Homelessness Rises In A Good (But Unfair) Economy

From The Washington Post:

They are plumbers and casino supervisors, pizzeria managers and factory workers. They deliver groceries, sell eyeglasses and unload trucks at Amazon.

And they’re the new, unlikely face of homelessness: Working Americans with decent-paying jobs who simply can’t afford a place to live.

Homelessness, already at a record high last year, appears to be worsening among people with jobs, as housing becomes further out of reach for low-wage earners, according to shelter interviews and upticks in evictions and homelessness tallies around the country. The latest round of point-in-time counts — a tally of people without homes on one given night — show a discernible uptick in homelessness in many parts of the United States, including Southeast Texas (up 61 percent from a year ago), Rhode Island (up 35 percent) and northeast Tennessee (up 20 percent).

While there is no federal data on unhoused workers, shelter administrators and local groups report a spike in first-timers with jobs. In Tulsa, for example, where homelessness rose 26 percent this year, lack of affordable housing ranked as the top reason people said they were homeless, beating out mental health struggles or job loss. . . .

Years of fast-rising rents and a shortage of affordable housing have created a situation where even a strong labor market and rising wages haven’t been enough to offset the financial strains of inflation.

“We are pushing working people into homelessness because they just can’t afford the rent,” said Margot Kushel, director of the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative at the University of California at San Francisco. “The general public doesn’t see these folks as homeless — they’re not as visible as the people who occupy public spaces, who have substance abuse issues or mental health problems. But it’s a catastrophe, and it’s happening just under our eyes.”

The View Of The American Public On Homelessness

The charts above are from a YouGov Poll -- done between April 19th and 25th of a nationwide sample of 1,000 adults, with a 3.3 point margin of error. 

U.S. Leads All Developed Nations (In Homeless Children)

(Cartoon image is by Bill Day at cagle.com.)

I have discussed before on this blog about the huge number of children living in poverty in the United States -- slightly over 20% of the nation's children (about 1 out of every 5). That fact alone shows that our Washington politicians don't care much about the poor, adults or children -- especially the Republicans, who keep insisting of cutting funding to help the poor (while wanting to give more to the rich and the military -- neither of which needs more of anything).

But now we learn of another horrific statistic -- that 3.3% of all the children in this country are homeless (about 1 out of every 30 children). After doing a state-by-state survey, the National Center on Family Homelessness has discovered that around 2.5 million children in America are homeless (1.3 million school-age children and 1.2 million pre-school children).

If any other developed nation had this large a percentage or number of homeless children, they would be shamed into acting to do something about it. But our politicians seem to have no shame. The Republicans in the 113th Congress insisted on cutting all social programs that help the poor, and the Democrats gave in and went along with it. And with the Republicans firmly in control of the 114th Congress, we can expect further cuts -- making this problem even worse.

The U.S. Has More Than 1.25 Million Homeless Students

This is a horrifying statistic. According to the Department of Education, there are 1,258,182 students (in elementary school, middle school, or high school) that were homeless during the 2012-13 school year -- and the situation seems to be getting worse over time. Back in the 2007-08 school year the number was 795,054. That's an increase of 58.25% in only five years.

We are obviously not solving this problem -- only letting it get worse. And there are a couple of other things to consider -- 200,950 of those homeless children have some kind of disability, and 75,940 are on their own (without a parent or guardian). Three states (California, New York, Texas) each have more than 100,000 homeless children. I realize those are our most populous states, but it is simply unacceptable for any state to have a six-digit number of homeless students (and in my opinion, four and five-digit numbers are also unacceptable).

I really think the Democrats would like to do something about this problem, but the only things the congressional Republicans want to spend federal money on are tax cuts for the rich and more money for the military-industrial complex. There are some social programs struggling to help, but the Republicans have drastically cut their funding -- just like they have with social programs across the board.

Among the things that could quickly be done are: increase funding for all social programs, create millions of new jobs, and make sure those new jobs pay a livable wage by raising the minimum wage to at least $10.10 and hour (and $15 an hour would be even better). Why is this an important problem (other than the fact that a decent nation doesn't allow its children to be homeless)? Here are some of the reasons:

Children experiencing homelessness are more likely to be diagnosed with learning disabilities.

Homeless students transfer schools more often, are more likely to miss school, and have lower standardized test scores.

Homelessness is the highest risk factor in determining if a student leaves school before graduation; homeless students are 87 percent more likely than their peers to leave school.

Forty to 60 percent of unaccompanied homeless youth were abused physically in their homes, and 20 to 40 percent were abused sexually.

This is not only shocking -- it is shameful. And remember, that 1.28 million number only counts homeless students. It does not count those homeless children who are not yet school age, or who have dropped out of school. The true number of homeless children in the United States is significantly higher.

Do other developed nations have this big a problem with homeless children. No, and when they find them they do something about it. You can call that socialism if you want, but I just think it's common decency. There is no reason why the United States can't significantly address this problem -- except for the fact that the Republicans just don't care, and they have enough power to obstruct any solution. This is just one more reason why this coming election is so important.

Homeless Children

Homelessness

Outside of the number of people experiencing food insecurity in this country, perhaps the most shameful thing is the number of homeless people. A survey a couple of months ago reported that there are at least 1,000,000 homeless school children in the United States (and of course, that doesn't count the adults or the children too young for school). But as large as this problem is in this richest of countries, we hear very little about it (since these people have no political power, and the media would rather report about violent crimes and lying politicians).

But worst of all, it's a problem that we could fix if we just had the political will. It has been estimated that it would take about $20 billion to solve the homeless problem. That's a lot of money, but we blow far more on ridiculous things like unnecessary wars and tax cuts for the rich. In fact, that about the same amount we spend giving unnecessary subsidies to oil companies that are already making record-breaking profits. And it's less than we spend as a nation on christmas decorations each year.

The chart above shows several solutions to find the money -- like responsibly cutting spending on nuclear weapons, eliminating corporate wrote-offs for meals and entertainment, and eliminating the tax cuts of capital gains (which should be taxed at the earned income rate anyway). Doing any of these three things would raise more than twice the money needed to fight homelessness (and doing all three would raise plenty of money for job creation).

Don't believe the politicians when they say we don't have enough money to fight homelessness. We have plenty of money. We just lack the political courage and will.

U.S. Still Experiencing A Housing Crunch

One of the huge things caused by the Republican recession is unemployment, and it gets plenty of press coverage. But another part is the housing problem in America, and the press hardly covers it al all anymore. But that doesn't mean it isn't a serious problem anymore. The huge loss of millions of jobs and the meltdown of the deregulated stock market (in large part due to unsustainable sub-prime housing loans) combined to put far too many Americans in the position of no longer being able to afford the homes they were in.

This caused a record-breaking amount of home foreclosures -- and the amount of home foreclosures is still much higher than in a healthy economy. It remains a problem for the country. But there is now another problem which is adding to the housing crunch. Banks are very timid in making new housing loans, even for people who want to buy a home and can probably afford it.

Last year, home lending fell to about $404 billion. That may sound like a lot of money, but its less than a third of what it was in 2006 (when it was $1.4 trillion). It's resulted in new home sales being about a million a month below what is considered healthy for this economy. This is caused by the banks becoming much more strict in who they will lend money to. Most banks won't give loans except to customers with credit scores above 762 -- a problem since 65% of Americans now have credit scores below 750.

The continued high level of foreclosures combined with a huge reluctance of banks to make new home mortgages, have led to a third problem -- a huge jump in rental prices. If a family loses their home, or cannot buy one because of the tight credit, their only option (other than maybe moving in with relatives) is to rent a place to live. But even that is getting much harder to do, as available apartments are becoming scarce and their rental price keeps going up.

I'm experiencing that on a personal level. A few years ago the apartment complex I live in was begging for tenants and offering big discounts for new tenants and for those who recommended them. That is no longer true. Now the complex has raised its rental prices every year for several years and made the guidelines for getting an apartment fairly strict. It has been a huge change in just a few years, as apartment complexes can now afford to be picky and charge what they want -- since apartments are at a premium.

All of these pressures (foreclosures, bank reluctance to lend, and rising prices & less availability of apartments) have combined to put serious pressure on Americans. It has led to a serious lack of affordable housing -- and for many (an ever-increasing number) it has led to homelessness. Millions of Americans, who used to have a good job and a nice place to live, are now finding themselves not only jobless but also homeless.

I'd like to think that the government knows what to do about this and is working on solving it. But that would just be wishful thinking. The Democrats don't seem to know what to do, and the only solution the Republicans have for anything is to give the rich more huge new tax cuts. They should all be ashamed.

Number Of Homeless Children Still Growing

Our congresspeople, especially Republicans and blue dogs, don't want to hear about this problem -- because their economic policy (drastically cutting all social programs) will only make the problem worse. The problem is the growing number of homeless children in the United States. It's a problem that must be addressed, since homelessness can easily cause physical, emotional, and psychological problems for those children. But it's a problem that can't be solved without spending some money -- money currently earmarked for tax cuts for the rich and more military spending.

The U.S. Department of Education released data this week that showed there are now over 1,000,000 homeless students in this country. That is the first time in the history of this nation that the number of homeless students has been that large. Since the 2009-2010 school year, at least 44 states have seen the number of homeless students grow -- and 15 of those states have seen the number grow by at least 20%. The states with the largest growth in the number of homeless students are Kentucky (up 47%), Utah (47%), Michigan (38%), West Virginia (38%), and Mississippi (35%).

Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, addressed the problem saying, "The severe lack of affordable housing for families has yet to be addressed, and over one million children are paying the price. Everyone has a right to safe, decent, affordable housing. And until we make that right a reality for all Americans, the number of homeless students will keep rising."

But that is only part of the problem of homeless children. That doesn't include infants, toddlers, pre-school age children not enrolled in a public program, or homeless children who are being home-schooled (and yes, there are some). As near as we can figure, there are at least another 600,000 children not counted in the Department of Education study -- bringing the number of homeless children in the United States to more than 1,600,000.

Frankly, it is shocking that the richest nation in the world could have that many homeless children -- and be taking no action to fix the problem. Slashing funding for social programs will only make this problem worse -- and giving bigger tax cuts to rich people, or spending more money on our military (when we already spend between 42% and 45% of the world's total military budget) will not help solve this problem. What has happened to our national conscience? Do we even have one any more?

Green Plastic Soldiers - But Not Toys

These little pieces of art are powerful. They may look like the little green plastic soldiers that many of us played with as children, but they're not. These are not for sale, but are meant to remind us that the horrors of war don't necessarily stop when soldiers are brought back home. Far too often that just marks the beginning of new problems -- problems that are a result of their wartime experiences. These pictures are from the website wearedorothy.com.

Here's what the website has to say:

The hell of war comes home. In July 2009 Colorado Springs Gazettea published a two-part series entitled “Casualties of War”. The articles focused on a single battalion based at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, who since returning from duty in Iraq had been involved in brawls, beatings, rapes, drunk driving, drug deals, domestic violence, shootings, stabbings, kidnapping and suicides. Returning soldiers were committing murder at a rate 20 times greater than other young American males. A seperate investiagtion into the high suicide rate among veterans published in the New York Times in October 2010 revealed that three times as many California veterans and active service members were dying soon after returning home than those being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. We hear little about the personal hell soldiers live through after returning home.

Dallas Church Offers "Sanctuary" To Homeless

A downtown Dallas church is trying to help the homeless by opening their parking lot to them at night. The First Presbyterian Church provides a security guard and two portable toilets, and has declared their parking lot a safe zone where the homeless can sleep without being hassled by Dallas Police.

Dallas is not the best city to be homeless in, as they have recently tended to criminalize many activities of the homeless, as well as not having nearly enough beds in existing night shelters. While there are around 5,000 homeless people in Dallas, there are only 1,300 available beds.

In addition to the police rousting those who must sleep on the streets, Dallas has outlawed panhandling, banned shopping carts on city streets and restricted feeding the homeless to only certain designated areas.

Senior pastor of the church, Rev. Joe Clifford, says, "The problem is with our approach to the homeless. We continue to approach the homeless issue as a criminal issue. While there are criminal elements within the homeless population, it is a social problem and requires a societal response."

The church realizes this is only a temporary solution. Clifford is calling for more long-term investment. He wants the city government, business interests and community churches to get together and try to find solutions to the homeless problem. It will really help when a city homeless shelter opens in April.

Until then, the church is using its parking lot as a sanctuary where the homeless can sleep in a safe environment without being hassled by police. So far, the Dallas police have cooperated. They have not bothered anyone or tried to arrest anyone on the church property.

Deputy Police Chief Golbeck says he doesn't really condone the "safe zone", but understands the church has its mission. He did however, rather ominously wonder if other city departments might not determine the church didn't have the proper permits to continue providing the sanctuary.

Sounds like he knows it would be bad PR for the police to break up the "safe zone" and expects the city to find another way to do it.

Be careful Reverend. In Texas, most good deeds don't go unpunished.

Hunger & Homelessness Rise In U.S. In 2006

We have more proof of the abject failure of the Bush administration. Most people know of the failures in foreign policy, but Bush and his cohorts are also failing in their domestic policies.

The U.S. Council of Mayors has just released a report that shows this failure in stark terms. The report says that both homelessness and hunger have risen in this country in the last year, as they have been doing since Bush took office in 2000.

Here are some of the findings of the Mayors' report:

- requests for food have risen by 7% in the last year
- requests for shelter have risen by 9% in the last year
- requests for shelter by families with children rose by 5%
- children make up a quarter of those in homeless shelters
- families often have to split up & stay in different shelters
- 23% of food requests went unfulfilled
- more than a third of adults asking for food aid are employed

The Bush administration was quick to point out that food requests were actually down in a few cities like Cleveland. What they don't tell you is that the demand for food subsidies in up by 29% in Cleveland since 2000, the year that Bush took office. Food subsidies and food stamps now make up 60% of the budget of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

This is a shameful situation. The Bush economic policies have helped only the rich, who are making larger profits than ever. But the poor and working class are losing ground every day, and the middle class is now being put in jeopardy. Many middle class families are only a paycheck or two away from disaster.

Bush seems to think that whatever is good for his rich buddies is good for all Americans. The above-stated figures show that to be a big fat lie! The Bush economic policies have been an unmitigated disaster for most Americans.

When you combine Bush's domestic policies with his foreign policy failures, we can see that Bush is truly the worst president ever.