Homelessness in America.

NEW York Times: “Federal Policy on Homelessness Becomes New Target of the Right.” And adds: “The approach known as Housing First has long enjoyed bipartisan support. But conservatives are pushing efforts to replace it with programs that put more emphasis on sobriety and employment.” What is wrong with sobriety and employment? Come on, now. That isn’t a “conservative” take but a primal sense of maturity and grownup responsibility. 

       Let’s look at “homelessness” in countries with diverse cultural facts and economic well-being. Iceland, Japan, Thailand, Costa Rica, Chile, and Ghana have the lowest rate of homelessness in the world. 

       According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), there are around 582,000 Americans experiencing homelessness in 2022. And over 11,000 homeless shelters nationwide. 

       Shelters are not a fact in other countries but lack/shortage of employment yet homelessness isn’t a national crisis or local level issue. In the U.S., drive around, what we see are “We are hiring!” signs. On a larger context, it is so confounding that America has so much money tossed to a war elsewhere while numbers of the homeless in our midst continue to soar. 🚶‍♀️🚶🛖

NEW York Times: “With Pandemic Aid Ending, Vermont’s Homeless Are Forced From Hotels.” Hotels are emptied of about 2,800 homeless people living there as part of a pandemic-era program — and offering them tents — after federal funding ran out. While White House keeps on trumpeting employment highs. Confounding. Meanwhile, more than 200,000 migrants “freely” cross the southern border monthly since Jan 2021. Yet politics seem unable to stop the surge. 

       As the number of homeless citizens spikes in major cities, border breaches seem unabated. In April, there were 211,401 alien encounters along the Southwest Border, up almost 10 percent from the previous month and up nearly 20 percent from April 2021. 

       In FY 2021, a record 122,000 children were taken into U.S. custody without their parents. Why without their parents? Of course, you know why. Yet the issue stays as is. A partisanship theater of murkthrow. 🚶‍♀️🚶🛖