Since 2010, homelessness had been declining, but in 2017 a rise in homelessness began. By our most recent accounts there are now 554,000 homeless people in the U.S. with many of the working poor being without a place to live. They could be paid more, but paying workers more would require CEOs and stockholders to get less – or affluent consumers pay more, but it seems none of that is likely to happen voluntarily any time soon.
There are now over 50,000 people in Los Angeles who are homeless. In L.A. County alone, there are 3,900 homeless veterans. On Skid Row, about 1,800 people share 9 toilets – that’s worse than a U.N. run Syrian refugee camp.
There has always been a hope that wealth would trickle down – that human nature would kick-in and inspire millionaires and billionaires to give their wealth away. The thinking was: if you give rich people enough taxpayer funded bailouts and tax breaks they will eventually share their money. Unfortunately it seems the pipes of trickledown economics are clogged up as you can see reported in this PBS NewsHour special report from 28 Oct 2018:
HuffPost Report on Los Angeles Homelessness (8 Aug 2018)
Utah Reduces Chronic Homelessness by 91%
There is some hopeful news. In Utah, chronic homelessness has dropped 91% through programs established by the state that seem to save the state money. Here’s the 2015 NPR report on this issue.
Make a Difference
Nobody likes to hear about problems without being offered some solutions. So, for articles like this one we offer links to organizations where people can give or volunteer to make a difference:
- National Coalition for the Homeless
- Shelter House Iowa
- Volunteers of America – Assisting Homeless People