Government Could Solve Homelessness

If Government Stopped Creating Homeless People...

I spent last weekend in DC, and was thinking about how small the homeless population would be if government and government funded organizations would stop assisting people to become homeless. For example, all the laws that make it illegal to be poor only make it more likely that a person will become homeless. The heavily subsidized hospitals and medical industry send a lot of people into the shelters in our community. Health insurance companies depend on government to stay in business, but work to figure out ways not to cover people or send bills that can quickly bankrupt a person. The public mental health system and the alcohol treatment programs use the shelter system as a housing option for their clients. The alcohol system actually uses the shelters as a punishment for those who are unwilling or unable to stick with a program.

The disability programs keep people poor for the rest of their lives and do not provide even enough money to afford housing. In fact, the rules for remaining on the program do not even allow any additional income for an individual receiving a disability check. Any gift or income is actually taken immediately out of their check. They get a monthly living allowance that actually does not allow them to live anywhere in the United States, and any additional income is taken out of their check to make sure that they stay poor. If we could just take care of those on Social Security Disability and keep people out of the shelters, the homeless population would decrease dramatically.

The re-entry system is actually no re-entry at all. Incarceration leads to homelessness in many cases. The first thing cut in times of budget troubles are the social work staff. We punish more people with jail than any other industrialized country in the world, and then we do a horrible job reintegrating people into society. The government also needs to figure out what to do about sexually based offenders in our community. In the name of public safety, we have actually set up a system in which it is almost impossible to reintegrate for those having completed a sentence for a sexually based offense. Ironically, this is making our communities less safe since these men are sleeping, largely unsupervised, on the streets of every major city in America.

Our welfare system does not provide enough health care or child care that will allow a family to survive. There is still massive disparities in lending to minority populations by government regulated mortgage institutions. There is an ungodly wait for re-determination on their child support payments when they lose their job or become homeless.

If government were just willing to work to prevent homelessness, we could reduce the population by 80-90%. We appreciate the new prevention program, but until all branches of government and every government employee makes this a priority, we are never going to make any changes.

Brian Davis
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