If 100 homeless people were given $750 per month for a year, no questions asked, what would they spend it on?

That question was at the core of a controlled study conducted by a San Francisco-based nonprofit and the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work.

The results were so promising that the researchers decided to publish results after only six months. The answer: food, 36.6%; housing, 19.5%; transportation, 12.7%; clothing, 11.5%; and healthcare, 6.2%, leaving only 13.6% uncategorized.

Those who got the stipend were less likely to be unsheltered after six months and able to meet more of their basic needs than a control group that got no money, and half as likely as the control group to have an episode of being unsheltered.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20231221131158/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-12-19/750-a-month-no-questions-asked-improved-the-lives-of-homeless-people

You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments View context
-29 points

But why? Why punish people just because they are more successful than other people? The government doesn’t need to steal from successful people to give to those that aren’t.

permalink
report
parent
reply
23 points

The government doesn’t need to steal from successful people to give to those that aren’t.

It’s called taxes, not stealing, and yes they do. It’s quite literally one of the functions of a government.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-1 points

That’s literally not the function of government. Their only job is to protect me from you and you from me. That’s all. You may want the government more involved in your life. Not everyone feels that way.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

How do you expect a government to function if it doesn’t collect taxes? Are they gonna run a weekly bake sale?

permalink
report
parent
reply
13 points

I’m sure there isn’t a single millionaire that made it on their own. They had other people making that money for them.

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points

You got proof? Or you just ‘feel’ that way.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

I sure hope you’re never down on your luck in your life and need help with food or rent. I hope we never have another Covid-type incident where small businesses need help, where millions of people (maybe you?) need extensions on their unemployment. Hopefully you never need social security income. I’m sure that you don’t use anything in your daily life that other people have paid taxes for but don’t use themselves.

I guess the countless people who spent their lives working and paying taxes, only to get laid off, unable to afford rent, and have to live out of their car just get nothing in return for having paid into the tax system for years. Oh, and especially all those people who work full time, sometimes at two jobs, only to have to go home to their car or tent at night. Fuck them, amirite

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

You have problems taxing the rich but not the poor? 👢👅

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points

I have problems taxing anybody.

permalink
report
parent
reply

News

!news@lemmy.world

Create post

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil

Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.

Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.

Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.

Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.

No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.

If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.

Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.

The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body

For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

Community stats

  • 14K

    Monthly active users

  • 20K

    Posts

  • 526K

    Comments