Where did all the homeless people go?

Now follow my reasoning here if you would...

Last year we had 2.5 million homes foreclosed... this year we have some 3.5 million...
when you figure the adverge American family is mom dad and 2.5 kids that comes out to 27 million homeless... not counting the 15.5 million unemployed who lost jobs as well...

we know they didn't just move into apartments because another recent report says vacancies are at an all time high...

you would think 27 million homeless would be quite noticeable?
to put that number in perspective Mexico City has a population of 19.2 million... the population of Los Angeles County is just under 10 million...in 2007 New york city was listed at 8,274,527

Even if we cut that number in half.. say half just moved in with friends and family that's still Leaves over 13 million... to be fair lets cut that number in half again... 6.5 millom is still a lot of folks, mostly childrent too

SO where did they all go???


[edit on 3-11-2009 by DaddyBare]

reply to post by DaddyBare


Some will stay in cars if they have them, some might be living in trailers, some might be staying in abandoned buildings, forests, shelters, streets among other places.

I think the reason it is not as noticible might be down to the variety of ways that people will try to survive, not everyone will sleep on the streets like the media would have you believe.

Just my opinion.

reply to post by XXXN3O


true, true but in this day and age do we have enough open space for 6.5 million to go unnoticed?

Sure we see videos of tent cities but all the vid's I've seen have nowhere near that number...

Lets face it 6.5 million isn't just a group were talking hordes of your proverbial unwashed masses

Someones hiding something big...

[edit on 3-11-2009 by DaddyBare]

reply to post by DaddyBare


Tent cities my friend, There springing up here in Ohio, Mainly by fresh water sources, I wish I got pictures of one that was under the 75 Overpass. Theres also a lot of squatting going on in some neighborhoods, I have a lot of homes being squated in by the previous home owners, who lost there house due to forclosure; but the making home affordable thing wouldnt help them out at all. (what a joke) A few of the Neighbors and I have created a local militia, because Our Police force rarely patrols are neighborhood. Its not my town is hood or anything, just a sign of worse things to come.

we know they didn't just move into apartments because another recent report says vacancies are at an all time high...

In order to determine that, we'd have to know the total housing available in the United States.

For example, here in Taiwan there's also a high vacancy rate. However, there are more housing available than the actual population of Taiwan.

The reason is many rich Chinese (from the mainland) buy houses/apartments here in order to spread out their investments. Results: A lot of empty apartments/houses - A housing bubble.

I could easily see this being a possibility in the United States.

[edit on 3/11/09 by ConspiracyNut23]

reply to post by DaddyBare


Well from things I have witnessed where I am from (UK) the last place you want to be if you are homeless is in sight on a street. Some end up on the street as they do not know where to go and some are too far from anywhere to get to.

Police harass the hell out of homeless people and move them off the streets out of sight, who knows what else they do to them?

The public complain about homeless people on the streets as well.

Other homeless people may steal your things while you are sleeping or beat you up etc if you have something that they want.

I have seen members of the public spitting on homeless people which is completely sick and I know that at night its a different world from the day in many ways when it comes to crime.

I mean, think about how many are female without anyone to help them, if your female on the street sleeping and you have someone with no morals walking past you? Even if your male, theres plenty of people in the public who would beat you senseless if they saw you with a little bit of cash or something of value.

If I ended up homeless, the first thing I would do is try to find a shelter of some sort, failing that, an abandoned building that is away from main roads etc because its just not safe to sleep in plain sight in this world.

I think that in order for it to become a largely noticeable problem the numbers would have to be increased by quite a large amount. If everyone who was homeless gave up their fight for survival it would become noticeable because they would be lining the streets like most people think they do.

If you want to see the homeless, think of where you would hide to survive in a world that doesnt want you to be seen and you will soon find a lot hidden away in abandoned buildings, forests, cars at night, abandoned barns. fields, under bridges, in tents etc.

Hope that makes sense.

[edit on 3-11-2009 by XXXN3O]

reply to post by DaddyBare

Someones hiding something big...

They should all move into The White House.

reply to post by XXXN3O


I often enjoy your posts, because you put a lot of thought into them. Many times, I really believe you help others view different perspectives that they would not have, otherwise.

I will go now, so as not to freak anyone out.

_________________

As for the topic... Where I live is pretty cold, I assume most homeless are in shelters. But at the same time, many can still be seen sleeping in plain sight every day and night in Downtown Portland. Such a sad sight.

Originally posted by DaddyBare

Someones hiding something big...

Soylent Green? :-)

Originally posted by randyvs

They should all move into The White House.

I like it. Seriously.

A march en mass with several million people and 'move in' into the White House and other public buildings might just be the shock factor this country needs to wake up and smell the bovine excrement.

I believe a good majority would go to live withfamily or friends. If you think about it not all households had mom dad and 2.5 kids. Alot could be couples without kids , or kids grown and moved away. Some would be singles just living alone. If I had family or good friends I really cared about, and knew they were in need due to no fault of thier own I would have no problem letting them live with me.
And here in Atl Ga when you watch the news it shows homeless shelters. And they are filled to capacity, and some are familys. Sad times we are currently living in.

ever listen to "the ghost of tom joad" by rage against the machine? you should go download it right now. talks about everything mentioned in this thread, very disturbing how the large amount of homeless go unnoticed. Goes to figure though...that it wouldn't be covered by the MSM. But yeah, go listen to that song!

reply to post by alltogethernow


When we say "Average American family" that takes into account all the childless couples and empty nesters... Heck right down the street I know one family where 5 kids live with mom and dad in a tiny two bedroom apartment...

I'm just guessing here mind you, but with falling incomes, less going out for entertainment and diversions... I'm betting there's going to be a spike in the birth rate.. accednts do happen... only one of my four kids was planed...

Yeah, I am sure alot of them are living in tent cities. Probably in more arid climates. Did you hear about the sheriff in Arizona who made a Tent City Jail in Phoenix Arizona (now holds 2,000 inmates.)

I don't know, it always kinda freaked me out that people can go missing and no one know
I wonder if th is year will show more missing people. That fact that 100,000 people can disappear every yea (Just the ones they don't find) is amazing and scary.
statistics from the FBI:

As of December 31, 2008, there were 102,764 active missing person records in NCIC. Juveniles under the age of 18 account for 51,054 (49.7 percent) of the records and 12,648 (12.3 percent) were for juveniles between the ages of 18 and 20.*

The press do not cover the story, so people do not know or care. Apathy really rules the human nest in the 21st century.

I think one of the major problems that we developed during the housing bubble was the concept of buying real estate as a property investment. Here in New York, for example, we saw rampant and immediate growth in areas that once were considered industrial and "the wrong side of the track". There were new condos springing up right and left, the thing is, not many people were living in them.

People were under the assumption that buying a million dollar condo and holding it as a solid investment would produce a profit in a short period of time. Some also bought the property as an investment and decided to rent it out. Well, it doesn't take an economist to see that when there is an over abundance of property the concept of real estate as an investment begins to loose it's power. This is the same for the idea of "flipping a house", buying a cheap house, renovating it and charging much more for it.

Basically, it was a bubble because the prices on all these properties were over inflated and were created on speculation. For example, this condo in Brooklyn is a half a million dollars simply because someone decided this is a "high end" property and they felt they could get that much for it, however, there was no solid reason why it should cost that much. As more condo buildings are built there are more condos on the market, this creates competition and will generally drive buyers to the lowest price range.

Ok, so what I'm saying here is that many of the places that have been foreclosed on weren't primary residences, they were secondary residences, investment properties and rental properties that people could no longer afford once the bubble of falsely high speculative prices imploded.

I also believe that population has been somewhat consolidated as many properties were owned or occupied by an individual who may have moved in with friends or family once the bubble burst and their paychecks got smaller. I don't think you can label every household as holding a "typical family" of 2 parents and 2.5 kids.

If it makes you feel any better, though, there are still plenty of homeless people here in New York City.

Hey, maybe they all sneaked to Canada for a chance at the good life and to live as illegal hypocrites.

reply to post by Shadowflux


Not that I don't agree but to add a stat... it's only been recently we've seen defaults of jumbo loans.. that's mortgages that exceed $600,000... those combined with commercial contracts make up this new wave of foreclosures... most of the higher end vacations and investment homes fell under the Jumbo's.. those number are only just now being counted

reply to post by DaddyBare


I suspect that most people had friends or relatives to move in with. Simple.

reply to post by DaddyBare


I'd assume that the larger loans didn't fall until more recently because the people with million dollar loans have enough assets to float the debt for longer than the average citizen. $600,000 is still a lot of money to most people and I may have exaggerated in saying that all these condos were million dollar properties, certainly some were but half a mill is still rather large.

The problem was that it was basically a pyramid scheme, the people who got in early made the most money and eventually you get to the bottom where some poor sap got stuck with no one else to dump it on.