Jul 30 2008
Dare we say that homelessness is declining in America?
The government says the number of homeless in the United States decreased about 12 percent between 2005 and 2007. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the number of people who are chronically homeless has fallen off even more dramatically.
Many homeless advocates say HUD’s report on homelessness is a bit too rosy. They claim the report fails to take into account the effects of the foreclosure crisis and the slowing economy. They say these events alone are likely to add to the number of homeless families.
I’m surprised that the media reported the story about the improved homeless situation. Most in the mainstream press believe that Bush economic policies are the reason so many people live on the streets. Like failed Democratic presidential hopeful, John Edwards, the media thinks that there are homeless people living under every bridge overpass in the country, and most of them a veterans.
This was the same message that they spread during the Bush ‘41 presidency, but when Bill Clinton occupied the White House, the mainstream press hardly ever talked about homelessness in America. That all ended when George W. Bush was elected. Even before he took the oath of office, the mainstream press was blaming his policies for causing an increase in homelessness.
The media almost deliberately ignores the fact that mental illness and drug abuse account for most of the homelessness in the country. Economic conditions have an intermittent effect on the homeless population, but the economy isn’t even close to a prime cause.
Watch, if Barack Obama is elected, how the whole subject vanishes once more.
(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
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