atreefullofstars: hater-of-terfs: the-transfeminine-mystique: gahdamnpunk: This pandemic is really p
atreefullofstars:hater-of-terfs:the-transfeminine-mystique:gahdamnpunk:This pandemic is really proving that government has the means to solve all problems they just choose not toI really dislike the tweet’s framing of this tbh. Making sure that people aren’t forced to sleep on the streets or park benches is absolutely absolutely crucial, but homelessness isnt just about sleeping indoors in a bed, it’s about the legal relationship a person has with that bed. This is a vital emergency measure, but its just the creation of emergency shelters, and we can’t lose sight of the fact that as soon as the authorities feel the crisis is over, all of these people are going to be kicked right back onto the streets if a massive movement doesn’t begin to arise and demand truly equitable housing for all, housing that can’t be merely withdrawn by the authorities on a whim. It has to be about the relationship between the individual and their home, not just the mere fact that they’re in a bed. The solution is to just give them some of the houses that are left empty instead, and let them keep them. It’s called Housing First, it works a lot better than the alternatives, it saves money compared to the alternatives, and in the so-called US there are 6 times as many empty homes as unhoused people - not 6 times as many bedrooms, 6 times as many homesAnother solution is to just take the houses ourselves rather than waiting for the state to give them to us, but you didn’t hear that from meThis really is the solution, it’s been tried in the real world, it absolutely works, and it should be way more widespread. There’s so much land and so many houses and the only reason it’s not already being done is that the property rights of capitalists are treated as more important than the lives of the poor. -- source link
#homelessness#coronavirus#housing first#london