Rents over the last two decades have risen much faster than employee pay, contributing to an escalating homelessness crisis in the U.S.

A growing number of Americans are ending up homeless as soaring rents in recent years squeeze their budgets.

According to a Jan. 25 report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, roughly 653,000 people reported experiencing homelessness in January of 2023, up roughly 12% from the same time a year prior and 48% from 2015. That marks the largest single-year increase in the country’s unhoused population on record, Harvard researchers said.

    • @[email protected]
      3•10 months ago

      Quite easy to build…

      Buy a sheet of metal about 50x100cm, a bit thicker so it has some weight. Use an angle grinder to sharpen an edge. Buy some wood (like 2x4), build it into a rectangular frame, slightly smaller on the inside than the blade, and make a channel for the blade to slide in. Make 2 holes into the blade so you can attach some rope.

      All that’s missing is the wooden thing that goes around the neck. You can make that from 2 slabs of wood, and you can cut the neck shape with a jig saw.

      Edit: thinking about it, you can simplify the build by making 2 wooden frames instead of 1, and have the blade slide between them.

      In term of tools, all you need is an angle grinder, some kind of saw for the wood, and a drill/screwdriver.

      • Kusuriya
        1•10 months ago

        honestly it’s really simpler than that, like you pointed out you only need one frame to make the track, the metal you do not need to sharpen if its less than an inch thick, most modern sheet metal, cookie pans etc will do, you just need weight and you cut the blade at an angle, then you use a table and some ratchet straps to hold the subject in place, but have you seen the price of lumber?