Meghan Daum had a recent guest interviews with Estela Lopez and Sam Quinones about street homelessness and drug use. Both seemed to be more on the side of addressing drug use as more the cause of street living rather than street living stresses being the main factor. An earlier interview in 2025 with Dr. Sally Satel discussed the history of asylums snd several mental illness.
How can we work with city leadership and non profits to spend funds efficiently and actually help people who want to be helped.
In Minneapolis and St Paul both mayors are now in favor of moving tent and open air living people into shelters. The shelters usually? Always? require no drug use.
The progressives want to bring food and supplies to the tents camps but the local immigrant owned businesses complain about people pooping in their parking lots and harassing the customers.
There’s some culturally specific programs that bring in social workers and religious counselors (E.g.: Native American or East African or Christian).
Does any /all of this help in your understanding ?
The most direct causal factor for homelessness rates seems to be housing / rental prices.
This makes sense if you consider people who are mentally ill and/or have addiction issues are almost certainly also of very limited financial means. So, the higher the housing costs the more likely they are to be priced out.
I would be hugely skeptical of any claim that homelessness is itself a significant causal factor. I don't think humans think like "whelp, I'm homeless now. This sucks. Guess I'll just start banging fent and maybe develop a little schizophrenia".
In HCOL / urban areas, I'm not sure there's any way to create housing affordable enough for extremely financially limited demographics like severely mentally ill or addicted without just creating more permanent tent cities.
I'm for shelters and a pathway to treatment. I don't think people should be blamed, punished, or forced into treatment solely because they're mentally ill or addicted. However, if shelter is provided (with the contingency of no drug use and not being a danger to others), but a person rejects that option in favor of living on the street in a tent city then they had safe options and made a choice.
And should be held accountable for that choice. With the most humane accountability being compulsory treatment.
To second the housing costs bit: West Virginia has one of the lower homelessness rates in the nation, despite being hit hard by the fentanyl and meth epidemics. It's just way easier to keep a minimally sufficient roof over your head there even if you're a mentally ill addict who does not work. Meager SSI is enough to eke out an existence, especially if pooled between a few people. A lot of these homes are not maintained properly, but it's still better than a bench on the street.
There’s some great projects in Minneapolis that are specifically designed for Native American/ tribal affiliated homeless and addicted people - it’s a former warehouse building where the non profit built tiny homes inside. Some of the people living there have NEVER lived inside. It’s a hard transition.
There are private bedrooms and shared bathroom spaces (so the staff can keep them clean and safe). They have fire circles with native spiritual support groups in the outside courtyard. Requires social services meetings and addiction treatment.
Funded by local government, state, and Tribal casino money iirc.
Circa 2020 is when this became a huge local problem. Tent communities gather in a local park and then over and over propane tanks and fires burn tents down, people overdose and die, people get stabbed or shot for drug debt, rapes, assault. Encampment gets cleared.
There’s a big causal factor of outdoor street involved living perpetuating the abuse and drug issues. However I also hear lots of cases of people getting free (essentially) housing and not using support services and mental illness and continued drug use just bringing all the same problems indoors. Hoarding and living in squalor with malnourished kids and dogs.
But not all cases are like this of course. People get into a bad situation and live in their car until they can couch surf with friends and relatives help until they can find a new job, recover from health emergency.
It’s the in between cases where addiction treatment where a person needs a very regular schedule with access to the medication that have the most hope.
This is all well and good but I think we're getting a little far afield from internet drama.
I guess this can be interesting for people who were interested in Katie's book
i hate to tell you guys but your ai image generator is on some really good drugs.
Meghan Daum had a recent guest interviews with Estela Lopez and Sam Quinones about street homelessness and drug use. Both seemed to be more on the side of addressing drug use as more the cause of street living rather than street living stresses being the main factor. An earlier interview in 2025 with Dr. Sally Satel discussed the history of asylums snd several mental illness.
How can we work with city leadership and non profits to spend funds efficiently and actually help people who want to be helped.
In Minneapolis and St Paul both mayors are now in favor of moving tent and open air living people into shelters. The shelters usually? Always? require no drug use.
The progressives want to bring food and supplies to the tents camps but the local immigrant owned businesses complain about people pooping in their parking lots and harassing the customers.
There’s some culturally specific programs that bring in social workers and religious counselors (E.g.: Native American or East African or Christian).
Does any /all of this help in your understanding ?
The most direct causal factor for homelessness rates seems to be housing / rental prices.
This makes sense if you consider people who are mentally ill and/or have addiction issues are almost certainly also of very limited financial means. So, the higher the housing costs the more likely they are to be priced out.
I would be hugely skeptical of any claim that homelessness is itself a significant causal factor. I don't think humans think like "whelp, I'm homeless now. This sucks. Guess I'll just start banging fent and maybe develop a little schizophrenia".
In HCOL / urban areas, I'm not sure there's any way to create housing affordable enough for extremely financially limited demographics like severely mentally ill or addicted without just creating more permanent tent cities.
I'm for shelters and a pathway to treatment. I don't think people should be blamed, punished, or forced into treatment solely because they're mentally ill or addicted. However, if shelter is provided (with the contingency of no drug use and not being a danger to others), but a person rejects that option in favor of living on the street in a tent city then they had safe options and made a choice.
And should be held accountable for that choice. With the most humane accountability being compulsory treatment.
To second the housing costs bit: West Virginia has one of the lower homelessness rates in the nation, despite being hit hard by the fentanyl and meth epidemics. It's just way easier to keep a minimally sufficient roof over your head there even if you're a mentally ill addict who does not work. Meager SSI is enough to eke out an existence, especially if pooled between a few people. A lot of these homes are not maintained properly, but it's still better than a bench on the street.
There’s some great projects in Minneapolis that are specifically designed for Native American/ tribal affiliated homeless and addicted people - it’s a former warehouse building where the non profit built tiny homes inside. Some of the people living there have NEVER lived inside. It’s a hard transition.
There are private bedrooms and shared bathroom spaces (so the staff can keep them clean and safe). They have fire circles with native spiritual support groups in the outside courtyard. Requires social services meetings and addiction treatment.
Funded by local government, state, and Tribal casino money iirc.
Circa 2020 is when this became a huge local problem. Tent communities gather in a local park and then over and over propane tanks and fires burn tents down, people overdose and die, people get stabbed or shot for drug debt, rapes, assault. Encampment gets cleared.
There’s a big causal factor of outdoor street involved living perpetuating the abuse and drug issues. However I also hear lots of cases of people getting free (essentially) housing and not using support services and mental illness and continued drug use just bringing all the same problems indoors. Hoarding and living in squalor with malnourished kids and dogs.
But not all cases are like this of course. People get into a bad situation and live in their car until they can couch surf with friends and relatives help until they can find a new job, recover from health emergency.
It’s the in between cases where addiction treatment where a person needs a very regular schedule with access to the medication that have the most hope.
>The shelters usually? Always? require no drug use.
Usually, it is sort of a pendulum.