Basic economics say a minimum wage is livable... But due to other reasons the one in Hawaii equates to less than minimum so your stupid question was inadequate. After researching a little I found that there is a problem there. A big one... but one that is also being countered by better drug treatment and shelters and sending back to the mainland homeless that came to Hawaii and then became homeless...
It is always more expensive to live in a place with a nice view or nice weather. Those things aren't free and that is just how it is. I said this in another thread, but feel compelled to say it again...if I came on hard times, I can think, right off the top of my head, of 20 family members or friends who would take me in temporarily. So how come some people don't have A SINGLE PERSON to go to in times of trouble? Have they outlived EVERYONE THEY KNOW? I think not. I think most have made bad choices and screwed the people they know time and time again until those folk's charity has just run out.
You're lucky to have so many close family members and friends. Not everyone is so lucky. Some people have very strained relationships with family. My mom for one, which is why she made a concerted effort to try to cultivate friendships outside that family circle, but even then she probably only has two or three friends who could really help her if there was ever an emergency. I think a lot may depend on what region of the country you live in too. Some parts of the country have a lot more hospitality in their culture than others. A few people might have had to move away from family because the cost of housing in the region they grew up in became so expensive. Again, I think a lot of this is people having trouble relating to other people in very different circumstances from their own. If you have a good paying job and a house and large network of friends and family who would take you in if anything happened, it could be difficult for you to comprehend how anyone could ever go homeless. It's also possible their friends are living in situations where it would be difficult to bring somebody else in. I know in many apartments you can't just bring somebody else in to live with you, they have to pass a stringent background check. There are many teens and young adults that go homeless for this reason, because their mother is living in an apartment that won't let her child live with her. The criminal violation might not even be that serious and could have been 7 years ago.
You can't order Americans to go from one state to another, and what if someone is a resident who falls into hard times or is a vet and returned to their home state and they can't make a go of it. Lets say your in the state and disabled on SSI even with supplemental support the $750.50 I get now would go squat for housing in the major cities and I need major cities support like mass transit would go not too far for housing.
Why is it 'so wrong'? Reality hurts feelings? And we don't need the grace of gods to remain solvent, we simply need to have made wise choices. Work hard, don't spend, avoid addiction, be good to family and friends (meaning they will be good to you if you fall on hard times), and save save save for a rainy day.
It's not luck, it's effort. Be good, honourable, honest, and helpful to others, and they will return it. What goes around, comes around. Do people wrong too often, and they'll turn their backs when you fall down. And why do you think that changing demographics and prices is some sort of affront? If you parents could afford a particular area, and you now can't .. one of both of two things have happened. A) prices have gone up over time (as they so often do), or B) you've somehow managed to achieve less than your parents did. The individual is in no position to complain, only to act. Finally, on the contrary, it's not difficult at all to comprehend how anyone could be homeless. It's very very simple. They chose a certain path, and remained determine to stay on it.
I agree people should save save save for a rainy day, but I've also heard of many cases where people saved all their lives and then a severe medical emergency or a court ruling took it all away from them. For those that live in high cost of housing areas, a divorce can also take all your money away from you. If your little middle class house has now gone up in value to $600,000 and you have to split all your financial assets evenly with your wife, that means she'll be taking all the money. Moving into an apartment in the nearby area may not be a viable long-term option either, with starting rents of $1200/mo it will drain all your money, and isn't going to fit in the budget if you're also having to pay alimony and child support. I know this is anecdotal, but one time I was at a bus stop talking to a lady and she told me about a homeless man she had talked with two months earlier. He told her he used to be a lawyer with a very successful practice. Then one day his wife left him with his business partner and fled the country with all his money. Of course the practice immediately fell apart because debts had been taken out against it that couldn't be paid, and the man was probably too emotionally devastated to work in the immediate aftermath. Since many of you don't know, I'll tell you that maintaining a law practice is a high stress job that takes 70 hours a week. She asked him why he didn't work hard and build back a new law practice. He told her that he was 60 years old and at this point in his life he was too tired to do it all over again.
If it's patently clear to an individual that $8 an hour won't cover the cost of living, they will find a way to earn more than that. Sane and well-adjusted people, who don't want to be homeless, that is. ie, most of us. There will always be a few people who are so dysfunctional or lazy that they think the fairies will somehow cover it, while they take it easy.
1) we plan ahead for 'severe medical emergencies', obviously. if you haven't, you've made bad choices. 2) court ruling? what on earth does that mean? most people manage to get through life without ever doing anything resulting in a bad court ruling. you have to have deliberately done something to attract that kind of trouble. again, choices. 3) divorce is a choice. so is marrying a loser. sane people don't do either. choices.
if you're living in rental accommodation, hand to mouth, paycheck to paycheck, you've made some really bad decisions. you have to really want to fail.
Another benefit of being a Christian. If I found myself homeless and hopeless, I'd walk into any church and ask for help. And I'd get help. If I was homeless in Hawaii, I'd get a job waiting tables and rent a place to live with 3 other struggling servers. Definitely ocean view.
And how are they going to do that? The cost of living was artificially inflated and thrust on these native people. They have no money. What are the supposed to do?
This is probably true. Drug addicts constantly burn bridges and the ones who refuse help continually "make their own bed". Im also sure there are also people who lost jobs, or just dont make enough money, they arent drug addicts, dont have extended family, or maybe have family members who cant be bothered. People can have mental health issues, physical health issues and it can all snowball pretty quick.
Thats silly, tourism is Hawaii's bread & butter. Without tourists it'd be back to little grass shacks. Is that your vision?
Yes it’s their bread and butter, now. It artificially raised the cost of living, which affected the native population.
You dont understand. Until tourism started there was no housing. Of course, that was in the mid 1800s. Native Hawaiians, like most indigenous people dont care much for working too hard. Even so, I doubt if many are homeless. More likely entitled millennials who think they deserve to live in paradise even though they cant afford it.
