I don't know what it is, but posts like this make me feel like HN is waking up and realizing the world isn't just 'social networks for dogs', and that there are real social problems out there needing to be fixed. There is a trend happening.
This post is powerful because it's recognition. The act was powerful because it was recognition, which then led to real action.
If judging by recent posts on HN, hopefully posts like this lead to more action. I want to think that this will lead to more smart thinkers here spending time to use technology do some sort of action. Even if just like the author, people think it's just one drop in the bucket unsure of any real impact, at some point we might actually begin to fill this bucket. Eventually sandwiches will turn into code. We need more of this.
San Francisco is the most expensive place in America to find a home, but that doesn’t deter the 400,000 people coming each year to the Bay Area in search of a new home and a new life.
Eleven-year-old Sera, her sister and her mother moved to San Francisco in 2009. But when the economy collapsed, her mother lost her job and the family now survives on her $600 monthly unemployment checks.
After five months in a shelter and more than a year in transitional housing, the family has moved to a one-room rent-subsidized apartment in the Tenderloin — a neighborhood synonymous with drugs and violence — while they wait for subsidized housing to come through. But they are just one missed rental payment away from returning to the shelter.
That came up on reddit too. Why are we paying insane prices to house these people in the most valuable real estate in the world, when you could help 10x as many by housing them in some place that actually affordable?
I don't understand it either. If I live in a mansion and lose my job, I don't ask for money to pay for my mansion, I move to an apartment. People who stick around here aren't helping themselves at all, but a lot of that could be why they're homeless in the first place.
Notice how many posters go from "I'm indignantly concerned about the poor in San Francisco" to "How dare you suggest there are significantly less expensive ways to provide them the same benefits" ... and which way the voting skews on that issue.
Edit: I love this part:
>After five months in a shelter and more than a year in transitional housing, the family has moved to a one-room rent-subsidized apartment in the Tenderloin — a neighborhood synonymous with drugs and violence
Gee, you don't think subsidizing long-term non-earners in the same area has anything to do with the deteriorating conditions? Nah, it couldn't be. Any time now, these buildings on the world's most valuable real estate, stocked with people who can't find entry level work, will blossom into another Marina or Nob Hill ... just a few more dollars, and we'll be there!
This post is powerful because it's recognition. The act was powerful because it was recognition, which then led to real action.
If judging by recent posts on HN, hopefully posts like this lead to more action. I want to think that this will lead to more smart thinkers here spending time to use technology do some sort of action. Even if just like the author, people think it's just one drop in the bucket unsure of any real impact, at some point we might actually begin to fill this bucket. Eventually sandwiches will turn into code. We need more of this.