According to a report released on January 12 by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, from 2008 to 2009 the homeless population increased by 3 percent, or by about 20,000 people.  Almost three-quarters of households with income below the poverty line shelled out over 50 percent of their monthly household income on rent.

To some, these statistics are startling, but they are also quite predictable, considering that unemployment is up near 10 percent and the housing market continues to flounder.

"These findings project what depressed wages, stagnant unemployment, unrelenting housing cost burden, and the lagging pace of economic recovery really means: increases in homelessness and heightened risk of homelessness for Americans," said Nan Roman, president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.  "As the new Congress and the Administration work to revitalize the American economy, we ask that they include homelessness interventions in the recovery strategy – clearly, as these data show, they are an urgent part of the solution."

The National Alliance to End Homelessness is a federation of over 10,000 private and public organizations that are dedicated to a common cause, ending homelessness.  Over the past decade the Alliance has expanded its organization capacity to promoting state and federal government policies, with a dynamic push to increase spending and enact new government programs.

The Alliance's mission is to "provide data and research to policymakers and elected officials in order to inform policy debates and educate the public and opinion leaders nationwide...today, with the help of federal leadership and local activism, the Alliance aims to continue on its journey to end homelessness once and for all in America."

This is a very noble cause, but it is also a utopian ideal that will never come to fruition.  The belief that "elected officials" will rid the poverty-stricken streets of Detroit is a fantasy; "local activism" – churches, businesses, individual contributions – is the more suitable alternative.  Local communities breed a more favorable result than politicians cycling the trivial pursuit to humanitarian fame.  But even with that said, "ending homelessness once and for all" is beyond impractical.

Read more at http://brianekoenig.com/?p=5

A significant chunk of the problem has nothing to do the affordability of housing and everything to do with mental illness commitment law. A big percentage of the chronically homeless are nuts and there's pretty much nothing that can be done about them.

Until the law changes we'll have a hard core of the homeless. The rest are transients dropping into temporary homelessness when their luck breaks bad and out again when things pick up a bit.

You might be able to help the latter along a bit, helping them find living arrangements a bit more quickly then they could on their own but you won't be able to do squat about the former.

I'd like to see the definition of what they consider homeless, and what they consider a fix.
Is just renting someone a room a fix for a homeless person, or are they looking to homeownership?

Point is, you're right, there is no end result when many people like not having the burden of a home, or even an apartment, some just like being free.

I have a solution for those that really want off the street, it's an easy approach, get a freakin job!

Quote from: Solar on January 25, 2011, 05:46:08 PM
I'd like to see the definition of what they consider homeless, and what they consider a fix.
Is just renting someone a room a fix for a homeless person, or are they looking to homeownership?

Point is, you're right, there is no end result when many people like not having the burden of a home, or even an apartment, some just like being free.

I have a solution for those that really want off the street, it's an easy approach, get a freakin job!

I honestly can't fathom how people can't make enough money to live...

Quote from: taxed on January 25, 2011, 05:49:50 PM
I honestly can't fathom how people can't make enough money to live...

We talked about this, I guess some people simply don't have high enough aspirations in life.
Got my beer, smokes, and a bridge to camp under, I'm good. :D

Quote from: taxed on January 25, 2011, 05:49:50 PM
I honestly can't fathom how people can't make enough money to live...

Don't have any experience with loons, hey?

I mean the real deal. Someone who's got broken machinery between their ears.

If you did you'd know the problem's not the people in many cases but the fact they're allowed to embrace their individuality by sleeping in a cardboard box and being unapproachable from down wind. Being ill isn't an expression of individuality. It's just being sick and the National Alliance to End Homelessness isn't going to do anything about them.

Quote from: arpad on January 25, 2011, 06:47:59 PM
Don't have any experience with loons, hey?

I mean the real deal. Someone who's got broken machinery between their ears.

If you did you'd know the problem's not the people in many cases but the fact they're allowed to embrace their individuality by sleeping in a cardboard box and being unapproachable from down wind. Being ill isn't an expression of individuality. It's just being sick and the National Alliance to End Homelessness isn't going to do anything about them.

No, you're right.. a lot of folks like that are mentally ill...

Quote from: arpad on January 25, 2011, 05:40:17 PM
A significant chunk of the problem has nothing to do the affordability of housing and everything to do with mental illness commitment law. A big percentage of the chronically homeless are nuts and there's pretty much nothing that can be done about them.

Until the law changes we'll have a hard core of the homeless. The rest are transients dropping into temporary homelessness when their luck breaks bad and out again when things pick up a bit.

You might be able to help the latter along a bit, helping them find living arrangements a bit more quickly then they could on their own but you won't be able to do squat about the former.

I take offense to this! I'm not nuts but I essentially am homeless. I live presently in a home with a guy with his 13 yr old son and his Muslim girlfriend, as well as my daughter with her infant. Well, then, yeah, I have to be certifiably nuts to have this living arrangement.

A year ago, I lost my job and then my apartment. I had to rescue my daughter from her abusive husband. So we went to MA to get away from this man and in the process now I've lost absolutely everything. I'd LOVE to have a job, but I can't get hired. So I"m living on unemployemnt as well as my $30 in food  stamps. But I assure you that I'm not mentally ill. :P

Quote from: Solar on January 25, 2011, 05:58:54 PM
We talked about this, I guess some people simply don't have high enough aspirations in life.
Got my beer, smokes, and a bridge to camp under, I'm good. :D

Yeah...   good ol hobo life...

Quote from: Book_Worm on January 25, 2011, 10:59:40 PM
I take offense to this! I'm not nuts but I essentially am homeless. I live presently in a home with a guy with his 13 yr old son and his Muslim girlfriend, as well as my daughter with her infant. Well, then, yeah, I have to be certifiably nuts to have this living arrangement.

A year ago, I lost my job and then my apartment. I had to rescue my daughter from her abusive husband. So we went to MA to get away from this man and in the process now I've lost absolutely everything. I'd LOVE to have a job, but I can't get hired. So I"m living on unemployemnt as well as my $30 in food  stamps. But I assure you that I'm not mentally ill. :P

Yeah well, we've only got your word on your mental health status.

Point made though. When your circumstance improve, when you can score a job that'll pay the rent and all you'll get a place of your own. The hardcore homeless generally don't have that option because they're nuts and I use the word "nuts" because it gets the point across but in case anyone's delicate sensibilities are offended, mentally ill.

The immediate problem's the law which, like I wrote above, makes it all but impossible to institutionalize the mentally ill even if it's a certainty they'll go off their meds and off their heads. Society's decided that it's best to just stand aside as they spiral downward into filth, degradation, illness and violence until they hurt themselves or someone else. Then we can do something.

My beef with freemarkets101's views are that the approach isn't even a very good band-aid for the symptoms and completely ignores the underlying cause. That's such an ineffective approach I have to wonder at the sincerity of the idea. Who's getting the help here? Is it the homeless or is it the guilt and conceit of the organization's supporters that's being dealt with?

Quote from: arpad on January 26, 2011, 06:50:33 AM
Yeah well, we've only got your word on your mental health status.

Point made though. When your circumstance improve, when you can score a job that'll pay the rent and all you'll get a place of your own. The hardcore homeless generally don't have that option because they're nuts and I use the word "nuts" because it gets the point across but in case anyone's delicate sensibilities are offended, mentally ill.

The immediate problem's the law which, like I wrote above, makes it all but impossible to institutionalize the mentally ill even if it's a certainty they'll go off their meds and off their heads. Society's decided that it's best to just stand aside as they spiral downward into filth, degradation, illness and violence until they hurt themselves or someone else. Then we can do something.

My beef with freemarkets101's views are that the approach isn't even a very good band-aid for the symptoms and completely ignores the underlying cause. That's such an ineffective approach I have to wonder at the sincerity of the idea. Who's getting the help here? Is it the homeless or is it the guilt and conceit of the organization's supporters that's being dealt with?

I agree with most of them being mentally out there, arpad.  I have tried to help some in the past, and they are just gone....  the motor is running, but no one is behind the wheel...

Quote from: arpad on January 26, 2011, 06:50:33 AM
Yeah well, we've only got your word on your mental health status.

Scouts honor! I'm not nuts! (crosses fingers behind back)

QuotePoint made though. When your circumstance improve, when you can score a job that'll pay the rent and all you'll get a place of your own. The hardcore homeless generally don't have that option because they're nuts and I use the word "nuts" because it gets the point across but in case anyone's delicate sensibilities are offended, mentally ill.

Many years ago the states found it cheaper to dump the mentally ill on the streets instead of treating them, thus we have the vets with drug and alcohol problems as well as the schizophrenics on the streets. But in doing so, as you said, they're not taking their meds or are not taking their medications.

I feel the states should be sued for them neglecting these people in society. Many of them have died on the streets because they haven't had access to the need services

Quote from: Book_Worm on January 26, 2011, 10:14:59 AM
Scouts honor! I'm not nuts! (crosses fingers behind back)

<Grudgingly> OK, I'll take your word for it.

Quote
Many years ago the states found it cheaper to dump the mentally ill on the streets instead of treating them, thus we have the vets with drug and alcohol problems as well as the schizophrenics on the streets. But in doing so, as you said, they're not taking their meds or are not taking their medications.

I feel the states should be sued for them neglecting these people in society. Many of them have died on the streets because they haven't had access to the need services

I remember the issue. It was the confluence of a couple of things.

The most important was the development of effective psychoactive drugs like Librium and thorazine. That allowed about 70% of mental health patients to either take up a normal life or be maintained in a less expensive setting. When the population of state mental health patients dropped so drastically the budget was up for grabs of course and that resulted in the closing of a lot of facilities.

Another big factor was that there was a fair amount of really egregious abuse of the commitment process. It wasn't just fodder for Hollywood.

Finally there were all the hippy-dippies running around claiming that the mentally ill were just experiencing an alternate reality that was no more or less valid then that experienced by the so-called "sane".

To the degree it's possible to hold anyone responsible for the mentally-ill homeless it's the hippy-dippies I hold most responsible since their views are the least responsible. They just didn't give a damn.

Can't agree with you more.