This Week in Poverty: Sequestration, Housing, Homelessness

[xchrom]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/173677/week-poverty-sequestration-housing-homelessness


A homeless man in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Nadel)

Sequestration can seem a little vague, abstract, difficult to wrap your head around.

But here’s what it means when it comes to housing: up to 140,000 fewer low-income families receiving housing vouchers, more children exposed to lead paint, higher rent for people who can’t afford it and a rise in homelessness.

These are among the human costs of sequestration noted in a new paper by Doug Rice, senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, who has worked on housing policy for ten years.

“These kinds of cuts are really unprecedented,” Rice told me. “The Section 8 voucher program has been around for nearly 40 years—it was created during the Nixon Administration and has had strong, bipartisan support for its entire history. Part of that support has consisted of Congress providing adequate money to ensure that the vouchers currently used by families are renewed from year to year.”

[redqueen]

1. K&R

[AndyA]

2. That homeless man should just go out and get a job. Problem solved.

Ignore the fact that some employers won't hire him because he's homeless. A shelter address isn't good enough, they don't want to hire someone who desperately needs a job, and would likely be very thankful for the opportunity to get back on their feet again.

I wonder if either of the people walking by with briefcases, ignoring this fellow human being's plight, might be a Wall Street banker responsible for devastating the economy, which may have led to this man losing his job, savings, house, family, etc. How can they walk by and ignore him in this manner? How do they sleep at night? (Guess their $3,000 air adjustable mattress helps.)

What's really missing in the world today is humanity, respect, and empathy. Those have all been replaced by greed, selfishness, and hatred. So many on the right consider themselves good, conservative Christians. They won't have won any points for their actions here on Earth. They pick and choose what's convenient to believe, and judge and condemn others for what they view as wrong, not realizing that by doing so they too are wrong, only in a much worse way.

All it would take is one person to stop and decide to make another person's life better. Help them find a job, and care about someone else the way their Bible tells them they should.

Instead, they convince themselves that people like this man are lazy, and don't want a good life. Instead, they prefer living on the street, hungry, looking for a hand out. They tell themselves and their friends that people who are homeless did it to themselves, ignoring the fact that often it's out of a person's control.

All it would take is one person to just stop and offer to help. What a pathetic country this is, that we allow citizens to exist in this manner. Our elected representatives worry only about their wealthy donors and how to get re-elected next time. They aren't doing their jobs, however, because they took an oath and promised to look after this man's interests. Obviously, they aren't doing their job and shouldn't be allowed to keep it.

This is the image I hope people remember next time they go vote. We need people who will represent everyone, not just the elite.

[etherealtruth]

3. How we care for the frailest most vulnerable members of our society ...

... speaks volumes about our society.

What this says is abominable.

[riderinthestorm]

4. “These kinds of cuts are really unprecedented".... This thread should have 1000 recs

and be at the top of the greatest page.



This is such an excellent article. Hope everyone reads it xchrom. Thanks for posting.

[xchrom]

5. ...

[G_j]

6. and this was all done by design

never, ever had to happen!

[xchrom]

7. Kick