Louisiana Advances One of the Country's 'Cruelest' Anti-Homeless Bills

I just pasted this into Gemini.

"What is the estimated cost to solve the US homeless problem?"

As you might expect, it said "it's complicated!"

But, it did say HUD has estimated it would take $20B to $30B to give every single person housing. Then $9B a year in continued funding.

Just saying, that seems smaller than the Iran war cost over the last 45 days.

And it goes on to say this actually would save money long term because of all the side effects of homelessness, like emergency room care, police and social services and impact on businesses.

But then you can't run on being tough on crime or tough on nuclear proliferation.

There is homelessness, and then there is drug and/or alcohol addiction.

> Those who are convicted of sleeping outdoors could be given the option to avoid jail time by instead entering into a mandatory treatment program for at least 12 months.

What happens if someone is homeless and not addicted to drugs or alcohol? Why assume everyone who is homeless is also an addict? It seems entirely reasonable that someone homeless AND addicted to drugs/alcohol should be required to enter into a treatment program.

> Those who are convicted of sleeping outdoors could be given the option to avoid jail time by instead entering into a mandatory treatment program for at least 12 months. The bill authorizes local governments to set up semi-permanent camps in remote areas, where defendants would be required to stay and receive treatment.

So basically state funded mandatory rehab for everyone ?

I don’t think this is cruel at all. This is badly needed to fix broken incentives. A lot of the west coast cities (SF, Portland, Seattle, Vancouver) have serious issues with homeless drug addicts taking over public spaces, causing blight, committing property crimes, acting out in public, etc.

All the taxpayer money spent on nonprofits and random government programs have had little impact since far and mostly look like corrupt grift. There need to be new consequences and deterrents.