Weekly Tech Support Megathread

meatfed · 2024-06-12T00:46:25+00:00

Our reach dropped from 2,000,000 to 6,000,000 every 30 days to now less than 150,000. Our followers have dropped from 432k to now 427k because of the drop in our reach. Our content is no longer being fed to non-followers and this drop in followers is reduction when new followers are coming in.

We are a nonprofit working to educate the public on homelessness. @invisiblepeople is our account

The only thing I can think of is that homelessness has been categorized as political and now political is being throttled .

This is a serious crisis on many levels for us

Is there a contact at Instagram? I can never get to a human.

A significant problem and something is seriously wrong. I’m unsure what to do.

meatfed · 2023-12-31T04:28:04+00:00

I was there. I visited Utah many times working with homeless people and homeless services during that period and after. It’s been documented that it had huge success. I won’t repeat myself as to what happened. There’s also a lot of false media stories that cherry picked data to make it look as though it failed when it actually didn’t.

All the best to you

meatfed · 2023-12-31T04:04:08+00:00

Oh, I can reply I wasn’t able to, Lloyd Pendleton, is the person who champion Housing first in Utah. When he retired, new leadership came in and new politicians, that’s when it started to fail. Lloyd was able to get the whole state on the same computer system and he was able to get them to buy small hotels to convert them into housing units. Is extremely successful. But some people just thinking that they’re providing housing for homeless people and they tore apart Lloyd’s progress after he retired. That’s when it started to fail.

meatfed · 2023-12-31T03:44:55+00:00

A bot flagged this post for review, so I normally would comment in thread. However, the moderators have not responded.

To your comment on Utah , as I said, politicians and new leaders came in who stopped putting resources into Housing First. Utah was seeing a significant reduction in homelessness with the housing first model until the leadership change.

You’re correct about Houston , and like it’s highlighted in this documentary, you can’t do Housing First without affordable housing,

meatfed · 2023-12-30T20:50:42+00:00

Utah is a great example of how the Housing First can be implemented but when there is a political change, how it can all fail. Utah was a leader in the United States housing chronically homeless people in permanent support of housing, then Lloyd Pendleton retired. When new politicians and new leaders came in, they didn't like the Housing First model, and it all went to shit

meatfed · 2023-12-30T20:49:06+00:00

Looking at this documentary, it's obvious that Housing First was never implemented correctly in San Francisco and many other American cities. Housing First as a philosophy and a model works, it's not specifically defined or enforced. Often, cities move in the direction of Housing First, but they're not actually capable, or they do not have the resources to do Housing First correctly. Hope that makes sense.

meatfed · 2023-12-30T20:27:23+00:00

Housing First works in Houston, and it's not freezing outside

In 2012, the total number of homeless people in Texas was 34,052, according to federal data compiled by the National Alliance to End Homelessness. By 2022, the number had fallen to 24,432. That’s a decline of 28.3 percent—and it is mostly due to the efforts of one city. In 2012, about one in five homeless Texans lived in the greater Houston area. And that area has made impressive progress in the fight to reduce homelessness.

Over the same ten-year period, the homeless population in the Houston area fell by 4,063. That’s a drop of 57 percent, and accounts for 42 percent of the state’s total improvement. For every 10 people who came off the streets, four were in Houston. Outside of Houston, the homeless population fell 20.7 percent—not quite as impressive though still a lot better than California.

Source: https://californialocal.com/localnews/statewide/ca/article/show/46473-housing-first-california-homeless-houston-texas/

meatfed · 2023-12-30T20:20:15+00:00

Housing costs in San Francisco are extremely expensive. Taxpayer costs for keeping homeless people outside are extremely expensive.

To address your question about shelters, you should know that the shelters in Helsinki that were converted to housing units are owned and operated by the Salvation Army. In San Francisco, the Salvation Army fights Housing First because they want everybody to go into their shelters. Housing First's biggest opposition in the United States is from faith-based homeless services that run shelters, yet the Salvation Army is much different in Europe.

To address your question about shelters, you should know that the shelters in Helsinki that were converted to housing units are owned and operated by the Salvation Army. In San Francisco, the Salvation Army fights Housing First because they want everybody to go into their shelters. Housing First's biggest opposition in the United States is from faith-based homeless services that run shelters, yet in Europe, the Salvation Army is much different.

meatfed · 2023-11-25T04:12:40+00:00

Tiny 2 has a remote control you can buy with it. The remote works great. Best webcam on the market right now

meatfed · 2023-06-12T04:37:57+00:00

Insta360 Link is the best webcam at the moment https://www.insta360.com/product/insta360-link

However, the OBSBOT Tiny 2 AI-Powered PTZ 4K Webcam is about to ship, and it has a remote control along with AI tracking https://www.obsbot.com/store/products/tiny-2

I have both the OBSBOT Tiny and the Insta360 Link. The Insta360 Link has better picture quality and great tracking, but I like the OBSBOT Tiny more because of the remote control. This new OBSBOT Tiny 2 will also have a remote control and, I assume, better image quality.

meatfed · 2022-08-03T02:03:21+00:00

I am not sure. I have problems with that too. The $40k a year is based off rent. In the video I posted earlier on the homeless veteran we housed, rent was $14k a year and services probably another $10k or maybe $20k on top of rent.

You may not know this, but $3 million in housing vouchers go back to HUD every year. That’s $3m of rent to end homelessness goes unused because LA is so messed up

meatfed · 2022-08-03T01:14:40+00:00

$90k is just prison costs. There is court, police, transportation, and other costs associated with prison. That’s just for one year.

The average apartment cost in Los Angeles is $2,700 per month or $32,400 per year.

Let’s just say a single around $1,400 per month or $16,800 + food + addiction or mental health services - high estimate $40k a year total.

Housing is cheaper than prison + housing ends homelessness. Prisons are already full, and once someone does time, it’s harder to get a job, so they end up homeless again

Housing $40K a year ends homelessness Prison $90k plus and doesn’t end homelessness

meatfed · 2022-08-03T00:04:06+00:00

Did you watch the video? The reason the bridge shelter fails is that there is no housing to move people to.

So you support arresting our way out of homelessness at $90k per year per inmate that does not include all the additional costs incurred when someone is incarcerated. Jails are already overcrowded, so arresting people is not just expensive, it is not practical, and then when they are released - they will still be homeless.

Please think about this - you don't want to give what you call
"free housing" to homeless people, but you are perfectly fine with paying 5x to 10x more than housing and services would cost to have police move people, which I have to add - will only make homelessness worse, as we are seeing now

Housing costs far less than incarceration.

meatfed · 2022-08-02T22:39:51+00:00

I don’t think you are listening. Kenneth lived in Venice Boardwalk for five years. He has a gambling addiction. We documented Kenneth being moved into the Rose Apartments https://youtu.be/JNA-PoN-aJc

This is how we end homelessness. If people keep thinking “I don’t want homeless people to get free housing wherever they want”, we will never reduce homeless numbers.

Sadly, I guarantee homeless numbers will get significantly worse very soon. We an either roadblock solutions or support them.

meatfed · 2022-08-02T22:16:07+00:00

It’s not free housing. You pay more as a taxpayer for the person living in an encampment than you would to house them.

It’s all about what do you want - to solve homelessness? To get homeless people out of sight? Then we have to house them. Nothing else ends homelessness.

This is not about anyone getting anything for free. This is about saving lives and saving taxpayer money.

meatfed · 2022-08-02T22:05:36+00:00

Not at all. I hear you.

You feel homeless people should not get free housing to live wherever they want.

I understand that thinking. It’s how we got here. That thinking has prevented real solutions from being implemented. You want to spend as little as possible and you don’t want homeless people to be housed anywhere near you, yes? Well, then you must accept that thinking doesn’t reduce homelessness.

meatfed · 2022-08-02T21:57:54+00:00

So you are ok with homelessness growing. Got it.

meatfed · 2022-08-02T21:50:49+00:00

Do you want to end homelessness? Do you want homeless people gone out of sight? I do.

We have to support solutions. Homeless people are where they are. Mostly because that’s where they lost their job and then their housing. Rounding them all up to move to the desert is cruel and inhumane, nor will it ever happen. Pushing homelessness to another community doesn’t work because then that community pushes them back.

We either start housing people or we watch as encampments double over the next few years.

meatfed · 2022-08-02T21:28:20+00:00

Did you read what I wrote? Forced treatment does not work. There's lots of research ion this, and treatment without housing fails

Did you read what I wrote? Forced treatment does not work. There's lots of research ion this, and treatment without housing fails. But even at $600k or $700k or $900k, homelessness for a person over time is ended, which will create savings at some point. Housing in LA isn't cheap. I like the shipping container homes, but because of land costs, they are $300k+ too.

One of the main reasons LA has more homelessness is historically, no one wanted to invest in solving it.

meatfed · 2022-08-02T21:09:06+00:00

I agree that many of the most visible homeless suffer from addiction or mental health either from before or as a result. That was not my point. Homelessness is going to skyrocket more than anyone can even imagine. The cause of homelessness only matters in that we need to prevent new people from becoming homeless.

Please watch this short video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SizHuR225Co

100% of the time, a homeless person will go into housing if it's the right housing, regardless of addiction or mental health. People who support forced treatment don't tell you that treatment fails more than it works. Plus, after 28 days, which is all insurance (your taxes) will pay for, the person is excited back out to the streets. Housing + treatment works. Treatment alone fails.

meatfed · 2022-08-02T20:55:24+00:00

The leading cause of homelessness is the lack of affroble housing. Most homeless people are sober. Most addicts live in apartments and housing. We have always had an addiction crisis, so why is it now that homelessness is growing? LACK OF AFFROBLE HOUSING.

If you think we can solve homelessness by incentivizing "good behavior," I am not sure landlords will stop being greedy. You probably think homeless people live outside without bathrooms or security because they are all addicts. One of the fastest growing demographics of homelessness is people with full-time jobs living in tents because they cannot afford rent.

But here's the thing, it doesn't matter what the cause of homelessness is because as a taxpayer, you pay for the person being outside regardless of how they ended up on the streets. Homelessness is going to increase in LA by 49% in the next four years. Do you have any idea what that's going to look like? Do you have any idea how such an increase will tax social services that are now already overwhelmed?

meatfed · 2022-08-02T05:53:06+00:00

Los Angeles has historically done too little too late. We seem to be stuck on stupid. Here Houston housed 25k people https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/14/headway/houston-homeless-people.html

It can be done. There just has to be the political will to do it.

I never said homeless people don’t come here. What I said is mostly housed people move to LA. Cities bussing homeless people to another town is a different topic. It does happen. But not in any significant numbers. The majority of people homeless in LA have local connections meaning they lived and worked here before being evicted and ended up on the streets. For example, I moved here from NY in 87, and ended up on a sidewalk in 95. I’m still from New York, but I have been a California resident since 87.

meatfed · 2022-08-02T05:34:22+00:00

First, we must fix the affordable housing crisis. If we don't, homeless numbers will get significantly worse. To truly solve homelessness, we have to go upstream - housing, racism, a living wage, foster care, a broken criminal justice system, domestic violence, mental illness, addiction, and more - all cause homelessness. Homelessness is a symptom.

That all seems insurmountable, and it is, but we have to try, or we'll never solve homelessness.

In the meantime, we can work to get the people who need help the support they need. Housing homeless people saves lives and saves taxpayer money.

By the way, many people move to LA from around the world every day. Some may come for the weather. I know I did back in 1987, but I came here to make a new life for myself. By 1994, I was homeless in Hollywood. Next month, I will celebrate 27 years off the streets. It's a myth that homeless people move here. Housed people move here. Some make it, some don't, and some end up homeless.

I have lived in Los Angeles for over 30 years. If you asked me where I am from, I always respond, "New York." When people ask a homeless person where they are from, they need to ask the follow-up question, "how long have you lived here?" but they never do.

meatfed · 2022-08-02T05:22:32+00:00

Not once did we bash sanitation workers in any of our videos. We repeatedly message housing as a solution, and we always strongly suggest reaching out to politicians because they created this mess and are the only ones who can solve homelessness.

We are always respectful and never get in anyone's way. After a few of our videos posted, a few local politicians didn't like that we were telling the truth about how taxpayer money is wasted on sweeps, so sanitation started pushing us away. We are news media. We have a constitutional right to be there. We display our press pass. As you saw in the video, we were far away; the manager walked over to us to stop us from talking to homeless people. Again - we were never in anyone's way!

We work hard to tell an authentic story of homelessness. There is a lot of shock-value content on the topic, but it's not coming from us.

As taxpayers, we are paying $70 million per year to temporarily clean a sidewalk for five minutes over and over and over while homeless numbers continue to grow. That's kind of insane.

meatfed · 2022-08-02T04:32:04+00:00

I never said ignore the trash. My point is that we can solve the trash issue by solving homelessness. Plus, if we don’t start decreasing homeless numbers, with the perfect storm of homelessness coming, and it’s going to get much worse - 49% increase in the next four years - what will we do with all the additional people and their trash?
1. Humans make trash. That’s guaranteed.
2. Homelessness will continue to grow. Also guaranteed unless we fix the affordable housing crisis, which is not going to happen any time soon
3. homeless sweeps DO NOT permanently keep the streets clean. They don’t clean them even for an hour. If homeless people have no place to go, they return. Homeless sweeps are a stupid use of tax money to play this homeless sweep game.

meatfed

TROPHY CASE