Finland is a very different place than California. If you don’t have your wits about you outdoors in Finland for at least 3 months of the year, you will die. The weather, in a way, forces solutions on people. Finland is more comparable to Minnesota in terms of weather, population, and size, and the issue of homelessness in Minnesota pales in comparison to California.
Finland also has universal healthcare, and it’s hard to overstate how impactful easy access to competent mental health and substance use treatment is.
In California, you can wear shorts all year, and mental health and substance use treatment are difficult to access and largely administered by for-profit companies providing awful care.
Finland has, essentially, solved the problem of homelessness. They still have approximately 1000 willfully homeless people.
There is no perfect solution, but we can get really, really close, and that’s what California (and the US) need to do.
Finland is a very different place than California. If you don’t have your wits about you outdoors in Finland for at least 3 months of the year, you will die. The weather, in a way, forces solutions on people. Finland is more comparable to Minnesota in terms of weather, population, and size, and the issue of homelessness in Minnesota pales in comparison to California.
Finland also has universal healthcare, and it’s hard to overstate how impactful easy access to competent mental health and substance use treatment is.
In California, you can wear shorts all year, and mental health and substance use treatment are difficult to access and largely administered by for-profit companies providing awful care.