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Arizona town will allow workers to live in cars to mitigate housing crisis


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Posted
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SEDONA — After nearly seven hours of heated debate, Sedona City Council voted 6-1 to approve a program that will provide a safe place to park for workers in the city who are living in their cars.

 

But a petition to let Sedona voters decide for themselves on the program could soon be making its way around town.

 

The Safe Place to Park program will include 40 parking spots for those employed full-time within city limits. It requires participants to actively engage in case management with local social services — with an end goal of securing permanent housing after the program ends. The site will include temporary restrooms, showers and trash bins.

 

Funded through a two-year grant from the Arizona Department of Housing, the site will be managed by the Verde Valley Homeless Coalition.

 

They will be responsible for monitoring and enforcing rules within the lot between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. All vehicles will be required to leave during daytime hours.

 

The council's decision Tuesday comes after more than a year of planning and refining a program aimed at providing relief for area workers while affordable housing projects move through the construction process.

 

City officials estimate that the 30-unit workforce housing project on Shelby Drive will be ready for residents by the time the Safe Place to Park program ends in 2026.

 

Council members acknowledged the program is not ideal and is not the permanent solution to the area's affordable housing crisis. But they said it is something that can be done immediately to help alleviate the situation for those who would otherwise be illegally sleeping in their cars on city streets or nearby National Forest land.

 

"I don't think there's anybody up here or staff that are extremely proud of this. This is a last-ditch effort," Mayor Scott Jablow said. "No one's really proud because this isn't really the answer. It's one of many answers."

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2024/03/15/sedona-approves-safe-parking-for-workers-living-in-cars/72958830007/

Posted

Genuinely not sure how more Americans don't openly fantasize about taking out some reckoning on rich people, violent or otherwise, tbh. 

And I say that as like... a largely pacifist femme homosexual who finds the thought of violence queasy. 

 

There's just a dissonance in the media dedicating 90% of coverage to people making $250k/yr salaries going "and I don't even feel SAFE going shopping for luxury goods with all these druggies around!!!" while every major city experiences massive homelessness despite tens of thousands vacant homes and apartments.

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Posted

This is ridiculous on so many levels it's not even funny, but it's also what happens when property rights and profits are prioritized over giving people a place to live. 

 

We're supposed to believe this system is the best we think we can do as a species? This problem isn't exclusive to the US or Arizona or even the Western hemisphere, and it will only get worse. 

 

Why do a few people get to own several houses they will never make use of, but more and more people are risking losing their only source of shelter by each passing day? Why do some people get to decide how many houses another person ''deserves''? Why do we keep accepting rich people's laws and rules on how to live our own lives? Why do they get to own everything and then charge us to access it? Why do we go into debt with people that already own much more than they will ever need anyway? 

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Posted

Lol greatest country in the world eh? 
third world country more like 

Posted

This is so dystopian.

Posted

this is so thoughtful of them, now their cars will be in a safe place :ryan3:

Posted
58 minutes ago, BionicWooHoo said:

Lol greatest country in the world eh? 
third world country more like 

A lot of countries are grappling with the same issue. New Zealand, Germany. It's a problem that will only become more pronounced and we could easily find solutions, but the people in power don't want that because they are only looking at their own interests so there you go. Enjoy living in your car.

Posted

Every day is a new low. Let this country die already please

Posted

The fact thier are hundreds of thousands of empty homes that are own by 3 companies :deadbanana4: in fact there are more empty properties then homeless in America. Just proof landlords are evil and so is capitalism 

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Posted
7 hours ago, Communion said:

Genuinely not sure how more Americans don't openly fantasize about taking out some reckoning on rich people, violent or otherwise, tbh. 

And I say that as like... a largely pacifist femme homosexual who finds the thought of violence queasy. 

*Largely pacifist*

:clown:

Posted

The problem remains taxation. I mean, there’s 20 others, but that remains top 3. 

 

Without the tax breaks for the rich the conservative movement wouldn’t be funded and without the culture wars they wouldn’t have the votes from much of WCW, as much of their support from that group are on social welfare.

 

When the dam finally breaks, similar to Roe, and they actually succeed in privatization, I truly wonder if there’ll be a silent realignment.

Posted (edited)
6 hours ago, BionicWooHoo said:

Lol greatest country in the world eh? 
third world country more like 

I live in a third world country and we have affordable housing here lol

Edited by AvadaKedavra
Posted
1 hour ago, Rep2000 said:

*Largely pacifist*

:clown:

I mean, yes. In many countries, particularly in the Global South, leftists are often forced with the reality that their goals will not occur without some form of revolutionary violence against liberals who enable fascists like yourself, whether that be armed or some other type or violence. 

 

I talk so much about politics because I don't think revolutionary violence is 1) even possible for Western leftists or 2) nor would it work to achieve our goals within the West. The only type of violence that might still work in the West is against property held by corporations and is used selectively, like groups trying to damage pipeline projects or burn down offices of weapons manufacturers. 

 

You and politicians you support who perpetuate anti-poor policies like denying poor people healthcare or criminalizing homelessness should feel lucky the most "abuse" they'll get online is being called a shill or mean words. Until DSA is ransackinf the offices of Dems with machine guns in hand, yes, the Western left is indeed pacifist. :rip:

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