California #1 in Poverty in September 2018

[Darth Wedgius]

The high cost of housing plays a big part.

Note: It's not #1 in poverty as a trick of the numbers because it has a high population; this is poverty rate. Poverty in California is down, but it's down nation-wide. More people are leaving California than moving to California from other states, so it wouldn't seem like it is being flooded with refugees from the other 49 states.

I bring it up because California is pretty rich, and very liberal at the state level by U.S. standards, but this seems to be a fairly persistent problem.

[Robovski]

Not unrelated opinion piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/opin ... nimby.html

[TGLS]

Not unrelated opinion piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/opin ... nimby.html

Paywall'd

[Darth Wedgius]

Not unrelated opinion piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/opin ... nimby.html

Paywall'd

You can see the article discussed here, not necessarily objectively (if that screenshot didn't give it away ):
youtu.be/4-spEWBPQ9I

That caused me to bring this up, but I wanted to be a little more neutral in my approach, and more focused on the problem than pointing fingers. No need to cause a new flamewar for the mods to go through. I'm sure someone else will take care of that.

[clearspira]

Shouldn't this be in news? Anything political is not a general discussion.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

All the more reason for somebody to do something about the outrageous housing costs there. =/

[Darth Wedgius]

All the more reason for somebody to do something about the outrageous housing costs there. =/

Like what?

I see three (not mutually exclusive) major alternatives. 1 - limit how much homes cost, 2- provide low-cost housing for those without much money, or 3 - give people money for homes.

With 1, you've just beggared people who own property and may depend on that investment for their retirement. And all that money ceasing to exist in California will have interesting effects.

With 2, well, California does that. I suppose it could do more. Housing projects are often not very nice places to live, of course, but it's probably better than under a bridge.

With 3, well, you've probably pushed housing prices higher because you've made them artificially affordable, reducing the pressure keeping prices down. And yes, even with the high prices, there is pressure keeping prices down.

What are other alternatives? Building low-cost housing for them in areas with lower real estate prices? Arcologies in Arkasas? Mississippi mass housing? Apartments in Alaska? Something starting with K in Kentucky?

And if California's very liberal (for the U.S.) politicians haven't done it, why haven't they?

Edit: That's not to put you on the spot. This isn't "Answer these questions or put on a MAGA hat right now!" I'm trying to indicate I'm open to answers, but I'm not sure the tone came across right in the message above.

[Darth Wedgius]

Shouldn't this be in news? Anything political is not a general discussion.

This isn't about any one event, so I figured it didn't belong in news.

[Mecha82]

So California is #1 is something. Too bad that it's nothing to be proud of.

[FaxModem1]

That's what happens when you artificially inflate housing prices and prevent it from resetting, while also not keeping the social safety net and minimum wage up to livable standards. California is also very much a red state, with wealthy Republicans very much having a vote in how state benefits go to the poor, and they vote no on a lot of legislation because it'd affect taxes.

So, you can have three bedroom houses that cost over a million dollars, with people unable to afford that, and jobs are nowhere near the wage level. So, you have a lot of people renting very expensive studio and 1 bedroom apartments that would be worth a three bedroom house in Texas. If they can't afford that, expect to find them living in bridges, in cars, and on the street. So much so that you can't throw a stick without hitting at least a homeless person on every corner.

Hell, I worked at a nonprofit in San Diego for a year, and that's a VERY conservative town. Military members were begging for financial aid due to all the financial strain they were under because living expenses and income were nowhere near each other. And these are people with COLA added to their paycheck.

Welcome to inflation of prices and how wages need to keep up with them, or you face these kinds of problems.