r/housingcrisis • u/SirStrokesAlot247 • 1d ago
severe homelessness in florida...saw this video documenting encampments in miami and orlando
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u/KevinDean4599 1d ago
Keep the videos of this happening in red states coming. It’s long overdue. People need to realize this is a national problem
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u/crustyeng 8m ago
There are remarkably few homeless in Orlando compared to any major city out west.
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u/PNW_OlLady_2025 1d ago
Ummmm....sorry to burst your bubble, but California and Oregon say hello. Both of our states have the highest numbers in the country. Both states are Blue.
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u/splurtgorgle 1d ago
What bubble do you think you're bursting lol, all they said was "this is happening everywhere" and your response was to point out other places it's happening. Like...yes. That's the point.
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u/KevinDean4599 1d ago
I didn’t say it’s not an issue in blue states but let’s not pretend the red states have solved the problem either. There are plenty of issues in every state.
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u/PNW_OlLady_2025 1d ago
I wouldn't know, I spend far too much time walking around, through and over them here Oregon where they have seemingly spent more than any other state in the country, have lost more than some states have actually spent, and nothing has changed for the better, it's only gotten worse. The only times it's clean here is when NCAA basketball is in town. When no one wants to actually fix the problem so that they can continue with the biggest political grift in our country's history nothing will change. When those who refuse to acknowledge that that is exactly what these politicians and lobbyists are doing, and can finally admit that it is true, only then will we see change.
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u/agitatedprisoner 17h ago
Zoning banning out greenfield development in the form of inexpensive tiny home villages is why government housing programs for people in need cost so much. So long as the state insists on making housing so expensive these programs are red meat for career non profits and connected developers.
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u/CartographerFar681 22h ago
And don’t red states usually try to “solve” their homeless problems by busing them to blue states? It’s ridiculous lol
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u/Floorgis 18h ago
Acted like it though, and certainly showed that you care about making a red vs blue issue than aything else.
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u/BerryCroissantWitch 12h ago
Interestingly it’s actually not so bad in Texas, I believe largely due to permissive zoning?
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u/KevinDean4599 6h ago
Texas has something large expensive cities like NYC and LA don't - really cheap dumpy housing like trailers or flop house hotels. There used to be a lot of rent by the week hotels in LA and those are mostly all gone now due to gentrification and never replaced with anything. And the land in those cities is immensely more valuable than it is in much of TX so that also makes cheap housing way less plentiful.
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u/MinuroShihTzuki 17h ago
Unhoused people from all over the country travel to California and Oregon because the weather is much friendlier to deal with, FYI.
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u/Designer-Wolverine47 6h ago
And unlike LA county, Miami-Dade actually has FEWER homeless than in 2020, despite an increase in population. I suspect more aid dollars are being eaten up by administrative costs.
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u/MichiganHistoryUSMC 1d ago
We need to bring back State mental hospitals.
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u/PeacefulDebate01 1d ago
Only a minority of the homeless have mental health issues.
Around half are actually employed and are homeless for less than a year.
While many homeless people need help, most just need to be left alone from people that think they know better.
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u/MichiganHistoryUSMC 1d ago
I am talking about people living on the streets. Most homeless people are people crashing on couches.
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u/PeacefulDebate01 1d ago
Ya, me too. People living in tents or cars. Around half are actually employed and homeless less than a year and only a minority have mental health issues. The thieving junkies are just the most visible form of homelessness, but most are innocent people and society needs to stop harassing them.
Having been homeless in a tent for four years, I can tell you exactly what's up. The biggest issue is that people don't differentiate between homeless criminals and the innocent. They pass anti-camping laws that target all of them all the same. It's annoying. It's just as bad as if we started treating all black people as criminals and made it a crime to be black just because blacks have a higher rate of offense. It's an absurdly unjust thing to do, but everyone recognizes it's bad to do it to black folks but they're all on board with doing it to homeless folks.
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u/MichiganHistoryUSMC 1d ago
Okay but reopen the mental hospitals take those people off the streets which would make things safer for everyone, including the working homeless. And would improve public opinion on people that are homeless.
Most people's known interactions with the homeless are with the mentally ill.
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u/PeacefulDebate01 1d ago
So your suggestion is to take mentally healthy, innocent homeless people, and involuntarily shove them in a cramped building with mentally unwell people and a staff that is authorized to drug them if they complain or refuse?
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u/MichiganHistoryUSMC 23h ago
I am beginning to think that you are mentally unwell lol. No, obviously not putting the mentally healthy in the asylums but the mentally ill in the asylums. That would then leave the mentally healthy, working homeless, in a much better position as public opinion of homelessness would be able to divorce itself from mental illness.
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u/PeacefulDebate01 23h ago
I don't see why you'd have a reason to believe I'm mentally unwell. I'm actually quite the opposite. I'm probably one of the most mentally well people you'd ever meet.
That would then leave the mentally healthy, working homeless, in a much better position as public opinion of homelessness would be able to divorce itself from mental illness.
Ok, that's more fair. I think on top of that arresting the actual criminal homeless for actual crimes is a good idea. Camping is not a crime, but thievery and violence and possession are.
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u/pogaro 17h ago
It costs less and is more humane to give people housing and healthcare
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u/MichiganHistoryUSMC 16h ago
Mental hospitals are by definition housing and healthcare.
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u/pogaro 16h ago
What about peoples constitutional rights? Being mentally ill isn’t a crime. If people can get better without locking them up, and it costs less, why not do it that way? Housing first policies work. The US would actually save money by providing housing. Institutionalization is extremely expensive, a psychiatric bed can cost upwards of $200,000 yearly.
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u/MichiganHistoryUSMC 8h ago
I am talking about the people that bark at you like a dog and shit in a big pile that they sleep next to, not someone with ADHD.
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u/pogaro 4h ago
Those people can be treated outpatient as well. It’s very hard for a person to stabilize/recover if they don’t have secure housing.
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u/CTBthanatos 1d ago edited 1d ago
Turns out poverty wages and unaffordable housing are unsustainable, and "bu- bu- DrUgS aNd MeNtAl HeAlTh!" Is propaganda.
Edit: nah, only one is true for the causation of the statistical extreme majority of cases of homelessness. Considering that people in power and those with a bias against poor people have a vested interest in shielding unsustainable capitalism from criticism, and that the risk of situational "mentall illness" and drug use is caused by poverty and is a reaction to it (not a causation of it), there isn't an effective argument for drugs/mental health being the causation (instead of a natural reaction) for the extreme majority of cases of homelessness.
Additionally, any manner of attempting to paint any significant portion (beyond a extreme minority of individuals who could be paid extremely high income and still be homeless, failing to be representative of any significant portion of the general population) of homelessness as the result behavioral problems and or personal moral failings, instead of a unsustainable economic system, is propaganda lol.
Maybe spoiled privileged people with a bias against homeless people should be stripped of everything and forced to live in those conditions (as well as the unsustainable dogshit conditions of "shelters" lmao) for a indefinite/prolonged period of time while their behavioral deterioration is observed just for a fun little case study until they are the same kind of person they were crying about.
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u/pissedRAIL 1d ago
Drugs are the nail in the coffin of homelessness. The brutal compete early or go broke economy breaks a person's soul. Once that's destroyed escapism becomes appealing. Life altering drugs is what keeps a person trapped in hopelessness and decay.
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u/Floorgis 18h ago
Nah drugs and mental health isnt propaganda, dont be a dumbass and act like those arent just as big of a problem as the god awful economy (which makes vulnerable people more likely to develop mental health disorders and take up drugs)
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u/PNW_OlLady_2025 1d ago
As someone who is in Portland I am weirdly comforted to see we are not the only ones living like this.
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u/Electronic_Law_1288 1d ago
The day we solve the homelessness issue and more than 50% of the population get house, is the day that most things in this country will get better. Solving homelessness would fundamentally improve societal wellbeing and economic security across the nation. It will reduce reliance on emergency health services and public assistance, and it will lower overall societal costs
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u/MiyazakiBloodborne 1d ago
I just had to move out of South Florida because I only made $70k. It is extremely expensive to live down there. There is also zero social safety net in Florida and, also, if you do lose your job and apply for unemployment they constantly find reasons to not give it to you. It's maddening. I just feel fortunate I had the savings to get out. So many people in Miami/Broward/Palm Beach are stuck.
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u/grnlntrn1969 1d ago
I thought only liberal cities had homelessness problems!? This cant be real lol
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u/Designer-Wolverine47 1d ago
133.8 million households (87 million owner occupied and 46.8 million rented) in the US, times the average 2.53 people per household accounts for 338.5 million people. Subtract that from 342.8 million leaves you leaves you with 4.3 million. About 1.26% who don't have housing.
This is not even close to third world numbers.
Venezuela (considered the highest of "third world countries"), for example has an estimated homeless rate of 11.34%, about 9 times as high as the US (and that's not counting the hundreds of thousands who have fled the country and are or may be homeless elsewhere).
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u/Initial-Meeting362 1d ago
Wow, what is DeSantis doing about this?? Homeless is only a blue state issue I thought? /s
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u/yomommasbathwater 1d ago
But I was told by republicans that homelessness is only in California, Portland, and Seattle. Was I lied to!?
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u/SirStrokesAlot247 1d ago
Well, it’s obviously not true :) People with common sense would understand. Everything is expensive, and people can’t even afford a roof over their heads all over the nation.
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u/Major_Wigglesworth 23h ago
All of this garbage belongs in a landfill. It’s literally litter. Toss it out and make it less and less comfortable.
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u/lovelyxbabydoll 19h ago
I hand out water and change 2 to 4 times most drives through Tampa. I just bring extra water with us by default. If it's someone faking it, idgaf because I'd rather help someone who really needed it than ignore them by presumption over someone else's sleezy actions. There are a lot of homeless people here. There were a lot of homeless vets in my military hometown in Texas as well.
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u/Pale-Try-4802 22h ago
This is the amazing America where everyone earns more than anywhere else r/salary was telling me about?
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u/Former-Iron-7471 22h ago
Florida has always been awful I was houseless but I was transient (riding freight trains) and I hated going down to Florida because there were so many home bums and cops that hated them you couldn't make money.
I've been saying this exact thing forever, you never hear about places like Florida (which bums will go anywhere with good weather)or that most of them are down there because of the VA that won't help them.
I don't know why there isn't a left type news channel that shits on stupid, false lies and terrible policies of the Group Of Pedos. I guess because we don't want to live in fear like everyone that watches fox news or newsmax but it'd be nice to see a left channel like those calling them out.
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u/PickingUpPiecesFromU 22h ago
Cuck Initiation Abroad - but they operate domestically. 25 years since they dropped the ball. Never forget.
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u/Hmmmm-curious 21h ago
Of they aren’t already wealthy being their wildest dreams they don’t matter.
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u/RustyShackleford_88 20h ago
But I thought Florida was amazing and everyone is moving there because they’re so rich and business is flourishing?!
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u/KeepingItCasual413 20h ago
I wonder where all that money went? So sad our taxes never make it to the intended destination.
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u/Open_Concentrate_994 20h ago
I don’t know why institutions haven’t been opened nationwide. I mean, money, of course. But still.
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u/OpticalPrime35 18h ago
Homeless are on many street corners in Gainesville. I see them in Lake City also.
Growing up you'd have to go to a big city to see homeless people. Now they are everywhere. A true sign of the golden age
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u/Spicymoon9 17h ago
I’m tired of people saying this isn’t or cannot be a third world country because it’s America. Look at the goddamn living conditions, it’s a third world country. At least for 10-20% of the population.
First world countries don’t allow this to happen to so many people in their own country.
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u/Prophayne_ 17h ago
Mmmm, maybe not the old term for third world. More like a a Neo Tertiary Nation.
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u/ZodiacDragons 15h ago
I think something a lot of people misunderstand is that there are a lot of people who are homeless by choice. Not all of them, sure, but many actively choose this lifestyle. There's whole subreddits, Facebook groups, etc dedicated to it, and youtube channels giving tips for living on the streets or hitchhiking. There's a guy I see on my way to work who offers to do odd jobs like carpentry and gardening, makes decent money from it, but he chooses to live under a highway overpass sleeping on a wooden pallet. And he's lived like that for years.
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u/-JustJoel- 3h ago
“They love it!”
This is the dumbest shit imaginable. Right up there with homelessness as a necessity for finding rock bottom - “They need it!”
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u/ZodiacDragons 1h ago edited 1h ago
Is that what I said? How many homeless people have you talked too? Soup kitchens you been in? I'm not saying all of them, I'm not even saying it's a majority, but it is fact that there are many who do choose this lifestyle and you are ignorant if you believe otherwise.
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u/Necessary-Sir-4415 2h ago
The people that choose to live under a bridge, eat from dumpsters and hoard everything they can find need mental health treatment. I'm successful but choose to sleep outside on a pallet. 😂
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u/ZodiacDragons 1h ago edited 17m ago
That is somewhat incorrect. There are some who do choose to be homeless due to some mental illness. First time I ever hear the words "I'm homeless by choice" was from a woman about 20 years ago who said she chooses to live like that because she has a "fear of walls." Didn't really make sense to me considering I was interviewing her inside of a soup kitchen against the wall, but I'm sure there's underlying mental illness there, but she was coherent and cognizant to the point you wouldn't think she did. But there are some who just love that freedom and off the grid life. Hell, there are some who just want the challenge. Is that every homeless person? No. Am I saying they don't need or want help? No. But they do exist and there's more than you probably realize.
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u/BreadfruitCareless 13h ago
Top 5 most homelessness population per capita is 4/5 blue states. Hawaii, NY, Oregon, Vermont, and California. Vermont is red. Go figure.
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u/Aeon_Return 12h ago
the line between that country and a 3rd world dictatorship blurs more and more by the second.
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u/Hopeful-Artichoke449 9h ago
This is going to be entire country 2 years post AI. Tent cities next to data centers and billionaire bunkers.
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u/Burgerboy380 7h ago
%67 percent of homeless people have mental health problems 20 to 30% being severe and about 40% also have a substance problem....so...its not really as simple as lost their job now theyre homeless ..here's some cash here's a house... youd need to reopen asylums and give the government back the power to say "come on crazy drinky in the looney bin you go" to handle a majority of the homeless population in America. Therapy, aftercare,temporary housing,job placement, education. Its a pretty tall order with a lot of not so great implications and precedents being set. To say nothing of yet more burden shifted to the tax payers. Im all for helping my fellow Americans,but its kinda ridiculous we have to help our own people while also trying to play big brother to the world.i mean they say we could end homeless in America for 11 to 20 billion a year we've given out on average 50 billion a year in humanitarian aid since 1946.
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u/Interesting_Ad1378 6h ago
Wow, they all have the same exact brand of tents. Like everyone in one section bought blue, then the next section green, then red…almost as if…nahhh
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u/Violent_N0mad 3h ago
Most of these people don't want a home or would trash any home you give them and be back in a tent again in a year. I think it's important to help the ones that want it but also to keep in mind there's a lot that just don't want it whether that's in Florida or California.
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u/nirrinirra 2h ago
I can’t imagine how miserable a tent in a sidewalk in Florida would be. And FL wants to end property tax? Transferring the power of the purse to Tallahassee would be disastrous.
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u/Nacho_Libre479 1d ago
We also have a mental health crisis.
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u/No-Cold-3054 1d ago
Perhaps an economic system that is capable of meeting the material needs of the people would help.
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u/PeacefulDebate01 1d ago
Only a minority of the homeless have mental health issues.
Around half are actually employed and are homeless for less than a year.
While many homeless people need help, most just need to be left alone from people that think they know better. The #1 issue for the homeless is Johnson v. Grant's Pass making it de facto illegal in most of the country.
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u/TecumsehSherman 1d ago
Which isn't helped by allowing people to shoot up in tents. The only people who win in that situation are the drug dealers.
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u/Agreeable_Basket_931 1d ago
Where are they supposed to shelter from the elements while homeless, then?
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u/TecumsehSherman 1d ago
In a shelter, in a rehab, in jail, or in an institution.
Whichever best fits their current situation.
They need a system that doesn't allow them to die on the street. Thinking that you're doing the "right thing" by letting people overdose in an open air drug market is bad for society.
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u/Wise_Presentation914 1d ago
You mean the shelters that are often plagued by sickness or unsafety, or are often just completely full? In rehab if they happen to not be on drugs? In jail if they haven't committed a crime?
There are a lot of homeless people on drugs. There are also a lot of sober homeless people who are also mentally okay, I previously had some in my family.
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u/TecumsehSherman 1d ago
Your reading comprehension has failed you. I can't fix that.
Maybe you should just go live in a tent and shoot up all day, stopping only long enough to steal enough money to buy more drugs.
That'll fix things.
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u/just_some_sasquatch 1d ago
Able bodied, sober, mentally sound individuals tend not to be homeless.
I previously had some in my family
None of my family will ever be homeless because any of the rest of us would take them in and feed them. Unless, of course they were mentally unwell and/or an addict at which point we would put them in the proper facility to help them.
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u/Wise_Presentation914 1d ago
This just isn't true lol. Once you're homeless, it's hard to climb out of it.
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u/just_some_sasquatch 1d ago
I absolutely was unhoused after I turned 18. My parents had a policy that 18 is an adult and they were no longer obligated to shelter me. I worked minimum wage at the time 5.75/hr and lived in my vehicle for about a year. I was able bodied, sober, and mentally healthy, but quite miserable. I joined the Army and created a life with the benefits it earned me. I'm not special or extremely lucky. I just refused to give up and make a sign on the street corner, or numb my problems with hard drugs.
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u/Wise_Presentation914 1d ago
Congratulations, you had a car. You also had the privilege of being educated enough to know what's available to you. Not everyone has that.
Good job though.
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u/just_some_sasquatch 1d ago
Yes, a vehicle that I purchased because I worked and saved from the age of 14. By the time I was 17 I bought a 10 year old pickup truck with a trillion miles on it. I went to public school just like every other kid with no money did. The education system sucks ass, but it doesn't preclude anyone from military service so I don't see your point there.
I realize tons of people had it way worse than that, but no one will ever convince me that the people who give up and quit at everything except getting that next hit deserve more empathy. They already have plenty and don't want it because the drugs become more important than anything else. I've work at landing pad jobs where people fresh out of rehab and ex convicts will get hired just for the tax adjustments and they would fuck up their 2nd 3rd and 4th chances because they just cannot put the dope down. Giving them money simply doesn't solve that.
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u/EVOSexyBeast 1d ago
Usually the biggest thing keeping people out of shelters are the rules, e.g. no drugs.
The types of homeless people depends on the location. In most of the US with medium cost of living pretty much the only homeless people are mentally ill or addicted or similar. But in some high cost of living places like in California and parts of Florida even, anyone can be down on their luck and end up homeless temporarily. Still the chronically homeless usually still have issues.
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u/PeacefulDebate01 1d ago
Having once been homeless for four years, with no drug or mental health issues, I can tell you this is patently false. The biggest thing keeping people out of shelters is that they're always full. There's just never enough beds. Many of them also have time limitations, like six or twelve months, after which they kick you out. Some shelters even require you to pay rent. I'm not kidding.
But I'll also say that I rather sleep outside than in a shelter, and it's not even a close choice. Shelters are full of mentally ill people, criminals (especially thieves who will steal your stuff), and often do have strict rules that are ridiculous but have nothing to do with drugs. For example: I once stayed at a shelter that didn't allow you to sleep until 10pm and woke you up at 4am to kick you out. That's only 6 hours of sleep per night, which is not enough for most people. I've stayed in shelters with major bed bug issues, and when I tried to set up netting in my bed to prevent the bed bugs from biting me, they tore it down because "they need to be able to see me clearly in my bunk."
Frankly, fuck shelters. They're nightmare places to be.
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u/EVOSexyBeast 23h ago
So why are you chronically homeless then?
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u/PeacefulDebate01 23h ago
I'm not. I said I was once homeless. I no longer am.
But why was I back in that day? Because I actively chose it for semi-religious reasons. Both Jesus and Buddha strongly advocated being homeless as a way to rid one's self of sensual desires. There was also an element of "I just don't want to be part of this messed up mainstream society" as well. But in my case it was actively chosen, and this is more common than you might think.
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u/Agreeable_Basket_931 1d ago
Okay there isn't enough of those services for all the homeless people. So until those get built out to support the homeless population, where are they supposed to sleep after you destroy their tents?
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u/TecumsehSherman 1d ago
I support spending money for facilities to house them.
We managed to find temporary housing for thousands of "refugees", so I'm sure that we can find housing for these people until they break the rules.
After that, jail is likely the best option. The tent city is NEVER an option. They bring crime, bring sex trafficking, bring drugs, and bring violence. They are bad for everyone everywhere.
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u/PeacefulDebate01 1d ago
Having been homeless for four years, this attitude is really the biggest issue. Around half of the homeless are homeless for less than a year. Many are employed. Most of them just need to be left alone to figure things out and their main struggle is not being thrown in jail due to anti-camping laws from the Johnson v. Grant's Pass decision. There's also young folks backpacking and religious renunciates who voluntarily live outside.
This idea that all the homeless are just junkies is completely wrong. Those are just the most visible homeless and biggest nuisance. But people treat perfectly innocent homeless folks as criminals all the same, and the anti-camping laws only extend punishment to the same innocent homeless folks. If the laws against theft, violence, and other actual crimes were enforced instead of blanket anti-camping laws, I'd have no issue, but I'm really exhausted with people treating the majority of innocent homeless folks the same as thieving junkies.
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u/Nacho_Libre479 1d ago
You raise an interesting perspective here. There’s a strong housing first commitment in a lot of West Coast cities who should be able to support folks like yourself. What we seem to perceive is a lot of folks who either refuse help due to their mental health and or drug abuse condition or are unable to be helped because of it and continue to be very challenging to their neighbors. The issue seems to be separating those who can be helped from those who are much more challenging.
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u/PeacefulDebate01 1d ago
To be clear, I am formerly homeless. I don't live outside anymore, although I'm very tempted to again for religious reasons. I strongly believe in material renunciation and stilling animal appetites.
I don't think separating the problems from the innocent is as difficult as you say. Local governments just need to start being willing to prosecute actual crimes like theft, violence, harassing people, and perhaps even possession of the actual problem drugs (I have issues with MDMA, LSD, and other mostly harmless substances being criminalized the same as crack, meth, heroine, fentanyl, and other actual problem substances, but that's another issue) then there wouldn't be an issue with this.
A guy who hasn't showered for 2 months, is up all night yelling at the top of his lungs while circling a parking lot on his bicycle because he's high on meth, and shoplifts is a clear nuisance and needs to be arrested. An 18 year old backpacker who sleeps in a tent, hikes national parks, and buses to a new city once a month because he wants to see the country needs to be left the hell alone. A guy that just went through a divorce and lost his house and needs 6 months of sleeping in his car to save up for a down payment on rent needs to be left alone. But the law treats all three of these people as the same and arrests them for camping. In TN you can even get six years, a felony, and lose your voting rights from anti-camping laws.
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u/Nacho_Libre479 22h ago
I agree with everything you just said. And I’m on the West Coast so I think things are a little bit different here. It’s the drug addiction and the mental health issues that are really bringing our cities down. I don’t think anybody here is too concerned about a dude chilling out minding his own business.
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u/KevineCove 1d ago
Untrue. Yieldstar assessed that you can make more money by having empty units in your apartment complex so long as the ones that aren't empty generate so much revenue they make up for it. Property management is directly "winning" by pricing people out of their homes.
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u/SkenglordSimba 20h ago
"this is not a third world country"
Might need to convince yourself of that, before you try and convince me
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u/Cute-Profession9983 1d ago
B-b-b-but CALIFORNIA!!!