Homelessness: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

[@InvisiblePeople]

To all of the team at Last Week Tonight THANK YOU! This is the first time a national show has addressed how public perceptions influence policy change. The show also hit every talking point those of us working in the sector try to communicate. We are grateful. YOU ARE AWESOME!

[@PlsGiveBeans]

Invisible People, thank you for also shedding light on a very large issue in our country. Without people like you who tirelessly work to shed your own light on it which then helps John snd his team make it more national! You're an excellent human and you deserve to be cherished as well! Thank you good sir!

[@Meliaison]

Love the work you do, thank you for providing such wonderful and humanizing interviews with beautiful people who are struggling the most. You help ease the stigma.

[@mgartz]

No Mark, YOU are awesome. Thanks for all of your work.

[@laratahm8124]

Thank you for your work!

[@ceebrzee3351]

@naked alienwith respect - dropping a random link into someone else's comments without some qualification ain't going get far.

[@milkteamachine]

My mom and I were homeless when I was a child. It was genuinely one of the most traumatic things that ever happened to me, she had to fight tooth and nail to get housing, and I almost ended up in foster care. We’re all closer to being homeless than we are to being millionaires.

[@olandir]

That right there is poignant. For most people it only takes one lost job or one landlord eviction or rent raise to lose a home. Yet people are convinced that everyone can raise themselves up to upper-class / millionaire status if you just "work hard enough" and "hustle".

[@epothos1]

Same here. Unfortunately that is all too true. I ended up in foster care under my mom’s friend’s house then I had to wait until my mom got housing when she did we ended up moving a couple of times. My mom then started dating this one guy who seemed normal. He stole the car and her check book and fucked up her credit after that we were evicted and were living in a shelter for a bit. After that we caught a break from a friend from mom’s NA group. It was in a more dangerous part of town but at least we didn’t need a credit check for the apartment. We moved to a small town bounced around apartment to duplex then we got into a house in like 2006. 2008 the mortgage crisis happened and we were almost homeless again but my grandparents finally started helping us out they bought our house for us. Now we are one decision from being homeless again. I have lived life with most of it in the hands of another for awhile now and I gotta say that though I count myself as lucky to have friends and family I don’t like having this feeling of being unable to help myself.

[@justinturk9369]

That's a fact we are conditioned to ignore from a very young age. We are brainwashed into believing that we are all one lucky break away from being millionaires, but the reality is that we are all a hell of a lot closer to being a paycheck or less away from being homeless and starving.

[@konigstiger3252]

Where was her man? Oh wait, she had kid outside of wedlock. Sound like her problem hmm?

[@Odinsday]

@@justinturk9369 Something like 40% of Americans couldn't afford $400 of medical expenditures, and this was before the pandemic, so I'm sure that number increased even more. What an amazing country.

[@thexalon]

One thing John didn't get into, but could have mentioned: How we treat those of us without homes also affects domestic violence in a big way. If you don't have a way to leave a situation without risking freezing to death on the streets, you'll stay, even if that involves getting beaten regularly.

[@JesseLeeHumphry]

Could have mentioned it, but that seems at best tangential to the homeless problem.

[@CrystalLynn1988]

That's very true. I moved in with my boyfriend of several years when he became abusive and controlling. I called a helpline and they told me to leave my cat and personal belongings to go to a womans shelter. I couldn't do that so I stayed and tolerated the abuse longer until I could find an escape plan where I could get my cat and sentimental belongings. I lived in a tent in the woods with my cat until I could get us someplace safe.

[@peachybuttercrunch4409]

a sad effect, and one that i didnt think of

[@hmlqrt2716]

@@CrystalLynn1988 Honestly thats pretty dumb. Its like if youre starving but refuse food bcs its bot organic

[@lynxaway]

@@goji508 you don’t know anything about her or her life beyond that single youtube comment. Does it bring you joy to sneer at someone who’s been through unimaginable struggle?

[@YukariOro]

I was a caregiver to my father for 5 years until he passed away due to Parkinson's disease and related dementia. I suffer from childhood ptsd as well. Since my father's house was sold, I've been sleeping in my car with my dogs at rest stops and inexpensive federal campgrounds, the latter with a half-price discount access card. To enter a shelter, I've been told I must give up my dogs-who are often the only thing keeping me going. I wouldn't give up on my Dad and I won't give up on my dogs. I made a commitment to them, and I won't break it. I don't do drugs, I don't smoke or drink. I live this way because I'm on disability and can't afford to rent anywhere that allows dogs, and I have no rental history and at the time of my Dad's death, I was credit invisible. Homelessness isn't a choice-you become homeless due to a lack of choices.

[@Sundeep6543]

I really hope you are in a good place right now. May god bless you.

[@AlexanderShackles]

When I was the assistant manager of the local KFC, on nights when I'd have the closing shift, I'd keep the store open for an extra couple of hours, after the rest of the staff had finished up and gone home. Why? Because there were homeless people who were digging through our trash, looking for food that was perfectly edible but had been thrown away for different reasons (it needed to be sold or discarded by the end of the day, it needed to be sold or discarded for so long after it was cooked and held at temp, etc.). Before I'd started working there, they were coming into the area where we stored our garbage bins outside and rummaging around inside of them, looking for something -- anything -- to eat. So what did I do? On nights that I'd close the store, I'd finish everything like normal, put away all the money, make sure the restaurant was clean, the staff had finished their jobs and cleaned their stations properly, and then send the staff home. And instead of locking up the store, I'd let the 20-or-so homeless people in the town (it's a pretty small town comparatively speaking to Seattle and Tacoma, which are only a few dozen miles away) come inside the store. I'd have set aside the food that we hadn't sold or were supposed to have thrown away for the length of my shift, and I'd pass that out to them, along with cups to get something to drink from the fountain. I'd let them sit in the dining area and rest for a little while, so they could relax and charge their phones. I'd leave the bathrooms open so they could relieve themselves. And when they were finished, and after they'd had a good meal, I'd tell them they had to be out of the store by midnight, and every single one of them would be out of the store by midnight; no complaints, no fighting, no arguing. Just people grateful to have been treated like people. I've told people this before. And the first question most people ask is, "Weren't you worried about being robbed?" And the truth of the matter is, I wasn't. All of the money had been put away in the safe and was untouchable. All of the food that was there was being given freely. There was no reason for any of them to want to rob the store or me. And after they'd leave the store, I'd go back over the areas where they'd been sitting, clean the surfaces again, clean the bathrooms again, make sure there wasn't a trace they'd ever been there, and lock up the store properly. Before I started working there, there had been a couple of break-ins at night in the months prior to my hiring, one person had been robbed at gunpoint, and our trash cans were being raided almost every night. After I was hired, there was nothing; no attempted break-ins, no violence towards the staff, and the trash cans were kept clean. Hell, most days, we wouldn't even need to clean the parking lot of the detritus that normally accumulates. It would be spotless every morning after I'd finished my shift. I gave up about two hours of my life every night, five nights a week. In return, a couple dozen people or so were happier, they were more able to get back onto their feet with a hot meal in their bellies, and our store was safer and cleaner than ever. There's no downside to helping those who are less fortunate than yourself. After all, you're here to make the world a better place for those unborn and yet to come. That starts with at least a little decency and respect for your fellow human. Good luck out there, people. [EDIT 11/18/2021] Wow, this is getting a lot more attention that I expected a comment on KZbin would get. Since I wrote this, there've been new comments virtually every single day, so I feel like it's a good time to address some of them (feel free to let me know if there is anything in this addendum that wasn't covered or you'd like answered; I'll take the time to respond when I can). - I didn't get fired for this, and the owner of the franchise never addressed what I was doing while I was working there. I eventually left this job because the owner (who is also the manager of the KFC) had unreasonable expectations of staff when it came to coming in to work on days off, when other people had called out, because there was a snow storm and the store should have been closed for the safety of staff and patrons. If he ever discovered what I was doing, he never mentioned it directly to me, and there was never any inquest done that I'm aware of. - If there had been any official investigation about what I was doing, I would have happily fought like hell against any sort of reprimand or punishment for not only doing what was right, but also doing what made sense. Our garbage bill was based on weight; if less food is being disposed of needlessly, then there is less garbage to be thrown away. Quod erat demonstrandum: Whatever was spent on additional detergent, soap, paper towels, and toilet paper used in excess of normal business operations was offset by the additional savings from giving away literal hundreds of pounds less of "garbage" (i.e. perfectly edible food that was otherwise set to be disposed of because it couldn't be sold to the public). - What I did doesn't actually cross any legal lines when it comes to food safety. If you're unsure about this, there is a program on Food Waste by Last Week Tonight that covers "Good Samaritan" laws in accordance with food. It's actually not illegal to give people food that has passed its mandated expiration (in accordance with food safety / ServSafe guidelines); it's only illegal to make people PAY for food that has passed its mandated expiration, because that is then false advertising (as in, selling an inferior product for the normal price despite the product being inferior in some way to what is expected by the customer). - I've tried to go through and make sure that everyone who spoke in agreement or support of what I did received a like for their comment, just so you know that I see you, I respect you, and I appreciate that you took the time to respond. That's important in today's world. It's a lot easier to voice concerns and criticism, but stay silent when you approve of something. It's worth remembering that, if you want to foster good, encouragement goes a long way. Never be afraid to let yourself be heard. Still wishing you all nothing but the best. Stay safe out there!

[@txlee5513]

Bless you. Two hours each day plus all the cleaning up afterwards is a huge gift. And a huge blessing for the people who could eat and rest. Bless you.

[@ifeoluwaadeoye6557]

Thank you for your service. You are the model example of what those that call themselves "Christians" are supposed to exemplify. I don't know when these people became so selfish. I do hope there's a heaven just for your sake.

[@thatfuzzypotato1877]

Damn sir... you got me in tears.

[@JEMurl]

for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ Matthew 25:35-40 -JESUS (said that!)

[@sabreenabdullajirrow7566]

This heart worming. May Allah bless your heart. Am greatfull to know there is people who are welling to act with kindness like you. You treated them with humanity and showed them they are better than what people make them feel in the street. Thank you

[@SSenderling]

My wife and I were homeless and addicted to meth and heroin for 5+ years. Then we finally got a housing voucher through Boulder Housing Partners in Colorado in jan 2019 with this same exact housing first model. Now on Christmas of 2021 we have had our apartment for almost 3 whole years! I'm working. We have 2 vehicles and our drivers licenses (something I had never had until now). We have been sober for 2+ years and my wife's 2 daughters (my step daughters) just moved in on the 6th permanently and we just had our first Christmas as a real family. The housing first model absolutely works! Especially if you want to better your situation. I do understand from being on the streets for so long that some people just aren't ready to start healing yet but one of the main reasons for that is because your still experiencing hardship on a daily basis. Once that is eliminated (as much as it can be) it can give people the motivation and hope and resources they need to want to get better.

[@johnryan5133]

I'm so sorry to hear what you went through mate but I'm glad things are looking up for you and wish you and your family all the best for the future.

[@janycebrown4071]

Keep up the good work 👏 👍 💪 👌

[@SSenderling]

@@janycebrown4071 thank you I certainly will!

[@SSenderling]

@@johnryan5133 thank you! The housing first model seriously saved our lives. I really hope that it gets more support and funding in more states. I'm in Colorado and here there is lots of support and resources for the homeless population but I know that's not the case in a lot of other states and it's just sad that they don't understand that people really can't grow and better themselves when they are not in a safe and stable environment.

[@Iwannaps5]

This made me teary eyed, it’s so amazing that you are your wife were able to come from rock bottom to now living a better life with a loving family. Keep it up!

[@Ellary_Rosewood]

As someone who was homeless a few different times when I was younger, the first time being when I was 13, so many people don't realize exactly how EASY it is to one day lose everything and become homeless. How traumatic it is, how it changes your entire life, and how hard it is to get out of it. So many people in the U.S. are just one hospital visit away from homelessness, or even just one paycheck away from it.

[@manuginobilisbaldspot424]

People who haven't experienced something often just don't have the empathy in this country. Well I do know. My apartment burned down in 2003 and I lost everything. Staying in roach motels only because of the grace of friends to wandering the streets for weeks before my best friend sent for me...it permanently reshaped the way I try to treat people.

[@cerebraldreams4738]

Or you get arrested and don't have enough cash on hand to post bail. Even if your charges are bullshit, you're going to be in jail for three to six months before the charges get dismissed. By the time that happens, your apartment has already completed the eviction process, and all of your stuff is gone.

[@sasak369]

I've never been homeless, but once a homeless guy sat across from me in the tram, struck up a conversation and really gave me the impression that he was just glad to be treated like a person for once, be listened to. I realized that the only thing that separated me from him was I have parents who can afford to house me even when I'm not in a position to completely take care of myself out in the world yet, as a mentally ill student. I'm just lucky. The injustice broke my heart.

[@AnthonyGoodley]

As other replies here show becoming homeless can happen a multitude of ways to people. Often through no fault of their own. Yet so many people who are a paycheck or two away from being homeless look down upon those without and have no empathy. I'm rather confident that things are going to keep getting worse before it gets better Things will be forced to change as the number of people going hungry and sleeping on the streets increases else crime will.

[@krejados1]

You're right, Ellary. Both of my homelessness stints were brought on by traumatic events - first time, fleeing an abusive marriage and, second, losing everything in a housefire (set by the guy that was selling me the house, so he could collect the insurance). Each time, finding the will to dust off and rehouse for the sake of my kids incredibly difficult.

[@scarlettraven6505]

As a formally homeless woman, I can also add the complication of just being female. Period products can be very difficult to come across and a lot of shelters and programs are run by religious organizations that aren’t really all that interested in helping homeless women. Thank you for shining such a bright light on serious topics.

[@coalblooded]

Period products should be free for everyone, but especially those who are experiencing homelessness.

[@___Kelli___]

I’ve been homeless at two different points in my life and I can attest that finding help for my situation was unbelievably restrictive in regards to the charities unwillingness to help me because I wasn’t catholic, because I cohabitated with my long term bf (we were unmarried) and I think it’s atrocious that those were deal breakers.

[@coldscorpion6973]

​​@@___Kelli___ I am a Catholic and it makes me sick how conservative and not helpful the Catholics are in the US. The whole point of believing in Jesus is that you don't discriminate anyone because you must love even your enemies. As the pope said "the only time you can look someone from above is to help them get back on their feet"

[@gloomyblackfur399]

Thank you. As a male (mostly) I really hadn't thought of that aspect of homelessness.

[@randallcauley9484]

Just being able to access a bathroom for human needs, find clean water, change clothes, or show up clean for a job .... If people just used any amount of consideration (even if they were a bit short on the empathy spectrum, or like, diminutive), it would be obvious (and easy) to create solutions (and livable cities). The Frisco interview - spot on. So many folks doing this. It's what Frisco means

[@Yerp_To_Da_Skerp]

As someone who was homeless its absolutely the most dehumanizing I've ever experienced. I was beat multiple times while sleeping, sometimes from police sometimes just random people, had food and drinks thrown on me, had the police cut my sleeping bag into pieces, and even now that I own my own company work every day and support my family and in fact own a house I've been mocked or shamed by people who found out. I am just as human now as I was then and yet stray dogs are treated with more kindness than I ever was

[@HarshRajAlwaysfree]

sucks man... civilization have truely fcked us up they have made surviving detached from it really difficult, they say you are free but it almost seems like hoax if I'm free i should have a choice to just detach and live on my own but all the resources are hoarded by the people at least mostly accessible one are how can we survive out of this slavery for money, for things we don't even care, we have become a slave of each other its really disappointing, we are supposed to be free but we don't even know anyway out of the system we were raised in this only to be a gear, if function badly we just get thrown away and replaced

[@poundfoolish6702]

Chris . I’m proud you and the changes you made you are more man than most people will ever be. God bless you and your family

[@leok7193]

Hey, don't bring dogs into this. I like them more than humans anyway.

[@RetardGamingHDx]

/r/thathappened

[@Yerp_To_Da_Skerp]

@@RetardGamingHDx ....? Why would someone even lie about something like that. I was a herion addict for 15 years constantly in and out of sober houses and on the streets... but I could honestly careless if you believe me. But just saying, you're definitely part of the problem here and you may need to self reflect on that a lil buddy.

[@karinagutierrez7134]

As someone who has worked with those experiencing homelessness, I want to point out that experiencing homelessness in itself can create mental illness. Everyone goes through trauma differently, but constantly being in a fight or flight state because you don’t have your basic needs met changes your neuropathways and can lead to illnesses such as PTSD and anxiety.

[@HonestlyYrTrippin]

It can also lead to "Brief Traumatic Psychosis" Literal hallucinations induced just by stress.

[@ashleygarcia7608]

I feel you. I also work with homeless transitional age youth and all their stressors add up and it’s difficult for them to find housing

[@stevenkaz28]

Never thought of that. EXCELLENT point.

[@anontheshade]

This. There are many root causes of homelessness, but it's mental illness and addiction that keeps then there. We should focus funding on treatment, and not government assisted housing in over priced cities.

[@xuto2693]

Having been homeless I can attest to this. The unimaginable stress, no safety, no relaxation, no peace, no rest, no recovery. It's trauma inducing. Psychosis inducing. It breaks you mentally. Truly breaks you. And that just makes getting out even harder, if you even can.

[@ulfrmolette1043]

I remember in Florida when it was passed to make it illegal to feed the homeless, and a priest who refused to cooperate (he and his church regularly gave food services and donations on a frequent basis) was arrested. I'm not a Christian, but damn. This man was doing right.

[@ChineduOpara]

Christianity in the dUSA is a facade for domestic terrorism and pure hatred.

[@lackeyreader]

I remember that story. I felt such rage at those who thought that making it illegal to feed people was a good idea. Talk about the devil walking among us.

[@aoeu256]

Have a camera out and speak to people who defend that law...

[@XaadeTheBlade]

@@ChineduOpara So is humanitarianism. People are people. Whether they are religious or not, they will either act for good or for evil. Religion is not inherently anything. Notable atheists have advocated for genocide or racial superiority, and so on, list goes on.

[@cherachapin3826]

Unfortunately, its becoming illegal to feed homeless in many places. I was 16 working as a lifeguard and there was an elderly man well known for living outside the ballpark. Anyone going to a baseball game knew this man. He was in a broken down old wheel chair and had no legs. He never asked anyone for money. Instead he asked for food, which he often shared with other homeless individuals who were too ashamed even to "speak" to the people spending hundreds of dollars to see a baseball game. Everyday when I went on my lunch break, I used to go to Subway and pick up an extra sandwhich for him. He was really nice and interesting to talk to. Not creepy or anything like that. One day I was stopped by police because "feeding the homeless is illegal". When I asked them how could such a ridiculous law exist, they explained that often people will buy food of some sort and do something to it to make it dirty or even poisonous and that is why it is illegal. Honestly, that was the most horse 💩 I'd ever heard in my life, but sadly I can also see it being a thing. Infacr, not long ago there was a man in Missouri who was arrested because he was bragging to his friends that he 💩 in a sandwhich and fed it to a homeless person on a regular basis...gross. But I can't imagine the number of people doing that is so high that making it illegal to feed someone is justified. Afterall, you could come to my house and I could barbeque some meat and piss all over it and with all the sauce you might not even know. So I guess anyone eatting outside the home should be illegal? Or cooking a dinner for your date should be illegal cause who knows, they might put some date rape drugs or something. So wildly ridiculous

[@abstract_extremist]

"You wear your bias like a badge of honor when you see my history. You judge me for having children, for needing assistance. You hate me for wanting the stability you take for granted and why, because you didn't like looking the other way when you saw me on the street or is it simply because I make you uncomfortable and your discomfort is enough to disqualify a person from the American dream." -kiana Scott Powerful words. Excuse my terrible grammar i was just disappointed I didn't see anyone else mention her.

[@jaridkeen123]

I was homeless for 4 months in my early 20s. I have never felt so much hate. I worked 50 hours a week and I was so frustrated on why I couldn't afford a place to live. Edit: Where i was working: - Publix (Grocery Store) - Some Fast Food Job ( I dont remember what one, i worked for so many food industry jobs) I lived in Florida and Delaware homeless time to time. In Delaware I was paid $7.25 an hour and i think my take home pay was $900 or something a month after tax. Florida was not much better, made $1200 a month but rent was $1400 - $1750 No, im no longer poor or homeless. Im a Software Engineer now. No, hard work didn't get me where i am. It was knowing people

[@BlackJesus8463]

vanlife

[@Andreamom001]

I have a family member who had a similar situation. Work friends offered a room but charged her exorbitant rates and then locked up the toilet paper and food so she couldn’t have any. She went to a shelter.

[@johnsmith-so5do]

What did you do for work, where do you live and when was this ?

[@mostbestjia627]

Have you tried moving to a different city? You don’t have to be stuck at one place forever

[@robertblokdijk901]

America.. home of the homeless. so FREE. to live under a bridge. Poverty is everywere.. but.. in a country with trilloinairs it is insulting .

[@JRubin3]

I’m currently living in my car. I have a job at Wendy’s working as much as I can. I want to get a second job but my driver’s license is listed as my previous apartment where I was evicted from. I can’t update my license because of the real i.d act which requires me to have a physical address. I have a P.O. Box that I thought I could use, but that doesn’t count anymore (at least in Florida). Without that drivers license I’m stuck in the single job making enough money to eat fast food and live in my car barely. If I ever have a medical emergency or a car accident/theft I’m screwed. My town has 3 shelters, two of which are women or family’s only and the last one has such a big problem with theft and vandalism that I won’t touch it with a ten foot pole. Hell I just got the vaccine because I needed to have a valid i.d just to get it till recently. Thank you for shining a light on this John

[@dannydaw59]

How does the real id act relate to employers?

[@Primalxbeast]

I'm also living in a car with a driver's license that has been expired for 2 years because of that stupid real id law. I lost my birth certificate, so that's a problem on top of the no address problem. You need a birth certificate to get ID and you need ID to get a copy of your birth certificate. I'm lucky that the police in my area have been understanding about me not being able to get my licenses renewed, but I'm afraid to drive to other areas for things like doctor's appointments.

[@ol1294]

Can you ask a Co worker to lend you there address if they rent a apt. Or find someone that is willing to lend you an address

[@tovanto3971]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYCam6WKhq2AndE

[@goodvibrato]

Eating fast food is expensive. Try throwing together some cheap meals that don't need refrigeration. A can of Ranch Style beans is amazing by itself, rice cakes and peanut butter, can of mixed nuts (expensive but makes a good snack for several days or a week), dark chocolate (72% cacao for something relatively tasty and healthy), can of tuna and whole grain crackers, pickled vegetables, almonds, apples, bananas, carrots, bell peppers. Obviously raw fruits and veggies need to be eaten within a few days.

[@dylank.4498]

As a veteran myself, it really grinds my gears that we have those in government, who don’t dare increase spending on social programs but have ZERO hesitancy to increase spending on the military, police, and jails/prison. Their excuse to not supporting social programs seems to always be “we cannot afford it.” Problem is we can afford it. We just have our priorities out of whack.

[@garbageparade5144]

The problem is you have no idea what you are talking about we spend far less on the military then social programs actually look at some budget reports

[@TitoTimTravels]

We outspend every other country in the world for military. We have unlimited funds to waste on war, and no one asks who will pay for it. But try to actually help our own people? Oh...perish the thought.

[@angelan6121]

@@garbageparade5144 it's how amazing how confident you are with being wrong. You should look at the budget report yourself before you advice others to do so.

[@jocelyncooper1738]

The people in government in this country care absolutely nothing for the average person living hear. That becomes more e apparent to me as the days pass on.

[@jashanestone]

✅✅✅💯

[@rebeccah.4983]

Playing "it's raining tacos" to annoy and harass sleeping homeless people is an especially cruel song to play to people who very probably do not have access to daily food sources.

[@lindamorris3149]

I thought so too!

[@johnhamilton6003]

I was very disappointed John Oliver missed this very obvious point.

[@ChickSage]

The practice is cruel enough, but picking that song might keep someone from entering heaven

[@stoodmuffinpersonal3144]

I'm so mad that being a dick or being cruel going to people going through unimaginable pain seems so much easier and cooler to people, than. Idk. Trying to fic a single thing.

[@GottaWannaDance]

@@johnhamilton6003 This show is about homelessness, not food, clothing, etc. Homelessness and it's opposite ( living in a home, with a toilet, shower or bath, bed to lie flat and safely in, etc.) is the topic.

[@70528g]

"despite Tyra's best efforts, homelessness is still a huge problem in this country" almost got me killed...

[@VoodooV1]

waitwaitwait. You mean to tell me....a rich and famous celebrity....didn't solve the problem?? I need to sit down here and think about that.

[@Gepstra]

Get well soon!

[@estefanolivares4159]

@@VoodooV1 well when the people won't let you build in their " backyard " is it any surprise

[@religionisapoison2413]

@@estefanolivares4159 "y'aint building huts in my town. No no. My town's a sanctuary city for life, the real life: unborn babies. Not actual people. Ban abortions and homeless people." -Mason, OH Laura Strietmann right to life, divorcee and foreclosed upon person (Hamilton county Ohio court records);

[@TexelGuy]

The punchline to that joke came AFTER the punchline.

[@toryhavoc3152]

I was homeless at 18 and would have been homeless many times since then if I did not have a support system of loving friends and family. I have no addictions, minimal health issues, and live in a relatively affordable place. I am educated, hard working, and never without a job or 2. Stability is ridiculously fragile and more than half the people I ever met struggling with homelessness have lost their stability due to something 100% out of their control. I hope this mentality catches traction. Be kind💙💚

[@sixfeetundertheradar6080]

With my mental health I can barely work, I have a part time job which I put ALL my energy and effort in but as soon as I clock out I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck and am exhausted and drained from a interaction. By the time I’m feeling better it’s time to clock in again. If it weren’t for my family I’d be homeless

[@TheDuality0fMan]

It shocks me how razor thin the line is between comfort and desolation. I'm lucky enough to currently enjoy relative comfort, and have for most of my life, but the nagging doom in the back of my mind, that I'm one problem, or fuck up, or even piece of bad luck, away from losing that is always there. Society was supposed to get better. Instead it just feels like it's getting worse. I'm glad you're doing well right now, and hope it lasts.

[@razz1166]

I think I read it in a Malcolm Gladwell book, but something like 80% of the unhoused were not homeless months ago and won’t be homeless a few months from how. There’s no room for error at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder and no one can reliably survive no room for error for long. An efficient social safety net is an absolute necessity in an advanced society, which we claim to be.

[@toriless]

It used to be only half, now it is more.

[@kitcoffey7194]

EVERYONE DESERVES HOUSING.

[@boink666]

I was homeless as a kid. I can say it wasn't a choice. It wasn't from addiction. I was lucky and got rehoused. Thanks John Oliver bringing this up. So many people live this horror in their lives, it doesn't have to be this way.

[@Chrisko1492]

And? You were clearly in the minority of homeless people. The majority are dangerous no-goods, with drug addictions and/or severe mental illnesses. This video only showed the good ones, like the guy who was singing without reason, or the woman with the letter. If those people lived near you in affordable housing, no one would have anything against that (well, except legit white-supremacists - so, republicans). BUT the truth is that the majority of this affordable housing will be savages, shitting on your lawn, harassing you and maybe even commit crimes like breaking into your house. Of course, those people weren‘t showed in this video. Can‘t destroy the narrative.

[@HarryBalzak]

How about your parents? What happened to them? Death, abandonment, drugs, or mental illness?

[@latch9781]

Glad to hear you got help Zack

[@solsystem1342]

@@HarryBalzak wow, definitely need to punish children for their parent's actions by making them grow up on the streets. Also, have you perhaps considered that people just legitimately can't afford their rent? I've worked with people who worked around 80 hours a week in order to make ends meet. What do they do if they have a medical emergency? Get a 4th part time job? What if they get injured and can't work? (For reference she did have two dependents one of which needed specialized medical care). Not everyone grew up with middle/upper class parents like us that could always afford the necessities.

[@boink666]

@@solsystem1342 It wasn't the fault of my parents either. Back in the 90's brain injuries weren't fully understood or treated. I along with my family experienced a violent car accident that caused my parents to lose their jobs/prospects/dreams/minds, the family dog to be throw from the car, and caused the whole family to be homeless and fucked up from a brain injury at the same time. It took years of healing to even get to a place close to "normal".

[@TheOriginalMarkJones]

My wife was homeless at one point. She worked 3 jobs and put herself through law school while couch surfing and depending on the kindness of strangers. People desperately misunderstand the state of homelessness in this country.

[@randallcauley9484]

If not for the kindness of friends...There are so many good people who get it. But there are a LOT of people working (at all levels of government and in businesses that should know better) to make it harder on Americans. Dumb. Regressive. And a major policy fail for a so-called developed country. This issue alone drags us from "#17" in the world in terms of quality of life, to #29 and dropping in terms of well-being and "happiness" index (think, life, liberty, and the pursuit metrics). F (fail)

[@SidV101]

She actually *did* choose that for herself though; being in grad school opens the door to student loans. Couch surfing is a really smart way to avoid student debt but she could have rented if she wanted to.

[@TheOriginalMarkJones]

@@SidV101 She did eventually. There was just this period of time that was simply not possible.

[@bodenlosedosenhose1590]

Screaming "go home" at homeless people might be the single most idiotic thing I've ever heard about.

[@ewarren4244]

It comes from the lie that's a lot of news outlets perpetuate that the majority of the homeless population came to the city because they heard it was soft on homelessness. (This is very popular in Seattle, but it turns out, if you include the Seattle area, most homeless people here lived here before they were homeless) It helps sell the idea of homeless people as invaders who can be forced back to 'where they came from' with sufficient cruelty.

[@bodenlosedosenhose1590]

@@ewarren4244 Forgive me my rather disrespectful tone, but it seems that quite a few people in the US, despite the country owning the reputation of inhabiting the most patriotic people on this planet, really enjoy tearing into each other for the most outrageously idiotic reasons.

[@simplyincorrigible7708]

er, other cities have a habit of bussing their homeless to more liberal places. Spend some time around that crowd. A sizeable number aren't from that area at all.

[@leok7193]

Living in Southern California, it isn't that strange. We have a ton of homeless showing up from other cities and states because of ridiculously liberal laws, good climate, and relatively generous population.

[@bodenlosedosenhose1590]

@@leok7193 Still one doesn't know a homeless person personally, so one could yell that at somebody who actually hasn't been bussed to their city, and furthermore this way of interaction with homeless people shows very prominently a certain, if not great disdain for folks "underneath" one in society.

[@codelicious6590]

"Your discomfort is enough to disqualify a person from the American Dream" wow, nail on the head.

[@timothymiddleton6651]

Says the person who bought a smart phone instead of buying 50 meals for the homeless.

[@codelicious6590]

@@timothymiddleton6651 Fallacious logic aside, me and my smartphone are far from being the cause of suffering.

[@avokevo5394]

@@codelicious6590 it goes without saying, but please disregard Timothy. Literally pure nonsense, so we’ll keep it moving. That woman really did nail it. We need to help give these folks a foundation to stand on. No pun intended.

[@timothymiddleton6651]

@@avokevo5394 I’m in awe of how good of a person you are.

[@avokevo5394]

@@timothymiddleton6651 thanks

[@Stampede103]

Playing “It’s Raining Tacos” to hungry, starving homeless people trying to sleep is just cruel and unusual punishment

[@ProbotX-eo5ln]

Hahahahaha

[@christinafidance340]

I agree!

[@vienlacrose]

Its psychological warfare

[@nataliekhanyola5669]

That's republican "christian compassion" for you.

[@marcosolo5718]

Soak in the fact that sleep deprivation is prohibited and considered torture under international rules and conventions even to PRISONERS, let alone to normal citizens.

[@cRusty-r5x]

I'm currently homeless. I've worked my whole life and had as much as anybody else. I appreciate what John is doing here and want to say it can happen to you, and it can happen fast.

[@nacarreira777]

It's not right to have human beings living in the street in the "greatest nation in the world." It's wrong.

[@damnthatwizard1463]

This one hit REALLY hard. I just got out of homelessness, living on my friends’ couch for about 5 months, then back in a toxic household. I got lucky in finding a place, with a LOT of help from outside groups (no organizations, just peers and friends) and I’m LUCKY. I HATE that this has to be said, but homeless people are fucking people too.

[@shaunaburton7136]

They are. I live in a town with a lot of homeless and the city is always pushing them around. The police call it pushing water.

[@lynnharris7119]

I'm happy you have a safe place, homelessness is not a choice & happens to good people, my god rent is so high it blows my mind, if you own then taxes are just as insane. Too much money wasted on bs, that could help many people. Blessings to you🤗

[@torturedsoul4397]

Yes we are all human but what happens when someone stops acting human because they're so drug addicted and dangerous?

[@user-yc8xw8bd5r]

@@torturedsoul4397 A lot of homeless people become drug addicted and dangerous because of the harsh conditions they're under. Boredom, hunger, anxiety, and sleeplessness will make the best of people turn to doing drugs, stealing, and whatever they have to to survive. They are still people. They need to be rehabilitated and healed from all that trauma, and they are still people.

[@taylorbastian9670]

I wish I could help people in situations like what you were more at my agency. Unfortunately, HUD thought you are not homeless. That really sucks and I'm sorry you had to deal with that.

[@discon_csert]

Playing "It's raining tacos /in the street/ it's raining tacos /all you can eat" to someone hungry and homeless could be considered torture. I would want to cease to exist.

[@amberleighstorms126]

@@richardmaclean4519 ......I'm sorry, what?

[@lS-qp6zq]

Definitely evil.

[@frankielopezzamudio4127]

Yes its insane how systematically cruel humans can be but it's our task to make this world a better place before we leave it 👍

[@ioanbotez7128]

Exactly, it's in such bad taste it left me speechless. The lack of empathy is amazing, and likely linked to the division in US society.

[@MrTwenty20video]

@@frankielopezzamudio4127 ✌

[@kevgmor]

Thank you for this piece. I was chronically homeless since a teen, now 49 and housed for the past 2+ years through the VA; They've helped a great deal with my mental health care. Now I work as a peer/musician; performing at the shelters...it's wonderful!

[@ashleyshelley9774]

Happy for you! 💓❤️💕

[@lolopop12345]

The VA was actually beneficial?

[@01jbeals]

❤️

[@richardmaclean4519]

clorox yes thanks for the refi… You paid for it.

[@sweetums1634]

I just subscribed to you ! Keep it up, I Love it !!!

[@siriusputsch1842]

"Far too often, stories focusing on homelessness are presented solely through the lens of how it affects those with homes, when, in reality, it is obviously the people without them who need the real help." ~John Oliver

[@josephdrury8579]

That is such a dumb quote and it is even more idiotic to idealize it. Let me rephrase it for you - " Far too often, stories focusing on homelessness are presented solely through the lens of those with homes and or apartments, aka basic normal fucking individuals who are very clearly the majority in society and thus the narrative portraying an issue through the lens that most of the population sees it through is not inherently bad." And that, my friend, is a huge point that this episode missed. Normally a great show, but this one was terrible.

[@chinmaypurohit3431]

@@josephdrury8579 This is where the “Not in my backyard attitude stems from”. A lot of them could really go ahead and improve their lives but without a home, you cannot take a shower for a job interview, or apply for jobs, so essentially people like you call them abnormal and also block their pathway to normalcy, not very different from the slave owners

[@ejshafer]

@@josephdrury8579Haha! Oh yeah. I couldnt make it past 10 minutes. What a bunch of bullshit. I'll go find another episode to watch instead....

[@bobpurcell7175]

Actually, not all Americans are assholes. 1 out of 3 deserve to live. I'm sure I don't need to name names here.

[@bobpurcell7175]

​@@josephdrury8579 If you haven't experienced it, your opinion shouldn't mean shit to anybody, just like it doesn't to me.

[@TheWiseAss]

I've been homeless for the better part of 10 years. In all those years, I've never taken a dump on a street, committed a crime (except failing to pay child support), or stolen anything. I smoke weed when I can get it, but do not drink or do any other drugs... I'm exhausted. Each season brings new challenges, whether it be the frigid cold of winter or the blistering heat of summer, and food is ALWAYS hard to come by. There are places that feed, but to be near those places you have to risk sleeping in very violent camps and alleys where even the housed will attack you for no reason. Everyone hates me without knowing anything about me. They scream at me, throw things at me...and I've done nothing to them except share their air space. For someone to say "he chose this life", I say this: Why the fuck would ANYONE want to be hated this much?

[@eshbena]

Not sure what to say except I'm sorry and I never thought homelessness was a 'choice'.

[@sunfeatherX3]

Dumbass question I’m sure, but where do you shit? Like, all bathrooms also have locks on them where you have to buy something to be allowed to shit. Street dumps cost nothing but dignity, and I’d assume dignity is harder to come by than food in some cases

[@saranghae2808]

💔💔💔 I hope things get better for you 🙏 Sending you love from South Africa ❤️

[@marcod5027]

So rough. It's incredible to me how so many people on the streets still find the strength to prevail, to keep on going with dignity. It humbles me often. I hope it helps to see that most hate you get is poorly translated fear from people who are afraid that they themselves could not deal with the harsh situations you have to deal with everyday. But hey, all I try to say is, keep up the good work brother, let's change this system into a fairer one!

[@malcolm2466]

If I may ask, how did you post this

[@michaelpara8582]

I'm always kind to the homeless because I'm acutely aware that in this country I'm only 1 or 2 bad choices or circumstances away from being right there with them.

[@FrayedSanity1981]

That is one of the things that I find so infuriating with your country. Almost no form of support system (that actually works). In Norway (where I live), you cannot end up homeless. (Well, you can, but it`s almost as if you need to make an effort to get there. Those that are, are usually people with severe drug issues, that have more or less given up on life. And even they have a bed and meal at local shelteres every night.) The support network is vast. No matter how hard you screw up, everybody deserves a second chance. Its sad to me that so many people are one step from endig up on the streets.

[@arielgaede3673]

Not even a bad choice, just 1 or 2 instances of bad luck can do it

[@havelock285]

@@FrayedSanity1981 there are so many social programs similar to what you’ve mentioned here in the US. There are government systems and independent charities/non-profits that help. In my small(tourist) town we have a homeless shelter that houses and feeds people and also helps them get jobs.

[@xzonia1]

Technically speaking, I've been homeless many times in my adult life but am fortunate to come from a large family, so I've always had a roof over my head (just not one I paid for). We would have so many more noticeably homeless people in the US if they didn't have family / friends take them in when something unfortunate happens to them. I really do wish the US would prioritize making home ownership an affordable option for all Americans. The way our country runs right now is ridiculous.

[@ianbattles7290]

@@arielgaede3673 Exactly, I'm one broken leg away from no income, which means no rent, which means no home.

[@quinnwatson6060]

Don't forget, you have more in common with a homeless person than a CEO. Many of us are one or two bad circumstances away from living on the streets, even if we don't realize it or think so Also-- I had completely wiped all memories of "raining tacos" from my mind, I had completely forgotten that song and video existed until watching this episode. It filled me with an indescribable emotion something akin to nostalgia and rage

[@JT-xj1pg]

Raining tacos is a low key racist song

[@edelweiss8168]

Most people don't realize that a mental breakdown can happen to ANYONE. I had a wonderful, happy life when I was hit by a psychosis. Out of the blue. Thankfully, I had a loving family that took care of me. Not everyone has that. So they don't get treatment. They lose everything: job, home, car, friends, and often their so-called partners. And they end up on the street. If you think it can't happen to YOU, you're wrong.

[@NajxxTrebla]

God bless america

[@sengabrockerhoff5750]

Yep! Reality is we're in a capitalist system where we're all just 3 missed paycheck or 1 mental breakdown from homelessness.

[@adde9506]

Fun fact: raccoon turds can look like they came from a human. When a tent city springs up, the amount of animal-accessible food goes up, making a trash panda population boom possible. People don't generally poop on your lawn, homeless or not, but I swear raccoons do it just to screw with you.

[@bigmarty11288]

Raccoons are almost smart enough to know it annoys people

[@caseyleirer9677]

It’s also a lot of humans. It’s absurd in a lot of places. They have literal shit maps.

[@williamslater-vf5ym]

Whether it's human shit or raccoon shit, it's shit, caused by the existence of a tent city. So I'm not sure what your point is here. And humans also do things "just to screw with you". I had a friend who took a dump in somebody's car, "just to screw with him". If you're a human, pissed off that another human has a home and you don't, you might take a dump in their yard. Especially if you're withdrawing from opiates.

[@mammawlee]

If the raccoons and the homeless cats ever get together, we will all be vegetarian. AND homeless. Because raccoons have HANDS and cats feel they are at the top of the food chain.

[@williamslater-vf5ym]

@@mammawlee If it came to that, we would just see a lot more cat and raccoon stew.

[@1yellowbutterfly679]

I would also like to add that funding libraries can do some serious serious good for unhoused people. When my brother and I were living out of my van we would go to the libraries from the time they opened to the time they closed applying for jobs, charging our stuff, using the bathrooms, filling up on water, etc. Idk where I would be without the libraries and the people who helped us

[@MarcosIsABaritone]

This part!

[@brandonkohler9721]

Libraries are a cornerstone of our civilization in so, so many ways. Pay attention to who tries to defund them.

[@jprevatt]

Well, for a few hours a day. Not much more, or they suspect you of loitering...

[@1yellowbutterfly679]

@@jprevatt I don't know what the library rules are by you, but we were there from the time they opened to the time they closed every day for weeks on end and no one bothered us. And this was across about 5 different libraries, but 90% of our time was split between 2 depending on where we were able to park. Libraries are kind of built for loitering

[@duncanmchenry3349]

They should have homeless case managers at every library in America

[@Overthought7]

"Far too often, stories focusing on homelessness are presented solely thru the lens of how it affects those with homes, when in reality it is obviously the people without them who need the real help." This is always my reaction to these stories, but he said it way better than I could have!

[@Wwetitanfan27]

so true

[@Enoch-Root]

It's easy for John Oliver to make jokes and virtue signal about this issue while getting paid large amounts of money, but he hasn't really provided a solution. Is he willing to have homeless people in his backyard?

[@lilyhammer6661]

Enoch Root it sure sounds like he is. Also he presented that Affordable Housing First and Rapid Rehousing are both effective programs.

[@bradfieldheiser7106]

@@lilyhammer6661 he presented? So what has he done individually in terms of his time and money? Did he donate the proceeds he made from this show to the homeless problem? No he pocketed the proceeds, hypocrite

[@Enoch-Root]

@@lilyhammer6661 He mentioned that giving houses to the homeless is cheaper, fine. But people are going to be angry if illegal immigrants are being given houses, especially if they get them instead of American citizens. The problem is either you can have open borders, but low taxes and very little in the way of social services. Or you can have closed borders and social services that can provide much more. Most people just aren't willing to have their taxes used to help people who have no legal right to live in their country. I'm not American by the way and never been there, the homeless problem in America is just shocking, and something that American media has for the most part hidden away from the rest of the world.

[@rowandownstream3539]

"But despite Tyra's best efforts homelessness is still a huge problem in this country"

[@bigcity2085]

In Boulder, CO., they made camping in the city illegal, which moved the homeless up into the foothills, where unfortunately , their camps started a few forest fires, plus the rich folk up there don't want the homeless living out in the woods. "Pushing them somewhere else" doesn't work.

[@MorboTheDiddlyDo]

@@bigcity2085 Look up George Carlin talking about NIMBYs (not in my back yard) and die a little when you realize its from the 90s and still VERY relevant.

[@Dong_Harvey]

@@bigcity2085 to the rich, homeless people are a sign that order still exists in the hierarchy they pay pigs to enforce

[@markbahouth2713]

@@Dong_Harvey no problem Mega maniac Bezos who owns the earth and desires the " HIGH Ground and does not want to be taxed will give free tickets to Mars to the homeless to experience any down side to Martian life. they must report to Bezos or he will abandon them to perpetual orbit in space debris.

[@Dong_Harvey]

@@markbahouth2713 Bezos is his own problem compounding geometrically upon the rest of humanity

[@Panfrog.7]

I'm a 16 year old when I was 11 me and my family lost our home because we were renting and it was sold out from under us with little warning we slept in a motel and it was one of the worst experiences of my life but we still had enough food and had a warm place to sleep at night these people who don't have either of those deserve much better

[@POBAllstar46]

So glad you touched on NIMBY policies. NIMBY policies and the zoning laws are such a huge part of the problem.

[@kai663]

Single family zoning is cancer

[@AUTISTICLYCAN]

Zoning laws only creates ghettos because people with money always can flee the poor making new protected spaces away from the very poor. When you lose middle class residents, the stores and services they need the process of disinvestment begins. The housing stock decays and soon you have "The Projects!" The "Projects" are anyplace where crime, hookers, dope addicts and all the attributes of poverty reign supreme. NIMBY's can afford to leave all that!

[@LowLight420]

Thousand Oaks priced me out, so I moved to Redding. Redding is pricing me out, AND they ordinanced section-8 out of the city proper. AND HUD purged it's waitlist, so all those vouchers will expire in 60 days because the industry is LYING about available properties.

[@holachristinita]

The NIMBYs in Austin aren't pearl-clutching wealthy white women. They're working-class Black and Latino families afraid of displacement. California tech bros have no shame in infiltrating their neighborhoods. I'm all for creating new housing for the transplants, but it's all in East Austin and Rainey Street, which is still feeling the effects of urban renewal.

[@alaly1027]

I wonder if a possible remedy to this is to put rehousing communities in multiple locations. So not just one community has to worry about "oh the crime", "oh our image", "oh our property value". Which those stereotypes are not rooted in absolutely nothing but no one can claim "no fair!" if multiple communities do their part.

[@Dreska_]

'Get these homeless off our streets!' 'Ok, we'll build accomodation & services in the area' 'Not in my backyard!' People like that don't want to see the less-fortunate given opportunities, they just don't want to see them at all.

[@far2ez539]

Would be great if people would stop making choices that lead to homelessness. John showed a bunch of people. Know what they largely had in common? Even moreso than skin color or location? Kids. Like that woman who was working as an aide in a mental health shelter (obviously not a high-paying career) and had a stay-at-home husband and was rising two kids, one with autism. Yeah, no shit that you can't afford a life for four people on such a job. I make deep six figures but I won't even buy a dog because it's too much of a potential financial burden. I have health insurance but I injured my back gravely last year and chose not to go to the hospital because I was convinced they wouldn't do anything for me other than toss me some painkillers and a $3k ambulance bill. And I could trivially afford a $3k ambulance bill, but I didn't want to pay it. I'm only ~30, but I've got over $300k saved for retirement. I pre-qualify for a mortgage decently into the 7 figures, but looked at houses with prices no higher than $230k. Being homeless isn't a choice, but people who are homeless often made a SERIES of choices to reach that point. It's like chess: nobody willingly moves their king into a situation where they can be checkmated, but if you are about to get checkmated you definitely made a lot of fucking bad moves earlier on that led to this scenario. Just because your come-uppance from your bad decisions on turns 10-20 isn't coming until turn 40 doesn't mean that you aren't responsible.

[@BRM2X]

@@far2ez539 It's mere human nature. Not everyone can be Light Yagami, it shouldn't be the standard of survival.

[@bryaneverett9850]

Pretty typical for a Democrat. They are only generous with other people’s resources.

[@BRM2X]

@@bryaneverett9850 Yes.

[@justinmadrid8712]

Why don't you adopt a homeless person then Mr. righteous? Seriously. Go find a homeless person and let them live with you for a while.

[@YuukitheMighty1]

"Housing costs are rising faster than wages." Say it louder for the people in the back.

[@doneestoner9945]

Many people that have jobs cannot afford the astronomical rents around here.

[@aronchai]

Read 'Progress and Poverty" by Henry George for insight as to why.

[@theBear89451]

@@aronchai That's only a very small part of what is going on. The CURRENT growth rate differential is primary caused by simultaneously increasing the money supply while shutting down businesses.

[@elizabethpalumbo6516]

Agreed! I would be house poor with current rents if I lived alone and one paycheck away from the streets myself.

[@mr.jodaniels4156]

Why do you suppose that is happening?

[@jacob07221]

living here in portland oregon, i’ve had my fair share of experiences with the houseless, and i can say without a doubt the overwhelming majority of them have been positive. i’ve bought them dinner, i’ve talked and laughed with them, hell i even helped one move by shoving their stuff into my car. it’s been an incredibly humbling experience for me and done nothing but motivate me further to fight for equity in this disgusting system of oppression we call the US. i myself am fortunate enough to have housing with great roommates, a full time job, and a family that would take me in in a heartbeat if that was ever to happen to me, but even still i live very much paycheck to paycheck and it’s not any less stressful

[@warpossum2174]

In regards to the intersection of homelessness, mental illness, and addiction… two decades of EMT and law enforcement experience has shown me that mental illness and addiction occurs EVERYWHERE. On the streets, in the trailer parks, in the suburban bilevels, even in the big fancy McMansions. The big difference is who has adequate support networks and access to evidence-based therapies and treatment.

[@waywardgoddess7219]

I've worked in healthcare for 4yrs now and every patient I've had with mental illness has polysubsance abuse and 110% of the time are homeless. Breaks my heart because they have zero access to adequate healthcare and all they can do is self medicate. The most recent shattered my heart. Lost his wife 6mo ago and she was his world. His depression has destroyed him and he's homeless too. 😔 fk this world sometimes

[@malum9478]

exactly. it's the most obnoxious and ignorant argument "bUt wHAt If TheYre ViOleNT???" what if your next door neighbor's violent. what if your cousin's violent. what if YOU'RE violent--i don't know you! you could cut people up in their backyard for all i know! for every story of a homeless person being "violent" i can show you ten of a suburban wine mom who did some of the most horrific shit humanly possible. total bs from those people.

[@StacySalles55]

Really good point!

[@Champigne]

Well said. And just fyi to those who may not know, 12 step meetings are not evidence based.

[@jamiehoule1583]

And so much of how addictions are treated is dependent on whether they're seen as "acceptable" addictions. Like the "wine mom" who freely admits to needing alcohol every single day to cope with the stress of her life and it's seen as a fun or quirky personality trait, but any other person who admits (or hides) their need for alcohol as a mechanism of self-medication is an alcoholic and has a problem. Same thing really applies to things like marijuana vs valium. Marijuana as a calming agent is seen as bad/problematic, but somehow valium for the same reason is totally okay. The whole thing is full of double standards.

[@celticwolff5429]

I was hoping John would point out how cruel it is to play a song about all you can eat tacos at homeless people.

[@skittenskitten]

I was thinking that too.. its so hard to fall asleep hungry and then having that song rubbing it in all through your sleep.. its really cruel actually

[@apuapustaja1958]

Homeless people can make 200+ dollars to feed their daily heroine habit. Being Homeless in the first world is not a bad life.

[@brianm7109]

@@skittenskitten Then they should go sleep somewhere else... Not on a walkway by the front door of a downtown business

[@everentropy]

@@apuapustaja1958 You did not watch this video did you. Yikes.I'd be embarrassed to write that

[@leadpaintchips9461]

@@everentropy People with that opinion, in my experience, don't think it's embarrassing to say that despite the evidence that's laid out in front of them.

[@johnfaber100]

How to solve homelessness: Finland: Give them all homes Germany: We'll pay your rent and help you get a job America: Make everything they do illegal

[@tovanto3971]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6jXi6WQhdGkrpY

[@drummilein]

There are still a lot of homeless people in Germany. Our system isn't working for everyone. Yeah its better than the US, but it's still shit.

[@koenkoe7]

@@drummilein no system works for everyone. The goal of the system is to make it work for as many people as possible and the other cases require special attention and might even provide small fixes to the system if they learn from it.

[@rayperez6322]

facts

[@blackjacki2]

It's only in red states where they make everything they do illegal. In progressive cities like San Francisco, Portland, Seattle they spend a lot on homelessness and the homeless are free to camp wherever they want. Take a guess where the bigger homelessness problem exists.

[@HIMAslapU]

My rent went from $500 a month to $350 a week (was living and working in a hotel, new owners came in with no warning). Now I live in a tent behind my job trying to save up enough to get a place. But people don't realize how expensive being homeless can be (yes there are different levels of homelessness), and how hard sometimes seemingly impossible it is to find a place.

[@BadgerX153]

I have been homeless before and have spent most of my life on the border of being homeless due to being disabled. The main thing that has kept me from living on the streets has been the kindness of friends. I am working part-time with my own business now, but so much of what has been said here rings so true. I may be disabled, but I can function and I am not a threat to other people nor am I an addict. Many people who turn to drugs as a solution do so because it is the only option they have to deal with pain be it emotional or physical... especially when they are living on the streets.

[@stahshakay8103]

Absolutely, I’m disabled and if it wasn’t for family help I would be homeless. There are next to zero help for housing for the disabled, it’s criminal:

[@poorinthepnw1340]

ive been homeless 5 years because no landlord will let ssi recipients live indoors. it sux.

[@BadgerX153]

@@poorinthepnw1340 I am so sorry. That does truly suck. I have been lucky as I said. There are so many places that want proof of employment for apartments and if you don't have that because you are disabled you can't get a place to live in many cases.

[@MrMancreatedgod]

Neither of you state your disability but want support?

[@lilyhillebrandt444]

@@MrMancreatedgod They don't have to openly state their disability for you to empathize with what they're saying is that that's reality

[@plagiats]

It is so incredibly cruel to blast "it's raining tacos in the streets" to tired hungry homeless PEOPLE

[@iloveplasticbottles]

Someone should go over and short the circuit of whichever speakers are playing that.

[@roostercogburn3272]

"Got any change?"

[@maxpower8549]

if there was a war, it would be a war crime to torture people

[@sarahoshea9603]

I thought it was strange he didn't address the fact that singing abt FOOD to ppl who were trying to sleep HUNGRY would be considered a war crime under the "No Torture" bit.

[@daggerthedragon1582]

"It's raining tacos," is an absolutely vile song to play specifically to taunt hungry people... I almost cried, and was just as shocked that this fact was never mentioned.

[@danieldaniels7571]

If I was homeless, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings any. I love that song.

[@undefinederror40404]

@@danieldaniels7571 *If* you were homeless, I don't think there's much reason for you to comment that.. Because we have no idea what it's really like to be homeless (on the longterm).

[@davidrule1335]

If they played the Shags philosophy of the world, they would leave.

[@Dogtrio]

@@undefinederror40404 oh I thought you meant because he would have to have internet to comment. Its a harmless joke, get off your high horse, we all know this to be true. If your going to try and help the homeless defending their honor on a comment on youtube isn't the way lol

[@danieldaniels7571]

@@undefinederror40404 I’m 51. I’ve spent nearly 5 years of my life homeless.

[@dotech4128]

I am homeless. I have been told to just get a job. Then I’ve explained that in order to obtain and maintain employment, you need a place to sleep, to wash your clothes, to shower, and food to eat. And in order to get any of those things, you need a job. It’s a catch 22, an endless cycle. But SO many people just can’t comprehend that.

[@Oblvious]

I got fired from a job within 3 weeks because I couldn't maintainl personal hygiene or wash my clothes due to being homeless. It's ridiculous. And even then you still have to give them a mailing address in the application process..

[@amila_]

I could never imagine hating on the homeless. Most of us are so close to homelessness and I don't understand how people can't realize it!!

[@toriless]

Much more now that covid-19 shutdown businesses, some forever.

[@Julia-lk8jn]

Agreed. I'm lucky to live in a country where it's pretty difficult to get rid of a tenant, and it's shocking to me how quickly that can be done in the US. Combine that with low wages, rising and yes, there are probably millions of US citizens who are living one accident, one expensive emergency room visit, one lay-off away from homelesness. I've read a quote years ago that US Americans have no sense of empathy with the poor because being poor is such a stigma that nobody considers themselves as "one of them", not even the poor themselves who rather view themselves as millionaires experiencing a bit of tough luck. It sounded over the top then. I wonder whether maybe the knowledge of being close to homelessness oneself get's repressed and turns into aggression against the people who remind you of that possibility.

[@BriannaBanana1]

@@Julia-lk8jn Speaking as an American, I'm guessing that that's exactly what happens in a lot of cases. At least on the more conservative side of things where being poor seems to get stigmatized as laziness.

[@darkriku12]

People aren't realizing that - as the middle class is deteriorating, wages are stagnating, and everything (especially housing) is getting more expensive - the middle class is functionally becoming poor and the poor are becoming homeless. You can have two jobs and still be homeless as rental properties are rejecting everyone they can and those jobs require completely irregular schedules. Then people complain the minimum wage jobs arent finding people.

[@darkriku12]

@PT and yet if you contribute to improving the lives of those homeless people, suddenly you have less homeless problems.

[@sarahuhlich6833]

I took a course in college where one of the assignments was a group homelessness simulation. We stayed in a nearby city over a weekend and were only allowed to bring the clothes on our back and a couple of other items we could carry on our persons. One of many of my takeaways from that weekend was simply how hard the very state of being homeless is - and we didn’t even have the full experience. We moved in groups for safety, we stayed in a pre-determined fenced-in area overnight, we had access to a port-a-potty, and we knew at the end of the weekend we had somewhere to go back to. We only had a taste, but I can tell you I don’t wish the real thing on anyone. People are mean. Your next meal may not be guaranteed. The weather is unpredictable. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s hard to better your situation when you’re in survival mode.

[@GadgetMsGadget]

As someone who once was in the homeless cycle, I appreciate your comment on your experimental experience.

[@BrightBlueJim]

The access to toilets is the number one problem. Without that you become an outlaw in less than a day.

[@Krystalmyth]

A decent experiment but a weekend is a rave/concert at best. Also the situation during the work week changes things when Monday arrives. Society has no quarter for you in their hearts. They turn on the hoses for you then. Its fucked.

[@Ginlock45]

Most homeless people live in cars

[@aliseegenuine6414]

@@Ginlock45 really? Are the tents considered hotels? Where do they park their cars? I have slept in my car and it wasn’t comfortable at all. A friend stayed weekends by her mom’s hospital bedside. She couldn’t afford a motel room, slept in her vehicle & used fast food restaurant rest room to clean up to go back into hospital. She worked full time during the week. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do, but it shouldn’t have to be a regular thing. Especially for children. Rental properties have increased drastically. It isn’t logical to have an empty building because you want to charge higher rent. What hurts the homeless is the people who take advantage of the funds they have no necessity for. Such as a person who lives with his/her companion & gets Section 8 funds as a renter. It’s true, it happens. This crazy world is filled with liars and abusers.

[@mcbeezie]

i was homeless as a kid with drug addicted parents, nothing made me feel more alone. the hateful way people look at you. To this day, that time affects my life and decisions more than any other thing in my life growing up.

[@johannakalytera9574]

So sorry to read that. That's awful. I hope you're okay now. 🌺

[@mcbeezie]

@@johannakalytera9574 thank you, I am. but it really instilled that "if you're not first than you're last" mentality that capitalism is known for.

[@johannakalytera9574]

@@mcbeezie i'm glad to hear that. You are perfectly right... All in all, when we pull the thread, the source of the problem is almost always capitalism. Homelessness is the one undeniable fact that capitalism is not working anymore. I hope that the US as well as all capitalist countries see this through. I live in a middle sized city in France and I am just so sad to see more and more ppl on the streets. I feel very helpless and angry at the system. Buying food and hot beverages for them is not going to fix their situation. Sorry I'm ranting. This piece was the piece we all needed. Warm regards from France, where the sitch is similar... The pb is global.

[@mariee.5912]

Alexander, I worked with homeless families and before they came to us the children were mistreated. It was vere sad to hear that.

[@mcbeezie]

@@mariee.5912thankfully my family loved me so much it got them to go straight, sometimes the best thing about me being born I thnk.

[@duncanmchenry3349]

I just watched this sitting in a tent, in a very affluent county in Virginia..i have been homeless since the start of the pandemic.. I have a job making more than minimum wage and still can't even afford a room here.. I don't spend money on drugs..and still can barely afford food.. I can't afford to simply move somewhere less expensive..i don't have a job there.. Even a couple months of housing would probably allow me to get ahead of this problem.. Just time to take a deep breath, feel like a person again..just a little break is a some people need.. Thank you so much for shining a realistic light on this problem..its never going to get better until more people see it this way...

[@phungdao4660]

"Far too often, stories focusing on homelessness are presented solely through the lens of how it affects those with homes when in reality it is obviously the people without them who need the real help." -- quite sobering. I've always felt a strong compassion towards the homeless community in our current houseless epidemic in Hawai'i and this sentence has made me realize that every policing policy or legislation proposal that has come out of our elected officials is literally to appease the loud homeowners and hardly anything to address the actual problem.

[@willythemailboy2]

Because a government who does not "appease" those homeowners won't be the government for very long. Any approach that ignores that obvious fact is going to fail.

[@overdose8329]

Taxpayers shouldn’t have to endure parks being turned into shitholes with shit, needles, urine, and severely mentally ill criminals. Also housing homeless people and providing all these services for free while lower class and lower middle class people suffer and have to pay for everything just squeezes the true middle class via taxes to pay for these people

[@atraxisdarkstar]

@Overdose​ In Canada we pay higher taxes, have a much more robust welfare system, and our middle class gets by just fine. Social housing here isn't "free" except in extreme circumstances (ie housing for women fleeing domestic violence and the like), but it is subsidized by the government and by taxes. Social housing is always a better option than tent cities, and homeless people who get housing become much more employable and are very likely to reenter the work force.

[@JRCP144]

@@overdose8329 You don't want "them" befouling your public spaces but ALSO don't want to provide "them" any services. What's your solution? Just shoot the entire homeless population? I do notice that taxing the rich doesn't seem to be something you've thought of.

[@lubintasevski5985]

@@overdose8329 I can't help laugh at the irony of your user name and your statement. Clearly, you choose to be ignorant. What if you job was taken away, as your whole industry became obsolete? What if your child or spouse had a major accident, disease, or disability that cost you all your savings and home? What if you became homeless due to a successful scam/arson/natural disaster/identity theft/bad investments/etc? Are you ok knowing there's nothing to help you get back on your feet? Are you happy being looked at and treated as a criminal? If you think insurance will help you 100% of the time? They have lawyers not to help you, but to find ways to not help you? There are just too many ways for good people to get screwed over and yet you feel nothing should be done to help them as you assume they'll all become drug addicted criminals. Truly you are naïve. Parks don't have to be shitholes if social services were to be sufficient to address the needs of those disenfranchised. Also the "true middle class" is vanishing as the 1% eliminate your very existence through automation and devaluing your wages by firing those that have had wages increased for too long that they eliminate your job for someone that is willing to do it for less (except this doesn't happen in unions, but those are also becoming rare).

[@bobbyewing311]

I honestly started crying when the guy started talking about randomly singing in his apartment because he is just so happy now. Like....... who could be against helping people like this?

[@dingusdingus2152]

Republicans

[@taylorbastian9670]

This is the goal for housing first. This does not happen all the time.

[@RelaxAndSmokeMeth]

me.

[@prestonnicodemus9336]

Very unhappy people...

[@samwindmill8264]

Super rich arseholes who whine about the idea of paying a reasonable tax

[@marsalin97]

There are cities that have also gotten rid of benches (mainly in subways and parks) all together to stop the houseless from sleeping on them. Not only inconveniencing EVERYONE (especially the disabled and pregnant) but going out of the way to try and hide the fact that the city has a homeless problem. These are people, not pests.

[@waywardgoddess7219]

LA and Vegas made homeless ILLEGAL. Like HOW??!?!?

[@KareemPinkston]

@@waywardgoddess7219 - I think what they are offering are FREE 3 hot meals, a place to sleep and medical care, in exchange for your “freedoms”. Interesting offer…

[@youtou9407]

@@KareemPinkston states are starting to outlaw homelessness so they can use the 13th Amendment: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, *except as a punishment for crime* where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction"

[@auntisthenes2754]

@@youtou9407 In Hungary, I think, one eastern european country any way, they have started a system where unemployed people pick up the trash to earn their wages. Not sure of anything. The source was a Romanian talking about the neighbours...

[@JMacSD]

@@waywardgoddess7219 LoL large areas of LA are literally covered with people who don't have homes, so "Like HOW??!?!?" do you mean?

[@SavageEcaterina]

My fiancé and I currently have two roommates who would be homeless if it wasn’t for us moving heaven and earth to give them a home. Both suffer from mental health problems, but we do everything we can to make sure they are taken care of. It bothers me when people don’t want housing for homeless in their area. They are the kindest people and they sometimes have break downs think they are unworthy of our kindness. They are far more worthy in my eyes then most people.

[@tracesprite6078]

You and your finance are wonderful people. May blessings come into your lives all the time and I hope your room-mates can be happy and healthy.

[@CivilWarMan]

When I was a young child, I thought that we could solve homelessness and poverty by just giving homes to the homeless and money to the poor. As I grew up, I learned how the world was more complex than I realized as a child, and that problems like homelessness and poverty don't get solved in spite of our efforts to fix them. Then, as an adult, after learning about the preliminary successes of testing programs like Housing First and UBI, I realized that we could solve homelessness and poverty by just giving homes to the homeless and money to the poor.

[@rysler]

Heheh.

[@MaidMirawyn]

TL;DR: Just do the decent thing and help people. It works.

[@tylerpaulson6689]

Couldn't have said it better

[@Brian-tn4cd]

Turns out the simplest solution is sometimes the best (not that the USA will do anything about it, not really conducive to capitalism's whole thing)

[@spongeintheshoe]

@@Brian-tn4cd And sometimes the complicated part is getting people to do it.

[@cmrdgeral]

one thing i appreciate so much about john oliver is how he brings the humanity of individuals who are struggling into every topic. Saying "people who experience homelessness" instead of "homeless people" might seem so small but phrasing it that way removes "homeless" from being a person's entire identity. he instead shows that these are people who are just as deep and complex as everyone else who also happen to be experiencing homelessness and need help living like any human should be able to

[@rahulkorde2258]

This is an underrated comment. Thank you for pointing it out.

[@dougdarman2503]

Very good comment, and something I did not notice. Thank you for bringing it up.

[@Bisquick]

Sure I guess, but you know, might be good to mention the core structural organization of material reality that not only leads to this as an obvious inevitable outcome from its emergent antagonistic classes, but like...basically every obviously insane/bad outcome only compounding in severity and existential threat at every waking moment, which is *capitalism.* Maybe houses shouldn't be treated as commodities and should be like, you know, houses? For people to live in. And not _not_ live in. This is "efficiency", maximization of capital accumulation, as if markets are some sort of "objective" arbiter of value inherently, on its face a pretty obvious "is/ought" conflation ideologically accepted without question. There's _far more_ empty homes than homeless, and of course there are, being utilized solely to maximize profits through rent extraction/store of value/speculation/unproductive bullshit essentially, "unproductive" in the sense that such "market exchange" literally produces nothing, land obviously being a natural monopoly, and of course sacrifices the possibility of material reality being organized where people can like...get this... _live in the homes_ ... Seriously though, this show might as well be called Looking At The Symptoms Of Capitalism Weekly While Avoiding The Underlying Structural Problem...Tonight. Like why would any of these potential solutions mentioned materialize when they are directly in opposition to the same tidal material influence/interest of finance capital hedge funds that if we recall not only literally caused the GFC of '08 through insanely unnecessary financial abstractions to disguise insanely risky assets being packaged together and thrown around like a hot potato to pump up the price...like a bubble one might say...these very -demons- "people", what a coincidence now, _they_ were the ones bailed out, pumped full of liquidity with the conception of QE ie "printing" a shitload of money, something like 40% of the _entirety_ of the money supply printed in for that "stimulus" in 2020 _alone_ ...gee, sounds a bit...inflated...like a...bubble. But the point is that _that_ , that right there, was a _political choice_ , not done for the necessity to maintain the "integrity" of the system for everyone's benefit as is of course rhetorically projected, no no no obviously little to nothing to corroborate that, the answer to the _only_ political question of "cui bono?", is it was done for the necessity to maintain the system for the capitalist class's benefit, perpetuating this unsustainable bourgeoisie dictatorship at quite literally all other costs, ie their material interests. As it turns out, the material interests of the capitalist class are _descriptively_ ie _not normatively_ oppositional to those of the working class, hence the clusterfuck (technical term) we're in/have been in continuously, Taft-Hartley and the red scare(s) gutting the heart and soul of the labor movement created with the New Deal when we had a class traitor president, last time they allow that to happen (related: "business plot") . Just like the optimates of the late Roman empire (but with guns and nukes, oh and climate change, coooool stuff), suppressing the populares movement of the Gracchi bros and later Caesar, famously of course by straight up murdering them all in the senate when the _actual_ rubicon of debt cancellation and land redistribution, ie _actually restructuring society_ via property relations that functions to refresh entrenched social bondage/power for the benefit of all, was crossed (can't have that), a senate which was payed explicit homage with our own (to this point, initially completely unaccountable to any democratic mechanism and nominated purely by state legislatures as written into the constitution). A thread of class struggle uncoincidentally visible throughout history, the modern age being carried forth in the fervent working class radicalism of the sans-culottes, their principled idealism of course slowly falling out of favor with the bourgeoisie in the National Convention in the French revolution as their egalitarian project encroached on this newly cemented middle-class material power, despite of course riding this momentum to overthrow the Ancien régime. Anyone that goes through even a few of the federalist papers will come to the realization that contrary to our culturally hegemonic mythology/historiography, "democracy" couldn't have been further from the goal of the constitution (see like Federalist 10 by Madison for instance, pretty explicit). These people wrote this stuff so far up their own asses they knew at some level that "factions" would be a problem (like, no shit right? lol...), denouncing them as some avoidable flaw in undignified individuals of a certain stripe, but assumed their personal "virtue" 'noblesse oblige', self-evident by their property ownership and dominion over black, poor, and indigenous people, would transcend it. Turns out that isn't a thing. Oops. Now, and as opposed to like a parliamentary proportional representation system with, you know, multiple parties, we have these two-load bearing "too big to fail" political parties keeping this whole charade going, their disagreements almost entirely aesthetic and can similarly be traced to the -counterrevolution- "founding" the constitution really a political brokerage between the interests of the Hamiltonian eastern banker finance capital federalists v. the Jeffersonian land-owning slave-holding yeoman farmer antifederalists, leading of course to that whole civil war thing, oops again. Really their aesthetic disagreements/divisions can be thought of as emerging from how close they operate to the material machinery of capitalist exploitation, the one side leaning into the base of this callous immiseration "justifying" its arbitrary hierarchy with essentially "divine right", while the other goes the opposite route and embraces the abstractions/obfuscations of the superstructure that cover up that transparently grotesque base behind the thin blood-soaked curtain of US neoliberal capitalist empire imposed globally. Anyway, sorry got lost in a stream of consciousness screed (screed of consciousness) there lol, the point is this is zero sum race to the bottom and my god let's be real, everyone knows it to some degree, the "common ruin of the contending classes". The only choice for humanity that remains, just as true as when Rosa Luxemburg espoused its political reality in the sailor revolts and consequent uprisings of 1918 Germany that lead to the establishment of Weimar, the SPD giving a hard no to her proposition and using the freikorps paramilitary to execute her and her socialist/communist/anarchist comrades holding the line: *_socialism or barbarism_* I mean, much as this and every other insulated social issue demonstrates, clearly barbarism has been selected _for_ us at this point, but upon realizing the giant hole we dug for ourselves, maybe digging more furiously than ever isn't the _best_ path forward, inevitably hollowing out social meaning/trust to be sold for profit catalyzed by endless systemic expansionary pressures and the tendency of the rate of profit to fall (noted by Adam Smith himself), ironically contrar to all the rhetoric of "freedom" used to justify it, entirely enslaved to the soulless mechanised "logic" of infinite growth/capital accumulation at quite literally all other costs ("externalities" to put on the neoliberal/neoclassical econ ideological blindfold, my god climate change _alone_ ). _"The bourgeoisie cannot exist without constantly revolutionizing the instruments of production, and thereby the relations of production, and with them the whole relations of society. Conservation of the old modes of production in unaltered form, was, on the contrary, the first condition of existence for all earlier industrial classes. Constant revolutionizing of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones. All fixed, fast-frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices and opinions, are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind."_ - some guy _“No-one knew what was required; instead, individuals could only guess what particular gestures or directives meant. What happens in late capitalism, when there is no possibility of appealing, even in principle, to a final authority which can offer the definitive official version, is a massive intensification of that ambiguity.”_ - obligatory Mark Fisher _"The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something we make and could just as easily make differently."_ - the late great David Graeber _"lol why did i write this, no one's going to read this shit, also i'm gay"_ - me

[@Bisquick]

"Fun" fact, using liberal capitulation to slowly accumulate institutional power over time until passing a threshold in which institutional power cannot threaten a full takeover as it in fact is part of that political alignment in a Reichstag fire -> Enabling Act template, was literally Carl Schmitt's (actual nazi) political strategy for the nazi party, derived from his "concept of the political" in being a foundational friend/enemy distinction, and that the only "principle" of liberalism (undergirded by capitalism) is precisely to _avoid_ "the political", embracing conflict avoidance and compromise for its own sake, a fundamental _denial_ that 'the political' even exists. Something Trump has intuited pretty well simply by being a resentful narcissistic dipshit and thus calling out (often correctly sadly) the media etc. as "enemies" which masses of people inevitably relate to as their material conditions are inevitably stripped out and auctioned off to the highest bidder like inconsequential copper pipe, through "fiscally responsible" austerity bullshit purely to exert structural power over labor along with the privatization of fucking everything as if people are all insulated isolated "potatoes in a sack" that can only interact through market exchanges and don't, say, form the _very basis_ of our own individual thinking through social interaction itself?! Lol When Descartes said, "cogito ergo sum" he clearly forgot to interrogate how he was able to "cogito" to begin with, which I would say emerges through maintaining a universal solidarity and authentic social cooperation and trust. Conversely, as "all that is solid melts into air", it would seem our ability to "cogito" would then necessarily too start evaporating, likely without our even noticing, as consciousness is inherently self-conscious (I think Sartre noted this idk I forget), but as we "evolve" into a creature shaped by permanent reaction (and perpetual farce in that "first as tragedy, then as farce" process of history), a pathology/ontological existence of increasingly constricted long term memory as all semiotic signs and their signifiers merge into flattened shallow immediately useful shells to assist our survival as we transition further into purely reactionary animalistic impulses with no social artifice to even speak of (...obviously, cuz no use in speaking lol at least not speaking to understand more deeply...). If that seems like hyperbole, might I suggest it's already pretty ubiquitous in many ways and well expressed in a sense in our "feedbrain" business ontologies, hell what are any of our "social media" platforms but for endless scrolls meant solely to implant -mind viruses- advertising into brain for as long as "humanly" possible to catalyze perpetual consumption, as you are not a worker in America certainly no one seems to feel themselves as such, you are solely a consumer at this point, consuming brand A or brand B in the media bread and circus spectacle of "politics", of course _entirely_ disconnected from any actual material outcomes, ie fucking _actual politics_ lol... Started ranting again, sorry, anyway, Trump is basically Nixon minus all the intelligence, and I do mean all of it obviously lol, which makes him all the more appealing to that authentic rustic dumbass archetype (and honestly to me, solely because it's fucking hilarious and I could care less about the stupid manners and fetishization of process liberals embrace, like...that's the shit that got us here dummies, but alas capital-L Liberalism sees history as being driven by ideas unbounded to material conditions, which is, quite frankly, stupid lol...) that makes up the Jeffersonian anti-federalist core understanding of most people within the south, his personal "ressentiment" of the liberal establishment and every unfiltered reaction forming an often hilarious and legitimately the only _authentic_ personality in the spectacle (authentically an absolute scumbag obviously, but still authentic, thus appeal, "charisma", god-tongue in etymology). What the fuck am I doing lol, idk here's that guy again on history being bounded by more than the possibility/potential of ideas, rather restricted by contingent material reality: _"Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past. The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living."_ - Michael Scott

[@stevenclark5173]

@@Bisquick You can't just dump socialist literature out on liberals and expect them to take it all in at once, process it, and decide to give it a go. As frustrating as the incrementalism approach is, which I think is what people like John are doing with this show, it's probably the most pragmatic way to achieve the end goal. Point out the individual failings of capitalism and then propose appropriate, workable, social solutions. We've seen from the Nordic model that capitalism can be made "better" with appropriate regulation and social consciousness.

[@bosnianlady10]

I will always remember when my mom was kicked out of Starbucks because someone thought she was homeless and the sight of her was bothering them. My mom was low income older landy. She was always frugal and so was her clothing. She worked long hours and would wait for my father to pick her up from work because she rather wait then spend money on a car or even public transportation. Everything she did was for us. Anyways, while she waited for my father to get off work , she would often go to Starbucks or some other place buy coffee and read. Well one day she was very tired and dosed off. Someone complained and she was asked to leave. They even threatened to call the cops. She felt humiliated and hurt. This is what homeless people deal with on the daily basis.

[@tovanto3971]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6jXi6WQhdGkrpY

[@conky221]

I’m sorry

[@IzzyBizzyBooBoo]

On the other hand, imagine all the workers forced to clean up after homeless people who are often mentally unwell and abusive themselves.

[@MrJimheeren]

If someone falls asleep in a the place I work at I would also ask them to leave. No matter what you look like. I’m sorry to say this but a Starbucks or any other restaurant or coffee place for that matter is not a public space. You can’t just doze off and except to be left alone

[@bosnianlady10]

@@IzzyBizzyBooBoo Imagine you watching this video and making that kind of comment. You want me to focus on one symptom of an issue while you ignore the root of them. Imagine if you actually considered why in this powerful nation we have such high number of people homeless and mentally ill ( the video clearly said mental illness is not the leading cause , but often the result, but let’s go with your focus), without thinking how hard it is to deal with the symptoms. Imagine if you consider both the mentally ill and the underpaid that take care of them, and make it all nice so you don’t have to see reality. Imagine if you actually consider that mental illness is not a choice and anyone is susceptible to it. Imagine if you could see all the factors instead on focusing on the one that you feel is most concerning to you. By the way my mom was not only working at the time, never left any mess but was living with a mental illness. Imagine raising kids, battling mental illness, working long hours and having some person judge you for inconveniencing them when you can’t hold it together.

[@thereilway]

The idea that having a roof over your head, food in your belly, an clothes on your back, are "luxuries" you must earn, is absolute insanity.

[@ZOMBIEGUNPOWDER]

this hits hard for me. I'm currently 24, and have been homeless since 2019 on and off again. recently I was arrested for "prowling", which is basically using an abandoned building for purposes than what it was intended for use. I've worked all kinds of jobs, and slept multiple places just to lay my head. I have no criminal record, or bad background. shit fucking sucks.

[@kathleenba9639]

🙏

[@jetskiwillywilly7970]

but you got enough time to watch youtube videos on....a phone? or computer? maybe keep digging......get off your phone...stack money and become unhomeless.

[@omayrasanchez2877]

@@jetskiwillywilly7970 Yes most homeless people have smartphones, and they should. What's the problem? And watching/commenting on a yt video doesn't tell anything about someone. you can literally do that during the 15 min at night before you fall asleep or whatever. Your attitude is disgusting, I pity you.

[@johi367]

@@jetskiwillywilly7970 You're a bad person. Hope you find a cure

[@g.d.graham2446]

I can only imagine

[@billiegrimm-stone3866]

Throwing bottles, taking pictures, one group of young men physically attacked my wife and I unprovoked... being homeless is really fucking dehumanizing to the point where I found myself crying every time someone made eye contact and said hello being so overwhelmed by their kindness. The car we lived in got impounded so we're just sleeping outside now. Anyone who thinks we are out here by choice is woefully mistaken

[@far2ez539]

Meanwhile you can watch videos on the internet and comment online. You're either full of bullshit or have bad priorities mate, likely both.

[@cottage-core_]

Ignore the heartless egghead comment above mine. I'm so sorry you're going through this.

[@JacobP81]

@far2ez All it takes to watch videos and comment online is a cheep cell phone and cell phone service. It's not like it was years ago when internet was in it's infancy.

[@theeccentric7263]

@@far2ez539 so what if they used to be homeless and now are not and have access to the internet? What if they're accessing free public wifi? What if cell phones are necessary for life and someone taking a 20 minute break to watch a youtube video doesn't mean they're not working hard enough? Or will you just come up with another excuse to not listen to homeless people?

[@mE-zx7pt]

@@far2ez539 computers are available at libraries.

[@phylum8975]

I was once "blind" & ill-informed asking the same question "Why can't they get a job?" Then I met someone who allowed me to join them on their 2 year journey and my eyes were truly opened. It completely changed my way of thinking after knowing the truth about how "the system" is largely just checking a box vs actually trying to support and lift people up. That isn't to say that there are no good programs out there, because there absolutely are. I was at an event and a friend introduced me to someone who had missed their ride home and asked if I could help. I cheerfully volunteered and we were off. On the drive they asked me to drop them off at the nearest metro/subway station but I told them I wouldn't mind taking them home or their ultimate destination. They told me the general area they were going so I headed that way passing several metro/subway stations along the way. Our banter continued and they asked me to drop them off at one of the larger stations & again I told them I'd be happy to take them home. That's when they said "I don't have a home" and I was stunned because the person in my car didn't match my persona or stereotype of a homeless person. Over the next few weeks we saw each other fairly regularly, each time they would share more about their story. I'll be honest, I was a bit skeptical about some of the things they shared with me but as time went on their words & actions confirmed their earnest desire to get out of the awful gyre they were stuck in through no fault of their own but the way "the system" was designed. As fall & winter approached their search for a stable shelter increased significantly and I tagged along driving through various counties in the area. We went to a few shelters in difficult parts of town and they candidly told me to stay back because it wasn't safe. My flesh wanted to think "Then why are you staying here?" but the sad reality was they had no other option. The choices were incredibly slim because the need was so great and the shelters' capacity so low. According to my new friend, these places could be incredibly dangerous with cliques forming and people bullying others. Fights were common and people's things "went missing" all the time. Because my friend knew anything they left in the shelter wasn't safe, they always had to bring things with them. I joined my friend on several outings and meetings with shelter personnel to discuss options and it was absolutely nonsensical especially one shelter in particular: - Everyone was required to work in order to have a bed. - I believe their earnings were placed in a special shared account that forced them to save a certain amount. - The shelter would use their funds to pay for certain consumables & services. (Unsure on cost but it at the time seemed somewhat reasonable.) - Everyone had to be out of shelter by 6 or 7 am. - The shelter lined started at 3pm. - Beds were not guaranteed. I couldn't believe what I was witnessing firsthand. I jumped in re-explaining what I thought I understood to the shelter director (or whatever their title was) and they confirmed. I then asked them if they felt it was a little nonsensical: You require people to remain employed in exchange for a place to shower & rest comfortably, but if they can't get in line early enough then they won't have a bed, even though they are meeting your requirements of maintaining employment. So for someone without a car and relying on public transportation, it means they have to find a job starts really early in the morning so they can get out of the shelter even earlier in order to hopefully get off earlier in the day in order to get back in time to jump in line before all the beds are taken. They again confirmed. As we left that place, which was in a fairly affluent county, I was genuinely sad for my friend and so incredibly angry at the hypocrisy I had witnessed: Having visited anywhere from 6-12 shelters in the area (excluding ones that were really quite far) it was clear that these services were here merely to 'check a box'. And I was angry because I felt like I had contributed to this by thinking "This is someone else problem." I was completely unaware and thus not vocal and certainly not pushing my local government to do something. I really appreciated the time I spent with my friend. I learned a lot about them as a person and over the years I got a better picture of who the regulars were in their life and how limited they were. While they had a fairly large family, no one really had any interest in associating with them, due to a falling out years' prior and reconciliation is be nearly impossible. There was one 'friend' they spent a lot of time with but they were on a super power trip that really hindered their advancement. The good news here is that my friend is doing well and has been doing well for several years now. They found a great job where they can counsel others who are battling addiction, homelessness, depression & so on. I'm very proud of the hard work they put into getting back on track, despite all of the challenges they faced.

[@naqueeldiva7693]

I hesitated looking at the length, but this was a good read!

[@phylum8975]

@@naqueeldiva7693 thanks for taking the time to read. I was worried about it too honestly! It's a beautiful story but as I like to say, one cannot truly appreciate the sweet if they don't understand the bitter. I'm so glad that LWT put a piece like this together. There are so many great comments here with amazing stories and experiences. Take care and be safe!

[@jennifergarza7766]

Thank you for your compassion

[@karenlebeter4196]

My son & I lived in an old house (1940s) we rented for 15 years, in a neighborhood of 17 homes. Right before Covid shutdown, we were told the property under 17 homes had been sold and we had to move. I thought we would be living in our cars. His employer had shut their doors due to Covid but he was able to get a temp job in a nearby town. I am a disabled vet and get a pension. We looked everywhere for a place we could afford. Finally found something less than a thousand $ a month. It's an old mobile home. I drive 100 miles to go to the V.A. to see my Dr. and I am 70. My son drives 50miles to get to work. Our furnace broke, so we bought small space heaters. Now our older cars need more upkeep. I drive 30 miles to Safeway or Wal-Mart for fresh vegetables, when we have the money for gas. Lack of affordable housing & community gardens is the problem.

[@laurenlicata8003]

I’ve worked in homeless services for 7 years and this is the only news segment that I’ve seen that’s gotten in right. I really appreciate the time and research that went into this piece.

[@ZaneReaver]

My wife was amongst the working homeless in New York. She confirmed everything the adorable Owl said about the shelter system. John, we love your show and appreciate the information and humor you bring us each week.

[@MaidMirawyn]

Many people won’t admit “the working homeless” even exists. It doesn’t fit their mental narrative…

[@BruinPhD2009]

@@MaidMirawyn Absolutely! A sizable portion of homeless people ARE working, but they don’t make enough money to afford housing in even the more affordable areas to live. I lived in DC and not far from my neighborhood, developers tore down small houses and apartment complexes AND a strip mall with a reasonably priced supermarket. They replaced it with high end condos (i.e., ridiculously expensive) and they didn’t replace the supermarket that served the housing they didn’t demolish. I was making decent money and I couldn’t afford to live in that place and I was lucky I didn’t rely on the former supermarket for my groceries. Where the hell did they expect those displaced people to live? Where were the other people supposed to shop?

[@greyeaglem]

@@MaidMirawyn They can't stand to admit that there is no American Dream. That the idea that all you have to do to achieve that dream is to work hard is a bald faced lie. Plenty of people work hard and still end up with next to nothing.

[@ericaschmidt4506]

I find myself judging homeless people as lazy, especially since I see so many people begging in front of stores that have help wanted signs… but I never really thought about how hard it would be to get a job or even start to get of homelessness without a home, or address, much less with mental health problems on top. This was a good eye opener for me.

[@brycejordan8987]

Just to toss in. Imagine if every day you slept in a car or a tent and these were more prestigious choices over having to sleep on the ground of in a bench. Think about how people look at you. With guilt, embarrassment, disgust, and derision. They look at you more like vermin than people and often treat you accordingly. And where can you to use a restroom or address hygiene concerns? There are not that many public restrooms and so you have to be able to not get thrown out when going to the restroom. Everything is humiliating and strips away your humanity.

[@jdwinks40]

I have had this conversation over and over and over again, in person and through social media, and with both friends and strangers. I hear folks say, time and again, "Well I think instead of giving beggars money, we should just give them job applications to places hiring." Then I have to explain to them that most places won't actually hire a homeless person because they don't have access to a bathroom or laundry so they may smell bad. They also likely don't have nice enough clothing, reliable transportation, or even an alarm clock to help ensure arrival on time for work. So handing them a job application for a job they are 99.99% likely to not get is incredibly privileged and unhelpful even if it makes you feel like patting yourself on the back.

[@randymilam1965]

The most vulnerable segment of all society.

[@zephpekrul2760]

Thank you for having an open mind.

[@sandata]

thanks for keeping an open mind. its very easy for people to fall into preconceived notions if they havent experienced it themselves. the fact is no one wants to stay hungry, to stay unhoused or to go to sleep with your heart pounding in your chest because you don't know what could happen while you just want to rest. i hope you keep that compassion in your heart always.

[@F1EvolutionEsports]

I have been homeless 3 times in my past it’s never easy . The hardest part is when people say get a job bump but don’t realize you can’t fill out a job application with no phone number or address for them to contact you for a interview and even if your phone does still have service and you get a interview you’re appearance and hygiene will keep you from moving past the interview process. It’s extremely easy to become homeless and extremely hard to get out of. Thank you for explaining this to people it’s a very big problem that definitely needs fixing #Johnoliverforpresident

[@fear_not]

I work for homelessness charity in London, UK. One of my clients told me yesterday that since he is with us, for the first time in years he feels again like human being as we are talking to him and smiling and treating him as NORMAL person. This was so heart-breaking and rewarding in this same time.

[@gasolinewine801]

I lived in a cemetery for 5 years. It wasn’t until a homeless councilor took it upon herself r to house me that I finally made it out. I have been clean for 3 years and hold a full time job, paying my own way now. Housing first is really the only way to solve the problem.

[@nubreed13]

It really is the best solution. I just wish we had a national system for homelessness so cities wouldnt keep shuffling people to other places instead of helping them

[@oscar2958]

Well done, man! 💪🏽 :)

[@agolftweetler3995]

Congratulations! Key word: clean. Housing won't solve anything if the addiction can't be kicked.

[@eyflfla]

@@agolftweetler3995 It's easier to kick the addiction when you're not sleeping on the streets.

[@agolftweetler3995]

@@eyflfla for sure. But if the person has no will or desire, it doesn't matter. That is a significant portion of homeless in the United States.

[@JessHart006]

I work at a convenience store down the block from a newly-designated homeless housing unit in a very liberal Seattle suburb. The residents all try to complain about the unhoused people without sounding judgmental or bigoted (I never let them get away with it). The unhoused folks, on the other hand, make a point of being courteous, friendly, and paying for their purchases even when they have very little money or I offer to let them have food or coffee for free. You need to treat people like people if you want them to get back on their feet.

[@krysti2]

Thankyou! Just someone smiling at you or saying Hi! goes a long way in making you feel human & not just a piece of trash that everyone would gladly make disappear (if they could) rather than just be polite & friendly- just treat ppl like you would like to be treated....

[@dingusdingus2152]

Homeless people are human beings? Who would have thought?

[@supplyanddistributions6418]

Thank you for doing that!

[@dustymccrusty8545]

Your gonna get fired for giving out free food n coffee and end up homeless and it'll be your choice due to your addiction of being nice to others which with then also be considered mental illness.

[@JessHart006]

@@dustymccrusty8545 Cool. You are very wise.

[@alicialapatra7416]

I've worked with persons experiencing homelessness for over 10 years now... thank you for shedding light on this very serious issue that affects us all.

[@stoneharper7038]

“Far too often stories focusing on homelessness only talk about how it affect people with homes when it is the people without the homes who need help” That absolutely blew my mind, spot on with the accuracy

[@PROVOCATEURSK]

The capitalists prefer to fund armies for non-existent threats.

[@pauld.b7129]

Yes, but if you've ever done volunteer work, you'll know that solving homelessness basically needs providing everything for these people. While there are some people who are just in unfortunate circumstances, most just aren't motivated to take care of themselves. I've seen people begging withing visual distance of a "now hiring" sign... What we really need is designated camping areas so druggies aren't hanging out in people's front yard, and they can live without being disturbed by cops.....

[@Kardia_of_Rhodes]

That's because homelessness is unfortunately viewed by most people as a societal constant rather than something that can be actively fixed.

[@ChrisDoyle2112]

@@pauld.b7129 don't be part of the problem...your volunteer work doesn't make you an expert on homelessness...go try surviving a week or a month in one of those camps, then give us an informed opinion...until then...well, you know the saying...i've lived it and you're just spewing stereotypical rhetoric #whitepeopleproblems #firstworldproblems

[@pauld.b7129]

@@ChrisDoyle2112 you don't have to stay in a homeless camp. I've been homeless and still not been one of those dirty, idle people sitting around asking for money. I volunteered because I have lived it. It's not misinformation. If your in a hole, dig yourself out. Waiting around for society to do the heavy lifting for you does nothing for nobody. Also, if someone is on the street, they've probably burned all their bridges with friends and family already. There's a reason a friend doesn't take them in....

[@MrHousecup]

About using toilets in L.A.: I'm a uniformed driver, clean shaven, cleanly dressed, alert, focused. Using an establishment's bathroom is a herculean task. Half the places I got to (gas stations, CVS, fast food restaurants) either don't have a public bathroom or need to be a paying customer. It's like I have to do the "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" speech to convince them.

[@toriless]

...buy something cheap.

[@Dead_Guy_Bob]

@@toriless that's *wonderful* advice for someone with no money.

[@Waitwhat469]

Man I was so used to gas station bathrooms just being open, it was really shocking when I moved to the east cost how many places just had no available bathrooms.

[@JohnFoley1701]

One of the reasons i hated working that area when i was doing ride sharing.

[@peterwelby]

Unfortunately the bathrooms get used as places to shoot up. It becomes a health hazard. Who wants to clean that every day? They have 2 public toilets with an attendant outside the public library in Hollywood. Many people have overdosed in those toilets and several have died. That's reality.

[@markopolo5123]

"Regan's attitude from a Whole Foods crowd" . . . Brilliant.

[@Acekhan201]

Not that I've ever thought of the Whole Foods people as just or trustworthy, lol. When will people realize "liberal" is NOT the same as wanting to help anyone - it's merely a distaste for actively hurting them without a "good" reason.

[@ericreese7792]

Reagan would never have been a two-term president without wide support from the 1980s antecedents of the Whole Foods crowd.

[@BrozusFilms]

Liberalism in a sentence

[@mookinbabysealfurmittens]

Reagan _was_ kinda _THE_ neoliberal (inspired by Ayn Rand, I guess). I wish people in the USA would stop confusing "liberal" with "leftist". Cos they are ≠!

[@kappadarwin9476]

@@mookinbabysealfurmittens I'm still annoyed that Republicans are taking their cues from a fictional novel "Atlas Struggle" That's like me taking my cues from Superman though Supes does make good points about putting others before yourself and embracing those who are different from you.

[@chrismanuel9768]

You know the difference between me and a homeless person? I have a home. That's it. Homeless people are people. They deserve love and respect. They deserve homes.

[@92alpha13]

The true reflection of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable.

[@toryizquierdo35]

as someone who spent their teens and early twenties homeless through no fault of my own, which exacerbated my disabilities and mental health issues to the point that I'm *still* recovering, and in some ways will be recovering for the rest of my life: thank you for handling this so deftly. Homelessness is the result of the failings of our social safety net and society's disdain for the less fortunate, not a personal failing.

[@disorganizedclutter5513]

I just have to emphasize this, " which exacerbated my disabilities and mental health issues". People like to mention that it's because of those issues that you end up on the streets, but ignore the fact that being on the street causes and worsens those issues. Makes me sick how people think.

[@katra777]

For some...

[@aayushkumar9435]

May you be blessed to find strength brother.

[@toryizquierdo35]

@@disorganizedclutter5513 Same. I'm glad you understand this - people only see the homelessness, not its causes nor its effects, and the painful lack of empathy there is one of the major drives of this huge tragedy that no one should suffer. The compassion to recognise that there's more depth to the situation is both the lowest bar in the world and one that many can't seem to clear, so I appreciate your insight.

[@toryizquierdo35]

@Mar personally speaking, i feel like it's a lot like the effects of jail/prison tbh - people look at the criminal record, not the causes of the crime and not the effects of the often cruel and pointless aftermath they have to undergo. Someone in another thread is saying 'we just need asylums again', which is just incredible to me. Yep, let's just put in 'poor people jail' on top of all the other people we incarcerate like locking them up helps them in any way, lmao I think this is a good insight, thank you.

[@TrianglesAnRhombuses]

Bizarre that you didn't reference that the "It's raining Tacos" may fuck with the people sleeping because they are hungry as fuck. Messing with them on that level is out right evil on a different level.

[@BillyBobThot]

YESSS

[@jermiez.]

That’s obvious though. I don’t think he needs to spell everything out for us.

[@dingusdingus2152]

It was implied, palpable

[@solsystem1342]

I'm so sorry for anyone currently experiencing a lack of food. Hugs! I can't imagine the cold hearted bastard that would blare a song about food when people might be starving. Monsters

[@CallMeGailyn]

I thought the exact same thing! Double cruelty!

[@LibAlcock]

great points made John ! Homeless people should NOT be criminalized! ❤ 🇨🇦

[@BurdieFromHell]

I'm so glad John Oliver did this segment. I use to work in a gas station, and while I was fortunate enough to only have held that job as a stepping stone for a career that can fund my living needs, many of the people I worked with held that job as a final safety net from destitution. One man who became a close friend of mine had a tent in the woods behind the store, he was fired when a privileged college kid asshole had an argument with him over an ID and reported his tent to the police. He was in his 70's, and was very clearly homosexual. I have no doubt that this is a large part of why his life never gave him solid footing. Athough it is true he had a drinking problem, I had learned quite a bit about him and how he ended up in that situation, and his story breaks my heart. His husband was the money maker. He told me his husband passed as a straight man better than he could, and had a really nice uppermanagement job. My friend, however, was into art, and attempted to do that as a living, which failed. Unfortunately, his husband also passed away in the 90's due to AIDS (He was cheating on my friend, but they reconciled). Ever since his husband passed. My friend had been homeless. He went from having a house, to loosing everything. It's easy to see a homeless man and deside he brought it upon himself, but doing so is just a convenient way of dismissing giving the basic empathy any other human would get.

[@BurdieFromHell]

@@thundafundamentalist Nope, which I guess is cool because this guy wasn't those things so I'm not sure why you ask...

[@Vanilla.coke1234]

@@thundafundamentalist you seem like a bad person

[@jaegrant6441]

At first I thought, why couldn't he just stay at the same house he lived with his husband. Then I remembered that gay rights regarding even civil unions wasn't a thing and so he wouldn't have been recognised as a dependent and beneficiary. Man that sucks so bad. And you know, often I've not had enough money to help, but I do have a smile and kind word to say which is free. That often means more than money.

[@steviewanderer]

@@jaegrant6441 it doesn't really mean more than money. it's a nice gesture and better than nothing, but it's not going to feed and house them.

[@wsrtwetr]

Giving someone empathy and my hard earn cash is 2 different things. As you have stated, he has a dri king problem. If he got that under control, many things in his life would change. No doubt he would still face discrimination that is not going to stop because he stopped dri king. But I bet it would be easier to hold down a job. So if you wanted compassion so much, why didn't you give him a place to stay, buy him all the alcohol he wants, and let him mess up your house? No one is stopping you from being 'compassionate'. Personal choice, some of us choose not to spend our hard earned cash on people down on their luck, because we've all been there and got ourselves out. And if you didn't invite him home and financially support him, why are you expecting others to do so? Oh you have a life and can only do so much? Yeah so does everyone else. Compete or miss out. Such is the way of life. The kumbaya we can all do this together mentality gets us no where and only serve to hold back the capable and support the weak.

[@josephinethornton3823]

My best friend has been homeless for 3 years now. (I have also experienced repeated homelessness about 20 years ago.) What blows my mind is how people don't take her situation seriously, because she's thirty and good-looking and female. Tiffany Haddish spoke about this exact issue in one of her comedy specials, because Kevin Hart noticed she was living out of her car and asked why since she was a good-looking woman. She was very taken aback and said she didn't want to trade her sexuality for a roof over her head, and pointed out what a fucked up thing it was to suggest she do so. And that's what my friend faces all the time, even from the various support organizations that are meant to help her! So many have vaguely hinted at or outright stated disbelief that she could possibly be homeless because she's pretty and young and therefore "any man would want to take her in", as if women don't deserve a roof over their heads unless they are willing to engage in sex. It's SO FUCKED UP. And yes, that's an option that no one should judge if someone does choose to do so, but not one that should be FORCED onto women any more than men should be expected to sell their sexuality no matter how uncomfortable it might make them simply to live indoors. This mindset is so horribly common that it's stunning. Many people on the street have been assaulted repeatedly, be it physically, mentally, sexually, or all of the above, and suggesting they put themselves into a tenuous arrangement of sexual barter for life indoors is repugnant and wildly irresponsible of their well being. Please. Please don't ever suggest this to someone on the streets, you have no idea what they've already gone through and no one deserves to hear that their homelessness is due to an unwillingness to barter sexual favors for a safe place to live. That isn't how anyone should reasonably define safety. After years on the street, she's going to need a long time to simply calm down from living with an endless sense of extreme vigilance for her physical body before she can even get into a good enough mental space to withstand unpacking all of the trauma she's experienced in therapy. Please. Please confront this idea whenever you hear it said by anyone, because it's fucked up and no one deserves to be treated this way.

[@davidcooke8005]

3 years is a long time. Is there some reason she is still homeless?

[@evillittlemcnuggets]

@@davidcooke8005 it’s next to impossible to get enough resources to get housing. even if you’re able to get a job (which is near impossible by itself), payment is almost never enough to even save up for a down payment

[@davidcooke8005]

@@evillittlemcnuggets I'm retired now, so a bit out of the loop, but they keep saying there is a labor shortage. How can it be tough to find a job when some McDonalds are offering $21 to start? That's $42K a year, full time.

[@evillittlemcnuggets]

@@davidcooke8005 The labor shortage isn’t real. Companies are feigning shortages in order to blame the unemployed for their poor treatment of staff. It’s easier to keep a skeleton crew on hand, not hire anyone, and then say “oh well these kids just don’t wanna work” than to actually address poor quality environments and low payment. On top of that, $42k a year isn’t a lot. For this one woman, it may be enough to get by but many homeless people have families. On top of this, most American households are a single medical emergency away from homelessness themselves, and that’s with two income sources.

[@valsanderson2370]

@@evillittlemcnuggets yes. People are so ignorant. Deposits on everything. And now credit checks. So if you lost your apartment due to getting evicted due to losing a job. Then you’re screwed. Many 3xpensive rent by week. Or hotels. It’s awful. We need some serious compassion.

[@RubyRedDances]

Thank you for this episode. I've been saying this for years. I was homeless with my mom as a child and we were invisible... we stayed with friends, lived in the woods, and stayed away from the homeless system. Chicago is so full of empty buildings, empty hotels, and abandoned properties that could actually be homes. It's heartbreaking to see tent cities popping up.

[@edelweiss8168]

Bless you, Ruby. ❤️🌼❤️

[@markdove5930]

Yah i remember sleeping in front of a 4k+ office building with security that was 8 months away from literally being refurbished and used. It was empty and they threw away all the furniture and changed everything. Good times.

[@lubintasevski5985]

I would like to see abandoned homes/buildings/hotels being used for the homeless, but those have to be maintained and brought up to code. It can be dangerous to live in those places if left as is. If funding went to restore them and be maintained, I'm sure it would be argued that the homeless shouldn't get to use those spaces, which is insane. I'm happy when I see projects that do exactly what you want and that do help the homeless, but those are very rare. The NIMBY's seem to have too strong a voice.

[@arkin4697]

I'm sure you know things are more complicated than that. But yes, I agree with you when it comes to helping people. Not far from where I live now, there was an old shopping center. Was empty for nearly two decades. Prime estate, in a part of town that keeps growing and growing. Thanks to all the refugees, the housing crisis became even more severe. The city council was urged to buy the whole thing and create homes - of course they wouldn't. Putting people in hotels and paying with public fundings was for sure cheaper. Not all the politicians are useless scumbags, but most of them care about making a quick buck. They won't consider projects that will only help the public - their pockets need to be filled to. A few years back, there was an art competition: How to make our town a nicer place. The winner never got the chance to start his work, because the people living in the building wanted new plumbing and not just something nice to look at.

[@Ashley-cv8bd]

I asked my mother once why so many charities would come into our building looking for donations, when so many of us barely survived on a pay check. She told me because those little are more likely to help because they know what it's like to be without.

[@nairsheasterling9457]

Here's the biggest thing people need to understand about becoming homeless. It's not just demonization or stigma. You cease to be a person in the eyes of everyone around you. My whole family is aware that I am homeless (thanks, lack of permanent housing I can qualify for in spite of disability!) but out of all of them, only my Grandma and Grandpa even bothered to ask me what kinds of things I'd be having to deal with. The rest either pretend I am not homeless or outright do not speak with me. I have no illusions - I am not entitled to their help, nor do I want them put in that position. But having to dance around your living conditions with your parents at best is a great way to shatter a worldview and feel somehow less-than. And then there's the casual bigotry. If I had a dollar every time someone told me they were "shocked" to find me homeless because I have no drug or alcohol problem, and don't look the part of the "filthy tramp", I could afford rent on my own. I'm so glad John and the team talked about this. I've had friends die out here.

[@sasak369]

That's just.... the worst. The biggest thing that separates the houseless from the housed is luck, just chance. Be safe out there.

[@kathrynmceachern9503]

You are worthy, my friend, worthy and beautiful.

[@narayanjeev]

Idk man. People have weird priorities in the west. They may be homeless but they still have iPhones, Internet and Netflix.

[@jakedettman1869]

Put your pride aside and go home...

[@sparkofcuriousity]

@@jakedettman1869 are you for real?!

[@alquosfinn2980]

Denver has started doing great things with protected tent areas with bathrooms, security, mental health support, medical support, and job placement. The whole thing is designed to get people into homes as quickly as possible. It would be nice to see more programs like this.

[@NankitaBR]

The ideal would be public housing programs, by either the government building public housing or buying out abandoned buildings to turn them into public housing.

[@alquosfinn2980]

For sure, but this is at least a low cost option that has realistic goals and tangible benefits to start. It's been a slow increase for a long time, it's going to be a slow fix. Little victories gain momentum.

[@Fusilier7]

"Did you ever notice that about us? We love to declare war on things here in America. Anything we don’t like about ourselves, we declare war on it, we don’t do anything about it, we just declare war on it. It’s the only metaphor, the only metaphor we have in our public discourse for solving problems: declaring war. We have to declare a war on everything; we have a war on crime, the war on poverty, the war on litter, the war on cancer, the war on drugs, but did you ever notice we got no war on homelessness? Huh? No war on homelessness… you know why? There’s no money in that problem, no money to be made off of the homeless. If you can find a solution to homelessness where the corporate swine and the politicians could steal a couple of million dollars each, you’ll see the streets of America begin to clear up pretty goddamn quick, I’ll guarantee you that!" - George Carlin.

[@dadikkedude]

Why quote? Think for yourself..

[@1hawtMetz]

Perfect companion piece/call back. Thanks for posting this. We'll, you know I'm off to go watch me some Carlin now...good vibes to you and all else ♡

[@simonroughan5261]

Do km

[@ReaganRayden]

@@dadikkedude Quoting someone with the same opinions as you is not the same as not thinking for yourself. Apply yourself.

[@longsnake5758]

@@dadikkedude Why use KZbin? Make videos for yourself

[@michalpitowsky]

When I visited the US a few years ago, and traveled the west coast, it just blew my mind how many homeless people are living like this, and frankly, made me rethink of the US as a first world country. Something about the economical structure is wrong when you let the sick and the weak rot to death on the side of your street every morning as if it is nothing. I say this not coming from a perfect place, every country has it's own crap going on, but man, the US has a deep problem.

[@vulcanhumor]

A huge part of our problem is our broken health care system. If you can't afford to go to the doctor, or you can't afford insurance, you're SOL. A lot of people become homeless due to medical debt, and it's extremely difficult to manage any health conditions while homeless. If you already can't afford your bills, how are you supposed to be able to afford medications, or therapy, or exams that could catch a disease in its early stages? And it feeds into itself, because homelessness itself can lead to health complications. But America just really hates taking care of people for some reason.

[@markk3453]

the US marketing machine is VERY VERY good about lying to people. so much so that they lied them into wars and agreeing to put trump as a leader. people want a easy way out to belive someone so they dont have to stop, think and question. meanwhile everything in usa is for money. people, land u know name it. watch some of the other video on this channel. USA has 1000 problems that are not being talked about. is it better then a 3rd world country? sure but not by too much.

[@NoraNekos7]

There's a reason some people call America a third world country

[@emilysmith2965]

Because it fucking is.

[@embedded_software]

America is a first world country with a world-class healthcare system. The problem is not in healthcare, but in health INSURANCE. Paying for that healthcare is harder here than in other countries, but the quality of care you receive (if you are insured) is generally pretty damn good.

[@colinsdad1]

I'm a homeless Veteran who resides in temporary Supportive Housing. I had to move to the other end of my home State (MA) to gain access. And therein lies the problem- lack of programs for the entire Homeless population. Kudos for paring down this most complicated subject to it's core and showing why it's our very Laws that are making this situation even more difficult. ESPECIALLY with people like myself who took a beating during this pandemic. And, if I've learned anything from this video, I've learned...... IT'S RAINING TACOS!!!

[@blueeyebelgianbrunet]

Thank you for your service! I'm glad you got the help you need, but it sucks it took such a drastic action.

[@sudcciv6443]

Have you ever pondered as to WHY you are homeless to begin with? Or did you make that choice from the time of military discharge? Let me guess-you have a substance abuse issue, or a mental health diagnosis, and will NOT do what is needed to resolve one, or treat the other! So, suffer with the consequences of what YOU choose to do! I doubt you had a gun put to your head that made you homeless! I worked with homeless vets for over 2 years, and saw many of them WALK AWAY from perfectly good temporary housing!

[@diegorincon4673]

Hello there Americans, I love veterans, and as such I will cut funding homelessness and veteran’s affairs, and the. Turn around and blame the opposing party, even though I’m currently having an affair- I mean friendship, with a very attracti- I mean friendly senator from the opposing party. Trust me Americans, I’m one of you. (P.S. he’s not)

[@brookshawkins9201]

@@sudcciv6443the military is super interesting. I just go out in August with a honorable discharge. The military held my hand through the process. They made sure I had healthcare, employment, housing, etc taken care of before the would sign the form. When we separated people from the military with a bad conduct or administratively the process was far different. You have the first problem that most punishment from the military involves taking money away. Then you have the added challenge of having no notice of what day you will actually leave. You also have the stigma from a negative discharge witch stops them from wanting to go back home.

[@sudcciv6443]

@@brookshawkins9201 The veterans I worked with had every kind of discharge EXCEPT DISHONORABLE! I saw everything from Vietnam Vets to those who only did service in the 80;s and 90's. All had substance abuse or activity addictions, or mental health issues! Many refused a perfectly good bed and three free meals a day for 180 days (which was always extended!). Several of them got housing fairly quickly. 2 of 3 did do squat to get housed. And did EVEN LESS to deal with the issues that got them made homeless to begin with. I was not that jaded agains the homeless before. I am now. Veteran or not!

[@Dicearoo]

"A man was walking around with a machete" oh no, imagine people walking around with weapons in Texas

[@TheWizardMus]

So they're saying that seeing a random stranger openly carrying a weapon doesn't make them feel safe and actually makes them feel in danger because they dont know the random strangers intentions? Wow! I never would have expected that!

[@uncannyvalley2113]

right?

[@fourlightsorchestra]

Most conservatives don't have any real values. They say they do, but what they really have is double standards. Blue lives only matter when they see them as on their side, sex trafficking is wrong only when it's not a republican doing it, Abortion is wrong only if it's not them secretly doing it, and now here we are at the right to bare arms.

[@centerrightpunk]

@@fourlightsorchestra no, you're just an ideologue

[@fourlightsorchestra]

@@centerrightpunk If the answer is truly no, what explanation can there be for why so many conservatives seem to hold such strong ideals, only to completely abandon them the moment it's inconvenient? And no, I'm not an ideologue. I examine why I feel and think the way I do, and I'm also a pretty flexible guy. If there was an alternative explanation that made sense to me, I'd change my opinion.

[@susan174]

“We need to stop being dicks.” Well said, John.

[@ryanryan6207]

Obviously, it's not that simple. If everyone really cared about homelessness, we would still have homeless people. John has a tendency to make us feel like all problems are so easy to fix.

[@Jartran72]

@@ryanryan6207 But a really small number.

[@HOTD108_]

@@ryanryan6207 I've literally never felt that after seeing one of John's editorials. If anything I always get the sense of the huge amount of work we all have to do going forward to fix these things.

[@egregiousqueef7781]

That's a infantilizing cute platitude. But he could've called out his own bosses, he could've called out and critiqued absolutely destructive decadent machinery of capitalism that got us here (it's BUILT on extreme inequality after all) by rewarding the worst parts of our nature, he could've ended by saying: to my bosses who hobnob with other greedy aggressively self-absorbed capitalist benefactors, who keep that undemocratic inequality perpetuating system intact, I call on YOU to take the next few years off accumulation MORE material, take the year off of weekend hooker jaunts to Aspen, no more gold disposable plates, "meh" 25 million dollar 10 minute rides into space and HELP OTHERS OUT. ... Until then YOU are the "dicks" I'm referring to

[@egregiousqueef7781]

@@ryanryan6207 No we wouldn't! Is there a lack of housing? No, there isn't. How disingenuous can you be: homelessness exist RIGHT NOW while there is not only empty housing, plenty of it, but single families who own multiple homes, businesses, etc and are UNWILLING ... NOT UNABLE ... to make some sacrifices to their conspicuously consumptive lifestyle Where else would the resources humans currently in need come from if not from those humans who have an excess of those materials, and how else would that excess be acquired if not by force since clearly voluntary participation will never be met & taxation is a joke?

[@TheOldHippiebilly]

This is one of John's best segments ever. I'd like to see a follow-up.

[@cynthiaclark6721]

The definition of pure evil is playing "It's raining tacos" in a park where homeless people who have no money to eat are just trying to sleep. I am sure they would love to have a taco or anything to eat.

[@deniseengle4269]

Thank you. That was my first thought. They play classical music in Portland OR to deter us. Thankfully I dont mind classical music.

[@Fire_of756]

I would not feel bad if they decided to eat those assholes.

[@chrisitinabobinski3798]

Cynthia thanks for being that up I would definitely rather go hungry than hear that song that’s is pure evil.

[@XxNoMErcY99xX]

@@dr-tse I know you didn't mean that in a bad way, but think about what you just said from a homeless' perspective...

[@avamasquerade]

*Sadism is the point* Idk when or if the general population will ever get over their blind naivete.

[@griffinglenn9979]

As a person who works professionally to prevent and end veteran homelessness, I can say, he gets this right at every beat. I expected to hear some inaccuracies or glosses as you do when listening to someone summarizing something you know a decent amount about. Not the case here. Housing first is legit, and is demonstrably the best model we have right now. Speaking for the veteran population, there persist mental illness and substance use disorder. But, I think the average person would be shocked by how… average most of my clients are. It is incredible, unbelievable how many people out there are like 2 missed paychecks away from homelessness. Some medical bills and a shit landlord, and most people could be there, too. So grateful for this video for getting it right and for demonstrating that homelessness isn’t a moral failing - it is, for the most part, just compounded shit luck. Stop sending billionaires to space, and start working for people who have been massively dicked over in the social contract.

[@MrsTenaciousC]

Yup I did outreach, SSVF, HUD-VASH and civilan housing the last 4 years and they hit SO MANY topics in such a short time, I'm incredibly impressed at the research they put into this. Thank you for all you do and fighting the good fight for as long as you can manage it! I tapped out for now but I'm eternally grateful there are still people out there fighting! ❤

[@onward2727]

@Azhag Dark please give me free housing too My rent is insane. I would like to buy but can’t afford :( At the moment at least, not for certain I will ever be able to

[@onward2727]

I could be homeless too. Can I get a free house *BEFORE* I am actually homeless?

[@Nebula37]

This isn't accurate. Many homeless who are placed in housing end up leaving anyway.

[@MrsTenaciousC]

@@onward2727 there are homeless prevention programs if you are behind on rent and need assistance getting caught up call 211

[@kristinj3339]

This just made me break down in tears, because I spent a year-and-a-half in a car until I was able to get a job. I've only had a home since July, and people would approach me in my car and asked me what was I doing there, and harass me. It was awful, and I'm not a drug addict. Domestic violence- also, my dad used to work for Ronald Reagan, and I have pictures of myself with him. I have court about that by zoom in less than an hour and if anyone sees this- pray for me. I think it's but for the grace of God that I pulled out of it. Thank you, John, for doing more than the government did- impartiality.

[@TheFinalChapters]

Good luck!

[@astilealavatica1404]

My thesis below. Mitch McConnell is Emperor Palpatine Some of you will die, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make! - Lord Trump @Justin Y. Trump is evil. He ignored this virus until he couldn't ignore it...the steps taken have been deliberately slow to contain this virus, as the government has made huge financial gains in allowing particularly older, retired people to die...no more pay outs each month...voting, if still valid in this country...is our only peaceful, legal recourse...voting 3rd party is the ONLY WAY to get real humans in power, rather than dynasty families and career politicians. When we realize the 2 parties we are divided over LOVE the division among us...then and only then may America be great again... @Justin Y. Lack of knowledge of the deep state? I just accused our government of mass murder...I understand deep state...fact that you refuse to listen, only attack, says too much about you...clearly you haven't known hardship. Clearly none of this has impacted you negatively...you are part of the problem, offering zero solutions. @Justin Y. Calling me stupid really helps your case...Trump has very limited brain power, as evidenced by his rambling, generally repetitive, toddler talks...although most of us are sorely undereducated, Trump really amazes me every time i listen to his banter. Trump did not close the borders in time, many flights to the USA brought sick folk here. Action wasn't taken until very late February, and by then 15 confirmed cases were more than enough to basically allow what amounts to airborn, quickly lethal AIDS《why this? (Because this virus mutates too fast to create an effective vaccine, which may never get made), upon the world. This is dangerous because common behaviors of common folk, such as shoulder to shoulder events, shopping and sardine packed working conditions, helped this virus along...even as people died in China daily...America went forward 2 full months wothout any concerns...then...rather than force the hands of state officials, and put the population through a 2 month quarantine, we've been seeing states react, rather than prepare...and all at the natural stages this virus thrives on...complacency among enough of us to allow the spread to continue. You refusing to see this logic isn't a blight on my mental capacity, just proves you are as simple as our Lord Trump...and likely among those very few, who like many elites, don't even understand the plight of the masses, whom I speak for, in this contrived crisis...Trump is calm about the virus because he exists outside the bounds of common folk...Trump and other powerful people would never have to take the risk of infection seriously as they are all well protected by expendable servants or can at the least afford to continue living lavishly and distanced from peons such as myself. 9/11 was an inside job and this proves what I've feared since then...that the government can perform mass murder and the people will always just accept it, hire the next sociopath in line, whichever of the 2 evil divisionary parties they aspire to dwell in... Our educational system is archaic. We could be educating everyone from home...there are no valid excuses for our current broken schooling, and no teachers need lose jobs...as the internet is an amazing communication device... Taxes are broken. Your dollar earned gets hit so many times...and we all just accept that blindly. Medicine is broken. My grandmother died because her selfish daughter needed cable tv more than grandma needed diabetes medicine...and millions suffer from the inability to afford insulin, despite that drug initially starting out as a gift to humanity from a generous genius, privatized by evil and greed, priced beyond reality for most. Our 2 party system is designed to keep us bickering...division keeps us docile enough to accept our own government conspiring to murder us, with our acceptance. 3rd party candidates are generally real humans...that care about other humans, even, gasp, total strangers and foreigners... We are all on the same damn spaceship...Earth. I judge character...not race, not whatever religion folks are born into. I am old...I am tired of seeing disaster after disaster get slow attention from government, as poor people die in thousands due to delayed or nonexistent help. It's about time the many take control, with votes, to dethrone the sociopaths that control us, play games with our very lives... When there are only voluntary homeless, when the janitor is paid living wage, when a high school graduate can earn enough in food service, or retail, to support a modest home and essentials, while creating a nest egg...when veterans are given the same care as Congress, Senate and other positions of highest power, rather than left to suffer and die, when the lowest paying jobs are enough to survive on, then and only then, can America boast of being great... As it stands...I feel most of us are born into lies we have no control over...It's well orchestrated, as my points are made clear in every satirical broadcast about the plight of the expendable masses, world wide... Do I want peace, equity and kumbaya? Yeah...I do...are there sociopaths in power oppressing the common folk...yeah...there are...have good Democrats and Republicans existed? Yes...they get blocked by evil at every turn, often resigning due to unbeatable corruption. Do I pity the very people I label simple? You bet I do...I want this planet to be a better place for most...not some...for all...if ever possible... This covid virus isn't done. It mutates too fast to pin it down with a vaccine...and we haven't seen the end of it because we, as a planet, would have to agree on a few ground rules to consider being a functional society. That's my 2 cents...some of it...take it or leave it. Most of us just exist and watch, lazily, rather than get directly involved in change. @soaringvulture We don't seem to take note...we, the expendable masses, are being told to push through life ignoring this virus...it took ONE infection to start a Planet Wide Pandemic...and because we didn't quarantine from January 1st to February, we get to watch innocent and otherwise lives lost, daily...who are "we", in "we're in it together"? Certainly not the elite...they step on us to avoid harm...I'm furious with humanity as a whole...I'm furious we accept all this death and Trump's toddler talks...like a Ted talk without useful insight... Those of us suffering are many...while the privileged watch the show They created...when...when will the common folk unite against tyranny, through the only peaceful means we have...vote out career politicians and dynasty families in favor of fellow human beings, with consciousness and compassion for the lowest among us. We won't stop the cycle of abuse by trading Democrats and Republicans, two sides of the same evil, corrupt coin. Vote 3rd party...vote for real people, with flaws, that understand what struggle is...that have put time behind any of these so called essential, yet minimum wage jobs... This economy is screwed...always has been. The vast majority of work available is menial labor...food service, retail, janitors, grocers...a great many take their wages in government...which is far too big, complex and unsustainable... Until any job can offer a modest secure household, until the only homeless are those who volunteer to live "free"...until the pill giants are mandated to make life saving medicine reasonably priced...we are a selfish, horrid nation, divided by the very people that oppress us, yet too busy fighting amongst ourselves to take any useful action towards a better tomorrow for the MANY, not the FEW......

[@cindyjmoss7525]

It’s sobering to think how many people delude themselves into thinking they are a couple weeks from being a billionaire and not a couple weeks from being homeless. It informs their viewpoints.

[@emilysmith2965]

“Temporarily embarrassed millionaires” need to wake up

[@Simon-nw9bf]

That's interesting, because if I lost my job tomorrow I'd find a new one the next day like a normal person. I wouldn't shrug my shoulders and give up on life to smoke rock in the street and throw garbage at random people walking past. Ask yourself, these homeless - why do they not have any friends or family willing to shelter them? Or even any of the thousands of highly paid policy makers who have made entire careers out of claiming to care for their well-being? Why don't any of them house the homeless?

[@TheNinthGeneration1]

@@Simon-nw9bfyou can guarantee for a fact that you’d only be jobless for 24 hours? What industry do you work in? For pretty much every job I’ve had there has been at least a week long interview process, some even going for months. As for politicians not giving out excess beds, that would be a temporary and inadequate fix at best, what we need is dedicated housing for homeless people but enough rich politicians don’t want to do that meaning we’re stuck with a fixable problem that will only continue to get worse until we actually start helping and save money in the process.

[@Gaywatch]

​@Simon-nw9bf Ever consider that their family and friends are also strapped for cash and resources? Or even if someone has a couch, they have an attitude like yours and refuse to help on 'principle' and 'not until the person helps themselves' or 'just go to a shwlter it's not that bad.' Having a connection to an open bed or couch like that is luck, pure and simple.

[@GEM4sta]

@@Simon-nw9bf Yeah, I saw someone else write this 'you're closer to homeless than a millionaire', absolutely not, lol. Most Americans are closer to being millionaires for sure. Billionaire, sure that's pretty rare.

[@josephsmith2682]

I’m so happy Last Week Tonight has decided to cover this topic. So many people in Seattle view the homeless as at best a nuisance and at worst evil. In reality, homeless people are just people without homes. We can and need to house everyone there is.

[@toriless]

Well., Seattle is especially poor at it. No one there gives a crap of someone walks around without any pants on as long as he is dirty too. People just wander by like nothing is happening. I have avoided downtown for decades. It is a filthy heartless place.

[@Spankee99]

Then call your city council and tell them to fix their god awful zoning regulations.

[@horacioelconserjeopina3956]

Free housing wtf

[@ShockerXL]

@@Spankee99 you do realize over half of our councillors are straight-up nimby trash right

[@Spankee99]

@@ShockerXL yes which is why you need to bully them into being better people. “Councilman X hates homeless black people” would probably be a good starting point.

[@robertcorozza7212]

I was homeless, too. I did something stupid and got evicted from the apartment complex I was living in with two family members. With no place to go, and out of work, I went to Dept of Social Services. They placed me in a shelter, which by all appearances was just a normal house from the outside. Only 10-20 guys lived in it. The previously $200/month I got in food stamps, was taken by the govt, and they paid my “rent”, which was like $495/month. I shared a room with three other guys. Two bunk beds on either side of the room. I lived there for 14 months, 15 days. It was awful. It was infested with bed bugs. At one point there was no hot water for three months. Eventually, it was condemned and they had to place us in other places. I went to live with an old friend I had befriended since living there. Fast forward to today, I live in a one bedroom apt that is 1500/month and have a job making 50-55k/year….but I never will forget that period of time. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

[@steveelrino1339]

Cool that you are out of that. May I ask how?

[@isaac3252]

How'd you get a job making 50k?

[@ceoatcrystalsoft4942]

Don't forget to fight to fix the issue

[@antoinewhitley9973]

@Justin Becausen don't use his great story to fulfill your opinion on homelessness. He did so anyone else can do it talking point against the people that still go through his situation. This is a back handed condescending compliment.

[@Ebonybeauty84]

@@antoinewhitley9973 I did get a bit nauseous from cringeing

[@mauriciamalveaux7153]

A while back a friend of mine who was living in another state was homeless for the better part of a year. She couldn’t even sleep on stoops or park benches for fear someone would steal her phone, which was the only way she could talk to me or her family. The same went for the shelters. I vividly remember her calling me a few times crying that she just wanted some sleep. The problem with homelessness is inherent in the name. People who need a home.

[@katyapuris8710]

Excuse me, may I ask you … Why didn’t she stay with you or her family?

[@andreamunoz6088]

@@katyapuris8710 “was living in another state.” Travel is expensive and moving costs money. Also, the family or friends may not be able to take them in for lack or space, or not being able to afford to themselves. It’s not always that simple.

[@mauriciamalveaux7153]

@@katyapuris8710 She had no way of getting money to get back to us and she was also having slightly strained relationships with her family because she was gay. Her family still communicated with her but made it very clear she had no place there.

[@johndymond4596]

#heroin

[@joejacko1587]

@@mauriciamalveaux7153 she should have stayed with me all kidding aside there is a program called "Homeward Bound" it gos by some other names too but will buy people a buss ticket one way if they have someplace they can stay on another state to avoid being homeless

[@meowmix6081]

I literally almost choked to death laughing at the grandparents in bed bit. Totally worth it. I've been homeless so yeah you're right about everything, but I'm waiting to hear more about Charlie's twisted grandparents.