Ousting the Homeless
Terry H. Schwadron
July 31, 2024
More than 630,000 are homeless in America, the most recent statistics suggest, even amid disclaimers that no one knows for sure because no agency knows how to count the numbers accurately.
Despite a Supreme Court decision and now orders in Oregon and California, where estimates run to 200,000 homeless, to clear public encampments, there’s no answer to the basic question: Where are these people supposed to go?
Of course, behind the numbers are just as many personal stories and a whole lot of assumptions that the population we’re discussing is drug-addled, mental health patients or undocumented migrants. In many cities, the homeless population far exceeds the number of shelter beds available on any given night, the APsays.
The Washington Post reported on a spike emerging this year in the number of first-time homeless who have jobs, but simply cannot afford homes. From numbers reported by check-in services, Tulsa’s homeless working population is up 26%, Rhode Island’
s by 35%, Southeast Texas by 61%. These are people at jobs earning $20 an hour or more who simply cannot afford housing and are living in cars or hand-to-mouth.
“The general public doesn’t see these folks as homeless,” explained one California housing initiative staffer. “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.”
As Ever, Law Enforcement as Answer
There is a disturbing trend in our political circles to discuss homelessness, as with immigration and crime, as law enforcement problems. If only there were more policies and resources to clear public homelessness, it somehow wouldn’t exist.
Police, of course, don’t want anything to do with homelessness. They want to concentrate on crime.
As with immigration, unless we deal with the roots of these issues, we’re just measuring homelessness as the gap between available services and a rising population that needs them. Arresting transgressors doesn’t eliminate the issue; indeed, it creates a new issue by requiring jails to provide overly expensive alternatives on the public dime, and just postpones what happens when the individual is released.
The Supreme Court case involved Grants Pass, Ore. officials who were under pressure to eliminate sleeping in public places. Over the furious objection of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the court’s conservative majority court looked at the constitutional issues, not the social issue, and approved a law enforcement approach without any advice about where homeless people were supposed to go.
The Post noted that while homelessness may not be a central issue in the presidential election, high housing costs continue to show up as a big reason Americans are frustrated with an otherwise strong economy. A recent CNN poll found that Americans pointed to housing costs as a top economic problem facing their families, ranking just after food prices but ahead of gas, health care, student loans and child care.
Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, ordered local officials to clear homeless encampments on state land, saying “it’s time to move with urgency” after the Supreme Court decision. Newsom has been promoting a very expensive program to add “affordable” housing underwritten by the state. Los Angeles officials resisted the Newsom call, saying that homelessness is down 10% in the city and county because of concerted efforts to broaden access to services and temporary housing.
In New York, the mayor has been vocal in seeking federal payments for services to provide required shelter for an increasing number of migrants who are displacing other homeless individuals from city shelters.
Better Answers
Not surprisingly, those who study homelessness say the better governmental response relies on providing emergency financial assistance and permanent supportive housing. Housing provides security, and a platform for employment.
Still, The Post report on the working homeless is distressing, and points up the need for more housing stock altogether.
In Sacramento and other cities, local governments are trying to experiment with programs to build small housing units and a stipend to get people off the streets. Crime and other public nuisance issues are reported to have been reduced.
In the last week, Joe Biden said money for housing construction and rent caps would be among his priorities for his remaining time in office. He has pushed a plan requiring congressional approval that requires landlords owning more than 50 units to restrict annual rent increases to 5 percent or less if they want to utilize a popular Trump-era tax write-off. It is estimated that half of the country’s 40 million rental units would be covered by the proposal, which Kamala Harris has indicated that she supports.
By contrast, Donald Trump has called for creating huge homeless tent cities to keep homelessness, which he equates with crime, from “making many suffer for the whims of a deeply unwell few.” As usual, there were no details.
Smart voters would be wise to ask the next question when they hear of easy answers to complex questions.
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