Homelessness Crisis in America
Editorial opinion.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s definition of homelessness includes people who are living on the streets, in cars or in shelters.
There are over half a million homeless people in the U.S on any given night, according to 2018 figures published by the US Departement of Housing and Urban Development. This figure represents 17% of the population of our country.
New York, Los Angeles and Seattle has the highest homeless numbers. States with the most tolerant and permissive government leadership are experiencing the highest numbers, with the breakdown of law enforcement and and burgeoning crime figures. The rapid rise of tent cities and homeless encampments brings an influx of violence, drugs, disease and pollution to the communities it thrives in.
We are witnessing, not only the breakdown of laws and civility in these crime and filth-filled communities, but experiencing the ultimate potential threat to our population, which is plague and the rampant encroachment of violence and anarchy in our streets. With total disregard for law enforcement and the refusal of the courts to impose penalties for crimes such as shoplifting by those who need to buy their drugs, some cities are experiencing a crisis that will drive many of the businesses out only exasperating an already deteriorating problem by creating a no-go zone for the general population who will avoid, at all costs, frequenting these business locations, thus destroying the tax base, where the cities derive their source of revenue to provide their services and sustain the infrastructure. Homelessness represents a spiralling decline in our cities and a destruction of the culture and civility we all aspire for.
So this is the problem. What is the solution? The divide between the rich and the poor will only be accelerated by allowing this to go on. Laws need to be enforced and money spent wisely to rectify this. Spending millions of dollars for remedies that have no effect whatsoever have been fruitless. Pouring more of our taxes into these drug and disease infested encampments will do nothing to remedy it. Money wisely spent on living spaces for these people and food kitchens would allow the enforced relocation of these occupants to be carried out without repercussions. Moreover, when we begin to combine wise investments relocation into humane shelters with access to enforced drug rehabilitation and mental health services, only then will we begin to reverse this very dangerous and potentially explosive road to anarchy.
