Ending Chronic Homelessness

[ijmorlan]

I think the problem of people traveling is a lot smaller than some think. I'd argue a national program is definitely not needed. Transportation is difficult at best when you are homeless. Could people come here from Toronto, clearly yes. Could people come here from Ottawa? Maybe...but that's much more difficult. Could they come here from even...Manitoba, the number who could and would is negligible.

I think you underestimate the resourcefulness of people who learn of a good thing.

Also other jurisdictions would hand out bus tickets. Let’s not pretend this wouldn’t happen; there is already precedent for localities handling their homeless “problem” this way.

And yes, these are free homes to anyone. Yes, there are people who live in shittier places in Ontario now who would prefer this program. I think there can be reasonable limits on it, like, either organize it as a UBI, or basically, you pay if you gain the means to pay. But ultimately, I don't actually think that it would be a bad thing if people had an option other than living in inadequate or intolerable housing. Underhoused people is a problem too.

How high would the marginal tax rate be on people in this situation? And what would happen if they didn’t pay?

I agree with organizing it as a UBI. People should be able to choose how much of their allocation to spend on housing and how much on other things (even drugs, in my opinion — as long as they don’t then come back to the trough complaining about how they can’t afford housing). Also, they should be able to choose how to live (alone, with family, with roommates) without the bureaucracy increasing or decreasing their allocation accordingly. We would still need reform to ensure that affordable housing (specifically, affordable to those relying on UBI) gets built.