Pushing more Americans into homelessness is no way to revitalize downtowns
The first couple of years of the Reagan administration were rough on most Americans. His 1981 cuts to safety net programs led to an additional 6 million people falling into poverty between 1980 and 1983. Coupled with an unemployment of nearly 11% during his first term, Reagan ended up raising taxes more than 10 times during his presidency to try to clean up the mess his 1981 cuts made.
However, elements of that economic devastation continue to haunt us today. One of the most obvious examples is the explosion of homeless encampments in the nation’s downtowns, which began during Reagan’s presidency and led to the first federal legislative response to homelessness, in 1987.
Here we are nearly four decades later: The country has its highest number of homeless people since tracking began, and House Republicans just voted to cut safety programs. It’s as if those Reagan years taught them nothing about cause and effect. Yes, we have a $36-trillion national debt, and Moody’s just downgraded our credit rating. We have to draw in the purse strings for the sake of our fiscal stability. But it matters where you make the cuts. Creating a scenario that could increase poverty and homelessness is wildly counterproductive.
Even setting aside for the moment the human costs, the economic case for reducing homelessness is painfully clear.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/granderson-pushing-more-americans-homelessness-100000426.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
