in cars is typically hard sleeping, which is still the problem.
Don't call it a crisis, sell it as a new hip lifestyle on social media! #vanlife
With each new headline like this I hate my country just a little bit more.
time to organize. be a revolutionary optimist, and NOT give in to counterrevolutionary doom and gloom. seriously!
Maybe put the parking lot down by the river, that's where I'd like to park my van
River access costs extra
Anything but build affordable housing or abolish rent. It’s like that “no way to prevent this” Onion article.
You don't even have to abolish rent. There are giant predatory companies, small local landlords that got lucky with their timing, and everything in between. They're getting money for doing nothing, and aren't going to start contributing to society just because they have to be less wealthy for no effort! Slash rents now to get people homes, and implement rent control and price ceilings.
Even pod apartments would be better than this..
Honestly, a Japanese-style capsule hotel and net cafe would probably do very well in a university environment.
Granted, that's still charging people for homelessness, which doesn't help any of the underlying problems. It's just slightly less dystopian since it's cheap.
Affordable shelter would go a long way towards reducing homelessness.
I slept in my car a lot while I was in college, but I wasn't homeless. It was just more convenient. "Safe" was the location wherever my car was parked, I would just avoid parking it in unsafe areas.
The difference here is choice. I have slept in my car on road trips. These people are sleeping in cars because they can't afford housing. If that doesn't concern you - it should.
It’s concerning that people need housing.
My point was more about the providing safe spaces to sleep in their car. That’s weird. Did anyone ask for that? What kind of solution is this? Was a lack of safe car camping locations the problem that should have been addressed or should the lack of real housing have been addressed?
Its normalization. Its framed as a good thing... Like "protect the children" while masking the problematic thing... Like mass surveillance or in this case: people can't afford a place to sleep.
I feel bad for Edgar but he needs to learn how to touch type.
I had to sleep in my car from time to time when I was in college.
I'd park in a well-lit spot in an active parking lot (back in the before times, many major retailers were open 24/7) in a safer part of town. The backseats of my car were pull-downs that opened directly into the trunk. So, I'd sneakily climb through and into the trunk, then curl up back there to sleep.
It was a dark space and since nobody could see me back there, there was less chance of someone targeting me for robbery (sleeping person = easy target) or calling the cops on me (sleeping person = drugs or medical emergency). But those were still factors that added lots of stress to an already shitty situation.
I know times are harder for more people these days, but I figured I'd share since a lot of people don't actively recognize that things were also difficult for many people back in the day as well. While there's obviously a problem that needs to be solved here, and it sucks that we're at a point where this is considered a solution, I would just say, don't let perfection get in the way of progress.
Of course we should strive for a situation where everybody has a home, familial / social supports, good stable income, etc. But, also, even a little added comfort from having a safe(r) place to park & sleep as well as access to things like showers and bathrooms is a tiny little step in the right direction.
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this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2025
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