Reuters:
Some Americans are swapping homes for motels as the ranks of the homeless swell during the recession, crowding out shelters and forcing cities and states across the country to find new types of housing.
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A big story out here in Phoenix is how the social security admin. just flew in over 700 managers from all over the country & as far away as Guam & Samoa for a manager training convention. It was said to have cost over $750,000.00 & they stayed at the luxury Biltmore with a day trip to the Casino Arizona.
I just love out goverment in action. Can you say liars, crooks & thieves!
This while families are sleeping in tents & living on peanut butter & jelly. Makes me sick.
Had a drink at the Biltmore once. Stunningly beautiful place. Can't imagine a goverment-employee conference there -- outrageous if true.
Sooner or later, we may see the factory jobs come back. Here's how. Instead of two dollars a day, Americans will accept a dollar a day. We will out third world them. Yeah, that's the ticket.
Don't laugh, it is happening.
We are bringing the 3rd World here, or they are flocking here to get in on the 'bonanza'.
This has been the goal of big business all along. The intended results of free trade agreements has been to lower our standard of living to that of the third world countries. There was never any intention to raise the standard of living of those living in the third world countries. That was just the feel good propaganda that was force fed "we the people" in order for us to accept their Trojan horse. Guess what? It worked!!! Have a nice day.
It will only happen if "We The People" stand by and allow it to happen. Not on my watch. As long as I have breath, I will join the chorus of those who want to see reform and DO SOMETHING about it. We can do something by, as trite as this sounds, going shopping (I can't believe I'm quoting G.W. Bush). Those of us who are in a position to do so should literally go shopping. We should especially attempt to purchase American made goods (I don't care if it is a nationalistic idea) and in our local economy. Internet shopping, while fabulously easy, also deprives local companies of consumers and local governments of tax revenue. It is Saturday, and this would be great day and go out and stimulate the economy locally. While Walmart goods are mostly foreign made, they are sold and shelved by American workers. Increased sales means increased number of jobs. Purchasing an American car locally not only helps our American car manufacturers, it also boosts local tax revenue (fire fighters, police, libraries, transit, etc.). Let's shop!!!
Great cheerleading wrong time and place!! Bush had everyone shopping right into the abyss for 8 years, which is why we are where we are right now!! Glad you have money to shop!! I can't pay for a pair of eyeglasses!
And you promote Wal Mart too!!! I sure hope you are not the typical member of the resistance to this monster.......If so we are doomed. But not to worry,your parents will give you a trophy just for participating. Good luck. Have a great game!!!
Greatest Country In The World
USA USA USA USA!!!!!!!
Erm...yeah
How much longer are Americans going to blindly claim that?
As long as they refuse to read and acknowledge the rest of the world exists.
It's a marketing ploy and gullible, ignorant people're stocking up.
As long as there is a repub party.....which, on second thought, may not be for long.
This country is long overdue for a revolution.
The amazing thing is that the original article claims that state law requires the state to provide shelter for homeless people. If this is really true I am totally amazed. In my town the city condemned an old motel that provided cheap rental housing because the owners were hugely behind in paying their power bills and the utility cut them off. Over 100 people living on the edge were suddenly homeless and scrambling for alternative housing on 4 DAYS notice. Some of these people went to the Catholic Worker House for shelter. Because of overcrowding, the Worker House allowed some of the men to pitch tents in their backyard. This annoyed adjoining homeowners who complained to the city. The city not only told the campers to move on, but inspected the Catholic Worker House for violations. (It seems pretty clear that the neighbors want the house to move elsewhere.) I don't quarrel with homeowners not wanting a tent city in their backyard, but I find it terribly sad that their outrage is reserved for property issues and not that some people can do nothing but live out of a tent and eat at a soup kitchen.
The powers that be in America would much rather criminalize homelessness than swallow the fact that the only answer will be some manner of socialized government housing program.
Amen. And those programs need not be perpetuating, but rather a step up for the homeless. Many of our Phoenix long-term programs offer classes, training and other incentives (along with a 2 year deadline) to becoming independent and self-sustaining. They get tremendous results. Our attorneys quoted to a Judge that their success rate at one program was 85%. These programs are needed and can provide a real chance for people to succeed. Unfortunately, our GOP brethren do not understand or appreciate the principle that spending money now will have future benefits for both the individual and the Nation. We'll keep trying to convince them though.
somewhere along the line affordable housing became a bad word and the govt stopped subsidizing this effort to provide housing for people, enmasse, even thought the ills of society that make it inherently unequal, the inequalities are becoming more apparent,
These same people who would have lived in a mixed use complex now were forced to rent houses or live in the projects there was no transitional stage, it was either rent for a better life or go to the bottom
As a former MA resident, I can tell you that the Kennedy influence stretches to many programs for their constituents. Their special education services are provided on a "BEST benefit" basis while the rest of the Nation mainly provides such services on the legally mandated "some benefit" basis. The difference is one 30 minute group therapy session vs. one 50 minute private therapy session 3 to 5 days a week depending on severity of the disability. Uniform programs and service levels would be a really nice thing.
God bless the Kennedy family. Quite a contrast to the way Giuliani (also dubbed "Crueliani") handled the homeless situation in NYC.
It is bad enough for one person alone to live in a motel room. Let alone - an entire family.
no. it's bad enough for one person to be on the streets, let alone an entire family.
Best comment yet.
And our society doesn't help single men who have lost their jobs, and have no where else to turn. The only resources in major cities are shelters that house men with wide variety of mental, health, and drug addiction problems. Not a good motivator for someone trying to get back on his feet. If you're not able to find employment, or have any physical limitations you have to fend for yourself on the streets. That's what they mean by "only the strong survive". This the "Corporate States of America"
You are correct, single men are ALWAYS last on the list!! Women and children get supreme consideration no matter what. It doesn't matter what race or creed either, if you are male in this country and in need, fugget about it. This includes Rehablitative and Educational opportunities as well. Another area where men in need are TOTALLY locked out. Are whole value system is warped and totally unbalanced! Until we really understand everyone deserves a hand up, not a handout, but a fair shake hand up, we are doomed to continue this destructive path and cycle.
This is the slow murder of the lower middle class. I am just a layoff away from going through the same thing.
I am already there my son and I have been on the streets for a month now! I'm in the library making this entire and checking my emails, there is no help here in Florida for those who have lost there homes! I know what what they all are going through.
God's blessings on you. Try the churches. It seems so preposterous that in our rich Country we have tax-exempt buildings sitting empty 90% of the time (churches and facilities thereof) while people sleep on the streets. A few sleeping bags in the rec room or other large space (often already equipped with toilets and showers) would be a real testimony to their faith in God and intent to emulate his Son and follow his directives. I served a monthly meal with a group from my church at another church which converted its classroom building into a homeless shelter for four families and an open admission evening kitchen for the homeless and the resident families. It can be done.
God Bless you and I sure hope something good is around the corner for you. I don't know what to say.....I am sorry, I truly hope you find some options and a safe place for you and your son!!
I hope that help comes your way soon. Prayers for you and your son.
there is no help anywhere nor has their ever been for those loosing their homes. anytiem someone want a program to look into it or to provide subsidies to get families on their feet, SOME SCREAM SOCIALISM.
what is wrong with taking care of and preserving the american way of life.....
what is wrong with not allowing people to fall out of the bottom of society, will only civil unrest wake these people up,
why are only the criminals taken care of either in jail or on wall street....what the heck is going on are we seeing reality or were we really once a better nation........
Why aren't we taking over empty homes temporarily under "imminent domain" and using that for subsidized shelter for social programs for the next few years until we are out of this mess?
We have a ton of people homeless, and a ton of empty homes. Why the hell is this so hard?
Also, as a comment about moving into an apartment I work for a low income housing organization in the SF Bay Area. Housing prices here are very high as well as the initial deposits, it makes it very difficult to get housing if you are below the median income in this area, which is over $70,000/year.
Also, if you have been homeless, as many of our clients have, you know how hard it is to come up with documentation of past landlords, etc.
How many homeless or close to homeless people have you seen carting around past bank statements, landlord references, and other personal info in their backpacks?
Great idea about the empty houses. Also, all of those tax-exempt church properties should serve the homeless as a matter of conscience and of faith. What a waste of often luxurious facilities that they sit empty except for a few services each week!
i had hoped that that would happen with TARP part , but paulson jsut tookt he money and retired to bermuda after doling it out to his Goldman Sachs buddies
Capitalism (which is not a free market economy) failed.
The US is a failure, but we've yet to see the worst of it.
There are other countries that we are beginning to model after. We will just have a segment of the population that is very poor, starving, dying, etc. And the very rich. And the workers. We just don't have an economy that supports the entire population any longer. This happens. It's not civilized, but this country is not very humane, or civilized, in my view. The corporation, by definition, which we are ruled by, which our government is ruled by, is inhumane, though the law regards it as if it were not (given all the protections as an individual). So, as slave to an inhumane corporation, how could we as a whole become anything different?
I still see shopping malls springing up where I live. It's disgusting. Work, shop, consume. Work shop consume. We are nothing but slaves.
capitalism does not mean that no one loses. it is a jungle, not a zoo. it'll let you get fat and then the other animals will eat you.
Well there you have it. Families from homes to motels. Bankers back to big salaries and bonuses.
Now imagine if McCain had won: the Repubs would have dropped the minimum wage laws to 'untie business' hands', cut off welfare, and forced these people to work for $3 a day to survive, so business could compete in the global market. The Third Worldization of American would have been compete.
Yep. Definitely.
Are motels really cheaper than a home and apartment?
I haven't seen any that really are, unless there are some crazy deals I don't know about.
They aren't cheaper, but they are the alternative if you don't have the credit.
Possibly. Rent is up, as people are losing their homes. I may consider moving to a motel/hotel. And all utilities are included. Not a bad deal!
The article quoted a price of $200 a week. You do not necessarily need credit to rent the room. If you do not have the money, you can leave and come back when you obtain the funds. These hotels are not your high-end vacation choices, and often have a bad location and scary street people hanging outside. An acquaintance of mine and her boyfriend rented a room for the week when they could afford it, and slept in his truck when they could not. It is a very tough life.
God help us. What can I do to alleviate suffering? I want to. I'm so afraid. We're all a hare's breath from living in a car.
LET'S SEE DEPOSIT FIRST MONTHS AND LAST MONHTS RENT AND VERIFIABLE INCOME..
OR NO APT FOR YOU
KNOCK, KNOCK! Is anyone home? This American economic train is derailing, and going to collide with economic reality, VERY QUICKLY!!!
The earlier “War on Poverty Programs” in American inner cities might have been a dismal failure, these new rollouts better work, FAST! It is going to get serious when enough HOME mortgages, car notes, utilities, and CREDIT CARD bills are in the arrears! I do not know what the federal statisticians consider to be the critical cutoff point in terms of macro, and micro economic failure, but I fear we are rapidly approaching it!
I am unable to bury myself in college textbooks, sit in lecture halls designing strategic plans for societal improvement, or hobby around on a computer keyboard thinking about the what ifs! The majority of American inner cities throughout America have similar economic appearance! As a frustrated appraiser with an urban planning background it appears to me, that American inner cities, and suburban communities are beginning to resemble one another economically!
They have started to do that since the eighties. I remember when I came to the US in the late seventies from Europe, and noticed how things are only build for a short time span. People started moving to the suburbs and leaving vital inner cities alone. Instead of investing in infrastructure and public transport, no roads were build, and shopping malls. Often I wondered about this, and then every time that I went back to Europe, our cities stayed the same, business and people co-existed and subway routes were extended to airports etc, a totally different urban planning. I am not an expert in this field, only I regretted visiting some cities and watching the downtown dying of a cancer, riddled with crime, I always thought why aren't they preserving their old buildings instead of building these little boxes that all look alike.
The economic downturn now will maybe turn things around, and people will realize that living in a city has an advantage, maybe some stimulus will go to revitalizing neighborhoods, that would be gr eat.
I've lived in Europe too. You don't have to be an expert to know why America went the route it did. Because that was what the big corps wanted. Less mass transit =more people driving cars=more oil sales. And on and on.
Amusing, yet pathetic, how you do not hear any politicians talking about this stuff. Then they throw gas on the fire by claiming that Americans would rather pay extortionist costs for healthcare rather than switch the country to a healthcare system where healthcare is free for everyone.
Indeed. However, it may not be free for everyone it will certainly be affordable for everyone! And, it would go DIRECTLY to job creation since employers would be relieved of being held hostage by the carpet bagger industry. It would make Employers health care costs far more reasonable for those who choose to say with their private company insurance because they like it better. With that money employers could create more jobs and employees could move about the country and get other jobs. The demand for PUBLIC option is the KEY that unlocks so much of the constipated economy....... wow and it benefits THE PEOPLE as well. What a concept.
Thanks, you said that much better than I did, as well as pointing out things I didn't mention. Also, you made me think of something else that needs to be considered. It could lead to a healthier workforce if people were actually able to afford to look after their health. Quite possibly we wouldn't have so many people on disability, or medical retirements, or dying so young from what should have been a treatable problem, etc.
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First Posted: 07-11-09 11:49 AM | Updated: 07-11-09 12:07 PM