Find a relatively unpopulated area where it doesn't snow with a relatively unpolluted river. Set up small channels in the river, diverting some of it sideways into an artificial river. Run this artificial river straight into a sewage treatment plant. There is now a source of clean water, a place to relieve oneself, and places to bathe.
Set up a town hall with a combined police station, fire station, social services department, and a very small school.
Set up an urgent care center.
A free trash service and mortuary must also be present.
Offer plots of land free and rent free to anyone. You only get one plot, you don't own the land, you can't force anyone off of theirs, and if you move away for six months anyone can move onto your land and take your stuff.
The idea is a very large homeless camp that's still reasonably safe and sanitary. Most of the expenses of city "projects" are done away with, as no buildings are offered. No electricity is given, although I'm sure a charity would step in with solar panels. If you want water you go and get it. It's not the modern lifestyle but many people can't afford the modern lifestyle and just need a place to live without being harassed and forced to move every few days.
Businesses are allowed to move in (rent and local tax free!) to provide food.
The relatively low cost of services and administration, the additional load on the sewage treatment plant, and the cost of police is paid by those grateful large cities whose residents no longer have to suffer the indignity of stepping over those less fortunate.
Winter warming of shanties and tents must be provided by charity.-- Voice, Feb 08 2021 Camps for homeless http://www.markedby...eat-depression.htmlsolved for farm foreclosures [Sgt Teacup, Feb 08 2021] Canadian model https://www.thecana...oyment-relief-campson which US camps were based [Sgt Teacup, Feb 08 2021] British model https://en.m.wikipe...org/wiki/Grith_Fyrd [pertinax, Feb 08 2021] A Better Tent City https://www.abettertentcity.org/ [Voice, Jul 31 2023] Baked in the 1930s by the Farm Security Administration in the US, and R.B. Bennett in Canada (see links).-- Sgt Teacup, Feb 08 2021 // residents no longer have to suffer the indignity of stepping over those less fortunate. //
What if said resident(s) view "stepping over those less fortunate" not as an indignity, but as an enjoyable pretext for smug, misanthropic gloating ?-- 8th of 7, Feb 08 2021 Acceptable, but be sure to step over and not upon.-- whatrock, Feb 08 2021 You're no fun any more ...-- 8th of 7, Feb 08 2021 //enjoyable pretext for smug, misanthropic gloating ?// Isn't "Homeless People Hurdles" a new Olympic event? This is where elite athletes hurtle around a measured circuit, but periodically have to leap over homeless people sleeping in makeshift cardboard constructions placed at regular intervals around the track.-- xenzag, Feb 08 2021 // homeless people sleeping in makeshift cardboard constructions //
SLEEPING ? Fie, egad, how cometh it that such idleness and slacking is permitted ? Is there no coal to be mined, no chimneys to be swept ?
They need not be entirely homeless; there are plenty of nice, warm, dry chimneys where they may be permitted to roost for a few hours, for a comparatively modest fee.
Presumably they have the receipts for the cardboard ?-- 8th of 7, Feb 08 2021 Sounds intriguing, but BART subway stations in San Francisco provide the aforementioned services with the addition of a roof, climate control, and begging opportunities.
I visited a FEMA camp once. It was depressing. I saw people living in "temporary" trailers permanently, nice accommodations but nobody seemed to have a plan to move out. I also saw two middle-aged women get into a fight over a case of Gatorade.
// low cost of administration // I'll believe it when I see it. This whole setup of tents with water running through the middle sounds like Andersonville Prison Camp. Nevertheless, have a bun for optimism.-- sninctown, Feb 14 2021 It's sad and bizarre that this is necessary. Interest rates have been near zero for decades, but somehow building permits were kept artificially limited. I read recently that 1/500 of people in the U.S. is homeless.-- 4and20, Feb 14 2021 New buildings in rich areas would decrease the value of the existing buildings, so they are not built. Someday, someone will find a way to commoditize and sell access to people/communities separately from access to buildings. This will extract the wealth from existing real estate without violating any laws, as the wealth is transferred into "community membership tokens" or some such. This will obliterate Bay Area real estate prices as people rush into "community membership" in the new (virtual) Bay Area. Unfortunately I cannot think of a realistic way to organize this without replicating the same problems inherent in real estate.-- sninctown, Feb 14 2021 How is this any different from planned new towns such as Milton Keynes, Glenrothes, Craigavon?-- pocmloc, Feb 15 2021 //How is this any different from planned new towns//
No land ownership, no utilities, no local taxes-- Voice, Feb 15 2021 No-one owns any land.-- pocmloc, Feb 15 2021 You own what you protect.-- Voice, Feb 15 2021 random, halfbakery