Say Anything Blog

Must be that terrible economy we’ve suffered under during Mr. Bush’s presidency.  Damn those tax rate cuts and all those greedy people who agreed that they ought to keep more of what they’ve earned!

“Poverty of goods is easily cured; poverty of the mind is irreparable.”

Heh,

Amazing how the supposed tool of the rich managed to get those same rich folks to pay the greatest percentage of total federal income tax proceeds while also reducing homelessness by 30%.

Out Here
Rodney G. Graves

Ceterum censeo Parthia esse delendam
Latin: “Furthermore, Parthia (Persia aka modern day Iran) should be destroyed.”

I blame Bush.

And now these poor folks can’t afford the mortgage on their mcmansion. 

(Is that supposed to be capitalized?

TANSTAAFL

You guys notice how the liberals always tend to ignore threads like this one?

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

A social welfare program works.
Well how bout that?

little dog,

What “social welfare” program would that be which has shifted the tax burden and thrice over decimated the ranks of the homeless?

The rising tide of economic prosperity has achieved this.

Out Here
Rodney G. Graves

Ceterum censeo Parthia esse delendam
Latin: “Furthermore, Parthia (Persia aka modern day Iran) should be destroyed.”

I think the biggest gain in homelessness would be to tell those that are capable to grow up and quit being a sponge because it’s not going to work anymore.

TANSTAAFL

Section 8 housing
Veterans housing
Disabled/elderly housing
Public housing operating capital
RodG:

What “social welfare” program would that be

A guy comes into a bar.
bartender asks him,
“Why so Grave?”
My car broke down on the way to work.
I walked home and found my best friend
screwing ny wife.

“So what did you do.”

What could I do,
I said,
“Bad Dog . Bad Dog”

little dog,

Demonstrate that the programs you name expanded by 30% or more in their scope and financing over the specified period.

Out Here
Rodney G. Graves

Ceterum censeo Parthia esse delendam
Latin: “Furthermore, Parthia (Persia aka modern day Iran) should be destroyed.”

President beating around the Bush on homelessness
Social Justice & Diversity Voice
Neil Mitten

Contrary to the common perceptions that many have about people without homes, families with children are the fastest growing sector of the homeless population. According to a survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 2000, families with children account for 36 percent of people who are homeless.

However, despite the devastating effects homelessness has on families and children, the Bush administration ignores their plight due to narrowly constructed policy that distorts the true root causes and reality of homelessness in America.

In July 2002 the current administration unleashed a plan to end “chronic” homelessness in 10 years and began targeting federal resources towards the most visible of the homeless population.

The administration defines the “chronically” homeless as unaccompanied individuals with a disabling condition who have been homeless for over a year or have had at least four episodes of homelessness over the past three years. Disabling conditions include a diagnosable substance abuse disorder, serious mental illness, developmental disability, or chronic physical illness.

While this policy may appear humanitarian on the surface, it is far from compassionate or comprehensive. When that goal was set, major sections of the homeless population were disregarded including: children and parents with and without disabilities, unaccompanied individuals without disabilities, and adults and youth with and without disabilities who have not been homeless long enough to fit that limited definition.

There is another shortcoming in this chronic plan: no significant revenue is dedicated towards it! Besides scraping together scant funds from several federal agencies, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Health and Human Services, the chronic initiative only takes already scarce homeless services resources that serve the entire population and targets them towards programs serving the “chronically” homeless. So limited is this funding that it is highly doubtful that this initiative will end homelessness, even for the population on which it focuses.

Even if targeting resources towards the “chronically” homeless disregards local needs (serving families with children may be more of a local priority), localities are now forced into prioritizing services for this population in order to stay competitive to receive federal funding. As a result, critical funding for programs which do not serve the chronically homeless may depend on may be reallocated due to decisions made, not at the local level, but in Washington, D.C.

The National Coalition for the Homeless, the oldest and largest organization in the country advocating with and for people who are homeless, has been extremely critical of the “chronic” initiative since the policy emerged. NCH has argued that the “chronic” initiative treats homelessness as if it were a disease or medical condition rather than a symptom of a larger issue, which is poverty.

“Perhaps most troubling,” NCH argued about the chronic initiative in a 2003 report, “is the complete absence of any discussion of poverty and the affordable housing crisis that underlie homelessness for all populations.”

No plan to end homelessness could be effective without dedicating significant resources towards affordable housing production. Larger structural issues, including the lack of livable incomes and inadequate access to health care, that are ignored by the “chronic” initiative must also be comprehensively addressed if this nation is committed towards providing the security of a home to all its citizens.

If someone was interested in addressing the structural causes of homelessness, write a letter to the Bush administration. Tell our nation’s leaders that a woman and her child were forced to sleep in an office building in Baltimore this summer and that they remain invisible to current federal initiatives to address homelessness.

Urge the administration to support the National Housing Trust Fund Act which would provide a dedicated source of revenue towards affordable housing production over the next decade.

Tell those compassionate conservatives to also take a look at the Bringing America Home Act, which was designed to comprehensively address home-lessness by addressing the affordable housing crisis, inadequate access to health care, and the lack of livable incomes while calling on localities to stop passing ordinances that criminalize the homeless. Funding for transitional housing for victims of domestic violence is included in the bill.

It is time that this country works to prevent and end homelessness for all Americans and goes beyond ill-conceived policies that only focus on a fraction of the population while failing to address structural causes of the problem.

I also blame Bush