[[link removed]]

WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON WITH GROWING HOMELESS RATES?  
[[link removed]]


 

Dick Platkin
January 4, 2025
LA Progressive
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Homelessness has doubled in the past four years, yet some observers
still parrot top-down excuses for this increase. _

, Planning Watch LA

 

The latest Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development report
on homelessness
[[link removed]] should be a
wake-up call for those who claim immigrants, drugs, mental illness,
domestic migration, and “generous” government programs cause
homelessness. Even if these reasons played a role – as opposed to
the end of public housing and major increases in economic inequality
[[link removed]] and housing
costs
[[link removed]] over the
last half century -- they cannot explain the 18 percent homeless
increase between 2023 to 2024.

These are some of the report’s findings, and they put to rest the
many excuses that the pols, mainstream media, and those influenced by
them use to blame the victims of the housing crisis.

* At least 770,000 people are homeless in the United States. This
figure is an undercount because the data was collected in January,
when many cities bar winter evictions and utility shutoffs. These data
were also collected before hurricanes Helene and Milton, both of which
created homelessness.
* The fastest rising homeless categories are children under 18 (up
33 %) and families (up 40%). Altogether 150,000 children were
homeless, and New York City alone has 100,000 homeless students in
their public schools.
* California had 181,000 homeless people in January 2024. (Since
then, Governor Newsom has turned to sweeps of homeless encampments to
create the appearance that the State’s housing policies are
working.)
* Homelessness doubled under the Biden administration because of
high interest rates, rapidly increasing rents, and declining real
wages. Those who expect the Trump Administration to do better should
listen to Presidential buddy Elon Musk,
[[link removed]-] _“Homelessness
is a misnomer. It implies that someone got a little behind in their
mortgage. . . What you actually have are violent drugs zombies with
dead eyes, and needles and human feces on the street.”_
* Housing costs continue to outpace incomes, a finding verified by
other researchers, including Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing
Studies.

[Screenshot 2025-01-01 at 1.43.18 PM]

* 43 states reported that housing affordability declined, largely
because rent increases exceeded wages. While cost burdens (i.e.,
paying more than 30 percent of income for housing) increased for all
income categories, those with incomes less than $15,000/year paid
nearly all of their income for shelter. In contrast, those with
incomes of $75,000 or more have virtually no cost burden.

THE HUD REPORT IS BAD NEWS FOR THOSE WHO ATTRIBUTE HOMELESSNESS TO
PERSONAL CHOICE, not social and economic forces. This is demonstrated
by the large number of children who are homeless. They obviously did
not choose to live on the streets or in temporary shelters. They are
the unintended consequence of housing policies that disproportionately
impact low-income families priced out of housing.

THOSE WHO CLAIM THAT HOMELESSNESS IS A VOLUNTARY LIFESTYLE BECAUSE OF
GREAT GOVERNMENT BENEFITS SIMPLY DO NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING
ABOUT. Public housing was suspended by the Nixon administration, over
50 years ago. Mental hospitals were mostly shuttered since then. Those
priced out of remaining private sector housing face two stark choices.
If they are lucky, they can live in overcrowded conditions. The rest
become homeless, and in Los Angeles about 1000 homeless people die on
the city’s streets each year.

THOSE WHOSE KNOWLEDGE OF HOMELESSNESS IS BASED ON PERSONAL
OBSERVATION, NOT PROFESSIONALLY CONDUCTED STUDIES, often believe that
mental illness, drinking, drug addiction, and undocumented immigration
are the main causes of homelessness. The HUD report and similar
studies do not support this misleading impression. NAMI (National
Alliance on Mental Illness), reports that 16 million people in the
United States have severe mental illness, yet only a small percentage
of them are homeless. As for drinking and drug use, about one-third of
the homeless use alcohol in excess. Among the general population, 11
percent are alcoholics, now called Alcohol Use Disorder. About 25
percent of the homeless also take street drugs, although many do this
to cope with homelessness
[[link removed]].

AS FOR UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRATION, it is declining, not increasing.
Furthermore, these immigrants have a lower rate of criminal
activity than those born in the United States.

CONCLUSION: This new HUD report is clear that public policies, not
personal foibles, are the primary causes of homelessness. Those who
blame the homeless for their plight can read this report
[[link removed]] on-line.

_DICK PLATKIN is a former Los Angeles city planner and veteran
Planners Network member who reports on local planning issues for City
Watch LA, which published an earlier version of this article._ 

* Homelessness in America
[[link removed]]
* myths
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]