Ask Lemmy

Housing for the unhoused

Housing, replacing decorative plants with edible ones.

Off topic, but this the part that gets to me about billionaires. If I had billions I would spend my days helping communities and people directly, the amount of joy and impact on so many lives would be crazy. Every single day you can absolutely change multiple peoples lives in such a positive way.

But instead they fly their private jets to an island to diddle little kids.... what the actually F.

Education

Solar panels

Banning fox news

Third spaces

1. Homeless shelters, housing, and work programs.

2. Education, and especially special education and mental health support in schools.

3. Small business low interest loans and art grants.

Solar plant, public transit, hydroponic garden, community apiary, schools, libraries

Solar panels. Ass loads of them. Everyone in the area gets a share of the free energy.

You get a larger share if you:

• host them on your property
• have more people in your home (families, sharing etc)
• Are renting because renters need more of a leg up in this world

I live in a fairly small town so millions worth of solar would actually have an impact.

Soft play centre and something for the bigger kids, maybe start up scouts or something. Not sure about what for the adults, but some cheap/free 3rd spaces. Theres just nothing any more. Couple pubs for the adults but people cant afford it multiple times a week, and you shouldn't be drinking that much anyway.

I create a Planet B. Total opposite of this Planet A. People first, second and third. No borders. No discrimination. No money. Back to the origins.

i would take the money and get the hell away from here

• Make the city government responsible for sidewalks instead of the property owner. As of now, the sidewalks are all uneven and often sloped, horrible for accessibility. With enough money they'd be convinced to do that. I'm not sure if this is the case because of state or federal laws or if it's a city thing, I live in Brazil.

• Help people in need of housing and financial stability. People should be able to pay their own bills instead of stealing water and electricity from who-knows-where.

• Make the local electricity and water infrastructure public. Basic services shouldn't be for-profit. Maybe even end these bills entirely and make these services included in tax, it could work out.

• Move people out of areas prone to disasters, like landslides. People need good, safe housing.

• Make nice tiled streets that aren't full of holes. I think tiled streets are better than asphalt, except in highways.

• Fund a better draining system because streets here get flooded when it rains a lot. Tiled roads would help also, I think.

• Make the transit of more touristy areas mostly separated from resident areas.

• Separated bike paths. Bikes should avoid contact with car routes when possible.

• Free buses for everyone.

• Help new businesses in areas which didn't have businesses before.

• Spend a lot, and I mean a lot on funding education and school lunches.

• Investigate corrupt politicians, at least on the local level since that's the premise of the question.

Any controversial changes, or changes that would take a lot of construction (like fixing the sidewalks and housing) would come with campaigns and be spread out over time for gradual change. Free buses on the other hand could come instantly because I'd have millions of dollars in this scenario.

Millions are not a lot.

I'd buy inner city housing complexes and transfer them to cooperative ownership, with all rent money going towards upkeep and a collectively-owned fund that will be used to bring more housing into the cooperative over time.

Only the inhabitants collectively can decide what to use the fund for, but the by-laws of the cooperative will not allow selling of real estate or drawing from the fund individually.

In the long run, that'll remove more and more living space from the predatory profit-oriented housing market and take financial pressure out of the lives of many people.

If you had asked me this 15 years ago, I'd probably describe a housing complex with low rent and with on-site grocery store, post office, liquor store, and other amenities.

shit's gotten quite fucked since then.

Today, my answer is guns and ammunition.

More trees, less concrete.

Let's start somewhere else. I live in a pretty wealthy town. Playgrounds and greenery literally everywhere.

I would build housing first units in every major town center. End homelessness effectively and humanely.

That's not alot of money anymore.

Around me, the biggest issues are homelessness and drug use. Millions won't solve either but could put a bigger dent, long term, in the housing issue.

I think I'd build a bunch of low cost houses, in the sub $100k range if possible. They wouldn't be mansions by any stretch but it might put a dent in the housing market.

Depends how many millions. The biggest problems the Netherlands has are caused by too intensive agriculture. Buying out farmland and converting it to nature areas to prevent eutrophication would greatly increase our surface water quality and reduce ammonia emissions to improve air quality while also reducing some of the pressure on existing nature areas which would allow more housing projects to take place. This would require many millions though.

Crosswalks, sidewalks and pedestrian safety equipment/enforcement.

Our town actually spends a decent amount on education, but has very little poverty and is relatively sparsely populated, but only has 2 stoplights and no crosswalks for the dozens of us that could walk to shops, banks and post office if there was a way across the damn 50mph road.

More neighborhood vegetable gardens.

Buy white vans, install wifi hotspots, and drive around with "FREE WIFI" written on the van in a sharpie.

But its actually a free wifi with no catches.

Third places

You don't need millions to spend to make positive change. Joining or starting a mutual aid group and plugging in to a larger network can do wonders for positive change. Read up about the Free Breakfast for Children program back in the 70s it was so successful the government tried to shut it down but also had to replace it with their own program.

Trams, Metro and bicycle lanes. Like everywhere. Also central heating.

Education. Progress follows education. Hell even if you progress a lot, it starts reverting over generations without education.

I’d kill billionaires

Give it to someone who knows more than i do.
More bike infrastructure would be good though.

I'm gonna assume you mean a generous 999,999,999 in which case I would install a central tram system (free to use), remove or thin a significant amount of roads, and build a few affordable housing complexes along the tram line. With anything left over I would fund a food pantry and community garden system.

I'd spend it all on tech and financial education. Too many people have no fucking clue about either and get scammed often.

Whoever is already at least semi-literate in these 2 fields would be asked to teach others, paid comparably to their current job is possible.

Oportunity for debate will be open and exposed online to be judged by whoever can find the post, to determine what information is right, or at least commonly accepted.

That should already amount to millions if not pass it.

pogs

Protected bike lanes, protected bike lanes everywhere.

Let's say billions. Let's say I'm one of those tech billionaire and that I suddenly grow a conscience (very unlikely but, heck, I also don't have billions, not even millions not even enough to retire... so let's pretend).

What would I do with my fortune and that newly found conscience that's irking me?

• Supporting the FSF with one specific demand: for them to finish their fully Libre OS and ensure the GNU/GPL is set in stone.
• Supporting the EFF, helping them fight that dystopian society my fellow rich people (and their politicians valets) are building against the population. Edit: it's happening in real time everywhere around the world.
• And with the bulk of my money? I would be opening as many private schools as I can and making them tuition-free for pupils (say after an interview, to see if the kid is really motivated) and also making sure we hire the best teachers we can.

Why private and why tuition-free? Public educative systems have dramatically failed in most Western countries, they don’t educate kids anymore. It's a real-time nightmare that has been going on for a few decades, with dramatic consequences too few people seem to worry about. Meanwhile, private schools have not failed that bad... but they’re also expensive and therefore reserved to rich-family kids. What an amusing coincidence: quality teaching reserved to wealthy kids. So, by making tuition-free private schools I hope to give ‘normal’ kids access to the same chances rich kids have access to. And by making them private, I'm making sure to stay out of the sabotaging power of the public educative system. I would start in my own country (France, that used to be role model in education and is now a very sad joke) but I would do my best to spread the concept as widely as possible.

Edit: clarifications.

I would build massive recycling and recovery center to jump start the regional circular economy.