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A city for the homeless would turn the homeless into tenants who aren't paying rent. It's essentially just social housing you pay for.
Correct.
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Originally Posted by Veritas Vincit
Realistically, a significant % of your residents would have substance abuse and mental health issues. So mental health services will be a significant cost factor, and you will have to think about how you want to deal with recreational drug use and the retail of such substances. Some of that will be the now often legal marijuana, a lot of it will be substances that are banned such as crystal meth, heroin and cocaine. If there's a population of addicts creating demand, then suppliers of such substances will locate themselves in your area. This will naturally cause some issues requiring the presence of law enforcement. You will need a contract with the local Sheriff's department. That's a cost factor.
Yes, but arguable substance and mental health issues stem from societal acceptance, and a community of individuals who are in the same boat would be more accepting and understanding. Russell Brand has some opinions on how acceptance, connections, and community are the best way to deal with those issues.
That said I don't intend to do anything about recreational drug use. If there are issues they can call the state police as with any rural county altercation until city police are supported. I advocate the decriminalization of drugs anyway.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Veritas Vincit
You will also one way or another need a contract with someone providing fire & rescue services. You will have a population where health emergencies will occur at an above average rate.
Unlike wood construction concrete doesn't burn. They won't have room for furniture within their bedrooms so there will only be limited space for flammable items, AND each bedroom will be divided by concrete. I think a volunteer fire department should be plenty. Health emergencies would be transported to the nearby major city until they could be sustained in my city.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Veritas Vincit
I don't understand why you would start with a 'city' for the homeless rather than just creating and operating a homeless shelter in an existing municipality. What do you hope to be the advantage of having your own 'city' (and I imagine we'd initially be really talking about an unincorporated settlement)?
Almost every city I've been to has homeless people, and almost every city I've been to wants them gone. As other posters in this very thread have mentioned they do NOT want homeless people living next door to them so shelters within larger city limits are met with a LOT of resistance and not just with zoning issues but by the community at large. Zoning and building codes are another issue to contend with. It's rare for a city to allow communal living to be built, or rainwater collection, or gray water usage, or even off-grid power production. In some places, if you live within the city you MUST connect to the grid, and you even have to pay for the right to produce your own electricity. Land is also at a premium, so my land cost go from 2/3k up by a factor of 10, and it becomes dramatically harder to get large plots of land to be able to build a community that is designed for walking/bike riding.
If nobody is paying rent to live in those apartments how are they generating any money?
Or are the homeless paying $0 but others who move there voluntarily paying $xxxx?
You're confusing the city with the apartment complex. I'm likely not going to build the apartment complex, I'm just going to purchase it, and they will pay rent there. No homeless people will live there. No homeless people will be relocated there. There are two separate things...
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Originally Posted by KemBro71
Look, I honor what you're doing in so far as trying to take a fresh lens onto the homeless crisis in our country. But I would do a ton more research on novel approaches being already tried by others and less on sketchy back-of-envelope calculations. You can see how the new ideas failed and then try to improve upon them and find ways to eliminate the failure points. I do think progress could be made.
An unincorporated, unsupervised 'burning man' encampment is a non-starter.
Dude, you don't seem like your honor what I'm doing, you seem like you're at best half listening (because I keep having to repeat myself with you), and dismissing it with a wave of your hand. Obviously, given the links and knowledge that I've provided, I've DONE a ton of research on novel approaches being tried by others in this country and others. If you have some information to PROVIDE that would be lovely, but past that I'd really appreciate it if you'd go troll someone else.
Let's start at the very very very beginning. How do you propose getting land to build your city? Pretty much every square inch within 10 miles of a city has already been incorporated in the US. Are you not in the US possibly? Have you looked into land costs?
Unlike wood construction concrete doesn't burn. They won't have room for furniture within their bedrooms so there will only be limited space for flammable items, AND each bedroom will be divided by concrete. I think a volunteer fire department should be plenty. Health emergencies would be transported to the nearby major city until they could be sustained in my city.
Where will a volunteer fire department and equipment come from? Your city will be tiny and only for homeless folks. Do you think they'll be volunteer fire fighters? Volunteer fire departments have a LOT of training and training exercises. They also need VERY expensive equipment. Ours recently purchased a new paramedic truck. They waited for 3 years to get it. It cost over $450,000 which they themselves fundraised every penny for. They are located in a town of 3,500 people. These folks train every Tuesday night even if they have a call in rain, snowstorms, hale, you name it they're out there. Most of them have been with the department for YEARS. You don't become a fire fighter overnight. Nor do you build a volunteer fire department overnight. Most communities seriously struggle with volunteer fire departments due to the lack of volunteers. Our town is INCREDIBLY fortunate that we have not struggled. The town next to us ended up closing down a volunteer fire department because they didn't have enough volunteers. They now rely on a paid fire department from much further away and a tax bill to go with it. They're happy they still have a fire department though. It's certainly not free or cheap.
They'll have their own community they aren't going to be living close to that many people. Also once they start living there they will no longer be homeless as that's what I'm providing them. That said if someone threatens you, just like normal call the cops. Your anecdotal experience doesn't resolve the issue. Lastly and most importantly what do you expect to happen? Homeless people to just what go find someone convent to quietly die? That's not going to happen, because that's not human nature. If you provide them food and shelter they're going to be a LOT less likely to steal from you or assault you because now they have something they can lose.
I am glad you live on the opposite side of the country. I think you are young, naive and didn’t think your plan through. You need to spend more time on practicalities, not dreams that will never be.
> The city will have an influx of cash from an apartment complex worth roughly 1 million with a cap rate of 10% after expenses
If I understand you correctly, you either already own an apartment complex or you intend to buy one, and with the revenue from the tenants there, you will fund your new city.
Of course, contrary to what some "tenants-rights" advocates seem to think, the rent that the tenants pay doesn't all go into the landlord's pockets. Far from it. There's the property tax to pay; some or all utilities; maintenance; repairs; operating costs; and so on. You also have to be aware that your tenants are not a bottomless pit of money. If you raise the rent too high, relative to comparable apartment complexes, you'll lose your tenants and thus your income.
Given all this, I don't think that a typical apartment complex would generate enough "extra" money to cover the expenses of your planned city. This is especially true because your city would not be self-supporting. You would be subsidizing the cost to house and feed your population. And you would allow them to basically sit around and do nothing, and not contribute anything.
To be honest, what you are describing sounds like a cross between a commune and a public housing project. History is replete with examples of failed communes and failed housing projects. Maybe there have been successful ones, but I'm not aware of them.
I would urge you to study the history of such places. Find out why they failed. Learn from their mistakes. Maybe you can do something that others haven't done, and thus succeed where others have failed. But if your project is to succeed, you need to match your idealism with cold, hard business sense -- and a very clear-eyed understanding of human nature.
Unlike wood construction concrete doesn't burn. They won't have room for furniture within their bedrooms so there will only be limited space for flammable items, AND each bedroom will be divided by concrete. I think a volunteer fire department should be plenty. Health emergencies would be transported to the nearby major city until they could be sustained in my city.
Concrete may not burn, but the things housed within concrete buildings can burn. I'm talking bedding, furniture, clothing, papers, books, appliances, towels, toiletries, and a whole bunch of other things. You have to assume that fires can happen and be prepared to deal with them.
If there aren't going to be normal-sized streets in your city, fire engines won't be able to get to a scene of a fire. This means you'll need a system of pipes, hoses, and hydrants covering the entire area, and you'll need a reliable supply of water under pressure. And you'll need people trained in the usage of the equipment and in fire fighting techniques. I don't know how fire departments are organized in your area; if they're professional or volunteer; organized by the city or by the county; and so on. But you'll need to figure out how to make this work, even if it means contracting with a neighboring fire department.
After more in-depth explanation from OP as to what type of community he's planning to have, I'd suggest buying some land in Guyana. I hear they're great for this type of thing. Just don't invite any congressional delegation.
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