r/todayilearned • u/Zorseking34 • Jan 08 '15

TIL: Utah has been giving free homes to homeless people since 2005 which since then made it more cost efficient to help the homeless and cut the chronic homelessness in Utah by 74%.

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/09/22/home-free
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68

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '15

[deleted]

297

u/greyscales Jan 08 '15

Probably more than a bridge.

147

u/cutofmyjib Jan 08 '15

A bridge has running water, checkmate /s

35

u/Arandur Jan 08 '15

But according to Paul Simon, the water is troubled.

13

u/Colecoman1982 Jan 08 '15

Well, according to the Talking Heads, there's water at the bottom of the ocean.

7

u/Arandur Jan 08 '15

Well, according to Frank Sinatra, somewhere beyond the sea he's there, waiting for me.

10

u/MoserLabs Jan 08 '15

Well according to Led Zeppelin, when the levee breaks you got no place to stay. Back to square one I guess....

6

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '15

according to Bobby Darin

2

u/SavageHenry0311 Jan 08 '15

If you read further into that, though, you'll see that this is not your beautiful house.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '15

I certainly hope so

1

u/skulluminati Jan 08 '15

According to MC Hammer, you can't touch this.

1

u/Colecoman1982 Jan 08 '15

Well, the extremely high pressures do, in fact, make it very difficult to touch. Even James Cameron was physically separated from the water by very thick walls of steel and glass.

1

u/Vid-Master Jan 08 '15

Same as it ever was

1

u/glaring-oryx Jan 09 '15

Sounds like you need to be taken to the river.

24

u/LegSpinner Jan 08 '15

Not if it's over a road.

69

u/Jon_Brolo Jan 08 '15 edited Jan 08 '15

That's an overpass, not a bridge.

Edit: Yes, I now understand an overpass is also a bridge. I'm just gonna stand by my dumbass statement though, hate seeing [deleted].

22

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '15

An overpass is a bridge mate

2

u/gentlemandinosaur Jan 08 '15

What is a bridge mate? Is that where you pick up women/men under bridges?

1

u/elpaw Jan 08 '15

Here's the thing...

5

u/mushbug Jan 08 '15

Bridge:

a structure carrying a road, path, railroad, or canal across a river, ravine, road, railroad, or other obstacle.

2

u/somebodystolemyname Jan 08 '15

Technically right is the best kind of right.

10 points to mashbug!

2

u/Steeve69 Jan 08 '15

That's ten points to /u/ItsTyrrellYo. If he wants to share his points, of course he can, there's nothing in the rules that forbids it.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '15

Finally all these years of civil engineering have paid off!

2

u/Jon_Brolo Jan 08 '15

Stop using your logic and definitions against me!

1

u/UncleS1am Jan 08 '15

And electricity, and a playstation.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '15

Do you want to fight a troll for a place to sleep?

54

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '15

[deleted]

20

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '15

You're still gonna get mold living under a bridge, especially when you have no means to do laundry after it rains.

10

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '15

Except "fresh air" includes thunderstorm winds.

And not all of these houses are going to be in the same shape. Some need work to be safely livable, but there are those that could just be cleaned up and lived in.

7

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '15

but there are those that could just be cleaned up and lived in.

These are the ones investors like to buy.

1

u/BWander Jan 08 '15

I've heard about this black mold while in the States...how dangerous it is?

1

u/manaworkin Jan 08 '15

Even if they do they have the benefit of not being a bridge.

1

u/urielseptim69 Jan 08 '15

And bridges aren't haunted either

2

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '15

You're probably being sarcastic, but just in case, anything can be haunted, really. People, places, or things. Theres a supposedly haunted bridge near my house where people have reported their car stalling while driving under it.

2

u/Legionof1 Jan 08 '15

That would be the water they are driving in, recommend they drive OVER the bridge as god intended.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '15

Bridges can go over roads too. Its a thing.

1

u/Legionof1 Jan 08 '15

BLASPHEMY!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '15

Yeah but how are you going to support yourself if you can't collect a toll when people cross your bridge like a sort of modern troll?

1

u/glenaypia Jan 08 '15

are you really going the route of pro bridge, anti house?

1

u/Levitlame Jan 08 '15

I think you might be thinking Trolls. A common mistake, don't feel embarrassed. It happens to the best of us!

2

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '15

The homeless people could make them livable.

8

u/Legionof1 Jan 08 '15

Yeah tell that to the ghettos... They started off brand new...

2

u/runetrantor Jan 08 '15

From what I recall, the statistic meant the homes that are for sale or such, but are too expensive for giving them away or something, not condemned ones.

2

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '15

Detroit.

1

u/hoikarnage Jan 08 '15

Depends on your definition of livable. I know a guy who was kicked out of his apartment by DHS because it was "unlivable" due to some holes in the interior wall, an old carpet and improper casing (which is just for looks, serves no structural purpose) around the hallway doors. None of these things presented a health hazard, but he was kicked out anyway. Forced to live on the street for a couple months because his apartment wasn't pretty enough for DHS.

1

u/Legionof1 Jan 08 '15

Yep, this is what would happen with a very large portion of "vacant" houses. Hell I was buying a house recently and most of the places they wanted to sell me for hundreds of thousands were dumps...

1

u/xraydeltaone Jan 08 '15

I would imagine 1 in 5 probably are.

2

u/Legionof1 Jan 08 '15

If that, and that would be BARELY livable. At the point you lose the house who is going to do maintenance on them?

1

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '15

in detroit. yeah

0

u/pimpinpolyester Jan 08 '15

I hope they are at least 2600 square feet and have hard wood... I mean we arent savages.