Practical Solutions to Homelessness: Community, Policy, and Innovation
Can we choose to end homelessness? Hosts Jeremy Alexander Newsome and Dave Conley explore bold, actionable solutions—from church involvement and community care to Finland’s successful housing-first model and smart policy changes. They dive into the psychological drivers behind homelessness, emphasizing the critical role of mental health support. This episode also highlights how city planning, real estate investments, and simple human connections can create lasting change. It’s a compelling look at how society can—and must—act to solve this crisis.
Timestamps
- (00:00) Introduction: Can We Choose to End Homelessness?
- (00:35) Societal Choices: The Power of Collective Action
- (03:20) Finland’s Approach: Lessons from a Housing-First Model
- (07:45) Policy Changes: What Needs to Happen at the Top
- (12:10) Community Care: Churches and Nonprofits Leading the Way
- (16:30) Mental Health and Homelessness: Addressing the Root Causes
- (20:15) Conclusion: A Call to Action for Society
📢 Solving America’s Problems Podcast – Real Solutions For Real Issues
Transcript
“Ever wonder how we stopped littering in a single generation?
2
:Dave says that same grit
could end homelessness.
3
:Today, we’re diving into
real solutions—from churches
4
:housing one person at a time to
Finland’s game-changing model.
5
:Join us to hear how society can
choose to fix this, starting now.”
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:Dave Conley: Let's flip this around.
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:We had David Jacob last week who is
a choice psychologist, and he, um,
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:he had a really interesting take.
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:He said one of the drivers of homelessness
is that society chooses it, like
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:society chooses and says, this is okay.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:They may.
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:Yeah.
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:The, the, as a collective, right?
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:We go, yeah, this is fine.
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:Let's keep doing it.
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:Dave Conley: it is fine.
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:You know, like we're, we're not
going to be embarrassed by this.
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:We're not going to say it's cruel
and unusual for, for, you know,
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:somebody to live on the street.
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:You know, like they're squirrels,
you know, like as a society, we're
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:choosing that this is okay to treat
our fellow human beings like this.
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:And I'm like, oh.
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:So like there is a, you know,
like when I was growing up,
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:there was all of these, uh.
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:All these, uh, advertisements and
tv, like you couldn't turn on a TV
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:without seeing a, a, an ad for litter.
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:And now, you know, like it's not a, you
know, like now you don't litter, right?
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:But back when I was growing up, it was
like, yeah, people would just dump their
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:stuff and like, there it was just, I
mean, it was just garbage everywhere.
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:And you know, like as a society,
we were shamed out of littering
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:in the course of a generation.
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:I'm like, wow.
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:You know, could we shame
ourselves out of homelessness?
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:And so like, is this a societal problem?
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:What do you think can, is, is
society choosing homelessness?
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:Justin: Wow.
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:I think I've said that a couple
times with, with your questions.
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:Wow.
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:That's, I mean, I love that.
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:Yes, I think we could, yeah,
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:Dave Conley: Like if we say this
is unacceptable, human beings
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:are not allowed to be homeless.
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:It is a right and we are not going
to treat human beings like this.
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:Justin: Yeah.
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:I agree.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Here's what's cool, Dave.
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:It's, I, I like how you say we're
not, you're not allowed because this
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:is partly my opinion of the solution.
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:It's just gonna circulate around the,
you're not allowed to be homeless.
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:It's not illegal, you're
not allowed because.
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:Choosing to live in a campground.
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:In a tent.
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:Awesome.
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:Hey, knock yourself out.
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:It's designed for that.
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:I got a bunch of tents around me.
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:Cool.
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:Go for it.
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:On the beach there's tents for a day,
and then when at night, tents are gone.
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:Cool.
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:Awesome.
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:Camping national parks.
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:Amazing.
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:Go.
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:Go for it.
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:San Diego.
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:No, you're not allowed to be here.
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:You're a human, right?
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:We love you so much that we're not
allowing you to sleep on the street.
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:We're gonna find a place for you.
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:And if
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:Dave Conley: good, beautiful place.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Yeah.
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:We're gonna find you an incredible,
no, I don't want to, I wanna live here.
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:I don't wanna pay taxes.
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:Sorry.
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:You're not allowed to live like this is
probably the start of, I don't truly think
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:we've had that top down approach from the
we're just not allowing this to happen
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:as a country because Finland did it.
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:So Finland.
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:Totally.
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:I would say, I mean, statistically,
according to a lot of the research
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:I've done, they've essentially
eradicated homelessness.
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:And they did it by building a house
for every single citizen place for
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:a house to apartment complex or
whatever, like a place for them to
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:live and then put them in there.
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:And there was no requirements.
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:It wasn't like you had to
have a job to live there.
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:It's like, here's the structure.
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:You're living in this is your house
now and if you don't live in this,
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:we're gonna put you back in it.
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:And so I, I think that that would take
down that population dramatically.
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:'cause, is there, if there's enough
care from the, let's call it the top.
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:Sure.
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:So there's enough care from policymakers
In Laguna Beach I reside a lot of time
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:smoking and vaping are not allowed.
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:It's fascinating, right?
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:Like you would think, oh, I'm walking
down the beach, I'm, I'm smoking not in
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:Laguna, straight up illegal, can't do it.
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:And again, okay, cool.
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:Like it is like that's a human right.
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:It's like, nope, not
in this little bubble.
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:It's no longer a human right.
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:Like you can't do it.
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:It's not illegal.
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:City ordinance just can't do it
because they, they believe a very
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:artsy, like we're beautifying the
city because if you smoke 99% chance
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:you're gonna throw it away somewhere.
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:Now you're not gonna eat it.
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:And then of that 99% that you
throw away the cigarette, but
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:a lot of them missed the trash.
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:So they didn't wanna
have a trashy ass city.
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:And there's a lot of homeless
people that love to live up and
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:down the coast of California.
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:One of the most populated homeless
locations on Earth is California.
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:And again, creating that city ordinance
it's held up a lot of people care.
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:So if there was some laws that
started coming down to just not only.
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:Create a better opportunity for people
to be homeless, but those who then
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:essentially refuse the service or the
gift or the help, then we would know as
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:an organization or designation or whoever
was in charge of this organization, would
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:say, okay, this person does need more
mental help, more mental clarity, more
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:mental deep dive with a professional,
with someone who cares, someone in a
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:facility or a location that, again,
is beautiful and clean and safe and
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:can provide them true mental health,
mental health help and assistance.
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:Because I absolutely would agree, just
in 25% or less is probably because
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:there is a choice, but I would say
somewhere between 25% to another quarter.
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:Or less is mental illness.
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:'cause they have no other choice.
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:They're not physically making a choice.
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:And I think there's an entire
stem of reasons why that I'm
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:not qualified to go down.
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:But I do know that it's occurring.
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:And I think most of the people, and
most of the people we've talked about
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:and talked to and interviewed, they
go, yes, mental health has to be a huge
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:application, a huge reason as why this
is occurring, why they're homeless.
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:They can't hold down a job, they can't
properly communicate with authorities.
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:They can't properly communicate with
other individuals to build that community.
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:And there's just too much going on
upstairs to really facilitate proper
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:exchange of value and communication, which
is what you need to create an economy.
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:The economy for themselves.
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:Dave Conley: Well, we, we
heard that from Kara, right?
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:She's, she, I mean, she was in it and she
said there was a, you know, like there
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:was a, a chunk of this population that
would not do well in, in a home, right?
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:Like they, they, they, they, they
weren't, it wasn't going to be in
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:their, you know, in their wheelhouse
because of their wheelhouse and, you
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:know, like they weren't Well, I, and
we also learned that that, addiction
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:issues rarely cause homelessness.
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:It's the other way around.
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:Homelessness causes addiction issues.
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:And you know, like that is a whole
nother world of, you know, like
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:they, those folks need different
care in order to get them back into.
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:You know, a lane in society that
doesn't involve being on the
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:street, like the cruelest thing.
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:I don't know.
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:Well, we've, we've been
doing a lot of talking.
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:What do you, what do you
think of all this Justin?
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:Justin: Yeah, I mean,
it's, it's fascinating.
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:I feel grossly underqualified
to talk about anything policy.
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:But, you know, when I think about,
about this I think about Jerremy,
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:you, you know, like the first church
that was recorded in the book of Acts.
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:You've got this description.
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:It's essentially everybody
had everything in common.
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:Like they, they lived life together.
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:They were together, they
had everything in common.
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:And it's almost like there was
this supernatural generosity.
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:It's not socialism, it
was generosity by choice.
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:And it, it has this phrase and it
said, and nobody had any needs.
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:And think about that.
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:You got people from different social
classes different backgrounds,
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:and nobody had any need.
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:And I think that's the paradigm from
which I'm thinking it's gotta be
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:a social network thing, that when
you're in community with people, in
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:relationship with people, Jerremy, if
I know that you have a need and we're
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:in relationship, I'm gonna use the
resources that I have to benefit you.
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:Uh, you may not need a house, but
you may need mental health care.
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:And so let me connect you with
this network that I have over here.
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:And so I, I'm not trying to fix a problem.
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:You don't have a house.
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:I'm trying to meet your
need as a human being.
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:And I think that's where it goes back
to, we have to connect people to, to
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:networks or, or whatever it being.
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:And I just think, you know, this is,
this is not I don't know the exact number
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:of how many religious congregations
there are, but there are a lot.
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:And you're saying there's 771,000,
homeless people in the United States.
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:There's a lot of religious congregations.
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:And if everybody was committed
to this, you know, and you can't,
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:you can't make this a policy.
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:But if everybody just lived out their
faith, if everybody just actually
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:cared for another human being, that's
like one person for every congregation
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:Dave Conley: yeah, I'm gonna say
there's, there's definitely more than
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:770,000 churches in the United States.
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:I'm just gonna,
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:Jerremy Newsome: Absolutely.
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:Justin: And maybe,
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:Dave Conley: gets one, uh, you know,
take care of this human, you know,
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:like, make sure this human is okay.
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:I.
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:Justin: And maybe that
becomes the policies.
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:In order to uphold your nonprofit
status, you have to have, you have
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:to provide some solution in your
community to the homeless population.
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:Jerremy Newsome: So Justin, before this
interview asked me, what's something
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:that would actually add value to you,
Jerremy from me being on this podcast?
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:And I said, gimme a solution
I haven't heard before.
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:And that is one right there, because
when you said we can't make it a policy,
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:I was like, well, you wanna bet like
you can make all kinds of thing policy.
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:But yeah, to your point, if you want
to keep your nonprofit or your tax
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:exemption or your know, your whatever
filing with, uh, with the state.
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:You need to do this one thing, that one
thing could, could be all kinds of things.
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:We can give 'em a list, Hey,
take care of the homeless.
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:Like you, you as a congregation are
gonna do one thing for one homeless
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:person in this state and whatever, right?
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:You go down the list of things
that, that, that they're required
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:to do because churches are extremely
giving and they're extremely generous
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:and they're extremely caring and
they are the hands and feet of God
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:oftentimes throughout the world, right?
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:Doing missionary works and really caring.
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:However, if churches also and other
organizations also had a little bit more
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:of a focal point where there's like,
Hey, let's make sure this just doesn't
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:happen in America because I know a lot
of missionary work, a lot of missionary
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:work is done in other countries.
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:Great.
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:Absolutely we can, we have
the resources we should,
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:Justin: Yeah.
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:Jerremy Newsome: but we should also
make sure that there's no one by
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:choice homeless here in the us.
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:There's no one that goes
without food here in the us.
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:I think those are very solvable problems,
and if you use a network and if you
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:use a community the right way through
a policy like that one or an idea like
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:that one that's at least interesting
enough, fast enough, quick enough,
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:and tangible enough where it could or
should work, it's at least worth a try.
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:And I think that's an
awesome idea, Justin.
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:Dave Conley: Or else we changed
the name of your, uh, your, your,
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:uh, nonprofit to big meanie.
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:Justin: yeah.
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:That's it.
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:Well, I even think about, you know,
it's, uh, you mentioned I, I'm
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:the chaplain for aerial recovery
that I do that totally free.
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:And the reason I do that, I own
a property management company.
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:I own a handyman business.
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:We have acquisitions.
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:I own a house flipping company.
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:Those things are not my ministry.
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:They fund my ministry.
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:And my network here.
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:If we've got somebody in the
church that's homeless, guess what?
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:I've got 400 units that I
can find, one that's gonna be
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:a good, good fit for those.
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:And so I don't know how my property
management becomes the solution to
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:homelessness or houselessness in, in,
in my community, but I know that I can
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:use my relationship and my resources
within my community to provide that need.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Yes.
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:And so that's, that's a, again,
I would love to hear a little bit
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:more about that and just in the
situation of if you have an individual
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:who manages apartment complexes.
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:What's the average occupancy rate of
an apartment complex that you manage?
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:Justin?
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:Justin: Oh, 99%.
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:Jerremy Newsome: Hey, good job.
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:Well done
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:Justin: Yeah.
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:Jerremy Newsome: That should
be like your main tagline,
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:for, but I think that's great.
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:Right?
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:99%, right?
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:That's the average occupancy
rate of your apartment complexes.
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:I think the average nationwide is
probably close to 85 or 90%, but that
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:being stated, like there are, there is
turnover, there is open awareness for,
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:if, go back to Kara situation, right?
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:We all three know Kara now, and if Kara
is homeless and she goes to a board
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:that was built by, or a website that was
constructed by a real estate entrepreneur
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:And this real estate entrepreneur
said, listen, if you meet these
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:criteria and these guidelines.
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:I will make sure that you always have
a place to stay in one of my apartment
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:complexes that I own or manage.
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:Is that potentially a solution as well?
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:I, that, that seems easy.
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:It seems fast.
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:It seems simple, and it wouldn't, wouldn't
really be that much work if me, you and
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:every single person we know got together
and said, listen, if you are in the
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:real estate world and you have apartment
complexes or you have one unit, just one
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:that you can keep open forever, factor
it into your NOI factor it into your
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:operating costs, factoring into your
overhead just one that you keep open.
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:And then that one unit is
put on a collective location.
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:And this collective location's a website
that anyone can access at any time if
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:they fit these particular criteria.
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:A person can stay there
for this period of time.
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:Justin: Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:Jerremy Newsome: That would seem
to solve the houselessness issue.
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:Um, because in the, uh, in the
large number that we're talking
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:about, that 771,000 people, right?
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:500 of those are sheltered, but you have
a quarter million who are not sheltered.
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:And that's another thing that's just,
a unique standpoint of proposition.
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:But again, from a real estate investor
standpoint, I think if we get enough
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:real estate investors together and
there is one key person or key element
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:or key campaign that just really
allows everyone to get together and
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:go, yep, this is the solution to this.
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:We're gonna do this, we're
gonna sign off on this.
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:Done, let's do it.
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:We think that is at least another
way, even in addition to what
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:you mentioned earlier, they could
at least make a dent into this.
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:What do you think?
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:Justin: Yeah, I think so.
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:And I, I also think that there's, there's
social programs in each community that
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:offer those bridge housing solutions
where they, they take people, they work
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:with them, they've got a case manager,
they provide the mental health care, and
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:then they partner them with a company
like ours with, with property management.
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:And we set aside a certain
amount of units, say, we'll,
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:we'll keep these units open.
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:They've got funding already.
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:May not be as, as much as you would get
otherwise, but it is, it is an option.
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:And I, I think again, you know, it
goes back to relationship is, is we
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:build these little silos, but if, if we
extend our relational network and say,
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:I'm gonna use my resources to benefit
this community, and you're intentional
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:with building these relationships with
these social support nonprofits that
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:offer these bridge housing solutions,
I think that's certainly is part of it.
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:Dave Conley: You know, I, I,
somebody I'm trying to book
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:is actually a mayor of a of a.
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:City just outside of New York City.
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:And they, they were running
into the problem of, of having
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:enough homes for people.
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:And this mayor went to the
building community and said,
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:okay, hey, what do you guys need?
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:Like what it is?
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:Like we need more homes.
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:Like what, what?
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:Tell me what you need.
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:And the builder said,
look, we need two things.
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:One of them is the permitting process,
and the regulation is just murderous.
332
:Like if you want us to set aside
20% of all of our homes for
333
:affordable housing, we're good.
334
:But you know, the rest of
the system has to work.
335
:For us rather than against us.
336
:And so the other thing was
financing is all over the map.
337
:You know, like, can you help us to work
with banking and and resources and, and
338
:just, just provide us like some, I don't
think it was guarantees, but it was just
339
:government backing to, to like normalize
some of our expenses on the debt side.
340
:He said they did those two things and 10
years later they have plenty of homes.
341
:What, you know, coming at it from
the real estate place, maybe thinking
342
:about it from Montana, not New York
City, you know, what do you think are
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:the things that would get those 6,000
homes built that are, are, are needed?
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:Justin: Yeah.
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:One of the major movements is
accessory dwelling units, ADUs.
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:So it's, it's now a, a state law.
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:Actually, I think it's, I think it's
nationwide, um, making a push for ADUs.
348
:But I know in our city as long as you
meet simple criteria, you can put an a DU.
349
:In your house so you can build
an A DU, and that is one solution
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:to the affordable housing crisis.
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:And as we get more housing it
kind of trickles down for, uh,
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:who then is able to be housed.
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:Dave Conley: Here's my story.
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:I lived in San Francisco for
several years and uh, uh, it is
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:the only city I have ever been to.
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:I mean, worldwide, nationwide.
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:Only major city I've ever been
to that is absolutely full.
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:Full of garages.
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:And I'm like, I've never seen that.
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:I mean, like, everybody seems
to have a garage and I'm like,
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:God, I can't even imagine.
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:Like rolling into New York City and even
seeing a garage must like, having a,
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:you know, like your own private garage.
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:And I'm like, it it just like how,
like, like why that is such a, like
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:a prime spot for, for uh, you know,
living and apartments and like, I, I
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:can't tell you the number of apartments
and people that I knew, you know, like
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:in New York City that were definitely
converted basements and former garages
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:or places where they kept horses,
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:Justin: yeah.
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:Jerremy Newsome: the challenge,
the challenge with ADUs, I mean,
371
:I think is just you have more of
a concentrated location, right?
372
:And like, if you, if you guys are
mentioning that in relation to, okay,
373
:yeah, we can build these like houses,
like who's gonna live in there?
374
:Like, you're gonna rent them out for
Airbnb, or you're gonna put people
375
:who need them need to stay in there.
376
:You know, again, I think that's
the fear there is probably that
377
:person is too close to my house
without me knowing who they are.
378
:Exactly.
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:You know?
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:'cause a, a basement, I mean, that's like.
381
:You know, or a ADU is right outside.
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:And again, that can just, that
can probably feel too close.
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:Apartment complex is you got
seven 50 people right around you.
384
:You have no idea who they are
anyway, right now you have no clue.
385
:But if you have like an individual
home and one new person right next to
386
:you that, that I, that could be scary.
387
:But to your point, I think that would
increase the ability to understand how
388
:to build houses faster is if you are
creating ADUs with certain like box.
389
:Alex: “Churches, nonprofits, and
smart policies—that’s a start.
390
:But what about homes built
for $11,000 or saving someone
391
:by just learning their name?
392
:Next, we explore innovations
and human connections that
393
:could end homelessness for good.
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:Stay tuned for stories
that’ll stick with you.”