• TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    That rate of homelessness seems like a wild underestimate. However, I don’t know much about the southern united states other than that they basically export the homelessness they create to other states through bussing programs. So this number might be better calculated considering both the spatial distribution of homelessness and the spatial distribution of churches. With out knowing where the churches are and where the homeless are, the number is a bit beguiling. That being said, it does seem that its the areas with lots of churches that create the conditions for homelessness, and then those areas export the problem they create to other areas (rural red states have been bussing the homeless and other ‘undesirables’ to metro areas of blue states for decades, rather than fund and operate local solutions).

    • Sotuanduso@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      That being said, it does seem that its the areas with lots of churches that create the conditions for homelessness

      Huh? Is this like a red state/blue state thing, or do you have something to indicate that towns with more churches generate more homeless? It doesn’t really make sense to me because homelessness is tied to housing prices, and cities are where housing is more expensive, and the ratio of church to population is probably a lot lower in cities.

      • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        It’s a red state blue state thing.

        Red states (rural areas) deal with homelessness by buying the homeless bus tickets and sending them to metropolitan areas within blue states. Basically, red states create issues with homelessness because of their social policies, then externalize the consequences of those policies. This has been the case for decades. Before 2010 this was almost exclusively a red state issue. They would buy a homeless person a bus ticket to CA or NY and that was that. However, more recently some blue cities like Portland are trying the same strategy.

        I thought this was common knowledge around homelessness in the US, that it was a blue state problem caused by red states.

        • Sotuanduso@lemm.ee
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          7 months ago

          Well it can’t be exclusively caused by red states, but I see what you mean. I’m just not a fan of the implication that churches have something to do with it.

          • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            Bruh who the duck do you think is buying the tickets.

            It’s not an implication, it’s an direct consequence.

            Churches are a toxic venom in the vein of society, this kind of exclusionary behavior is precisely why the exist.

    • spujb@lemmy.cafe
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      7 months ago

      I believe that number was accurate in 2022 as noted in the screenshot but has risen to 650,000 since.