Politics

Are we losing the War on Homelessness?

by Robert Randle
09/19/16
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I want to say to all those public policy generals who have been waging the unrelenting war to end homelessness; you are getting your collective butts kicked- why you ask? Well, for one thing, in spite of all the resources poured into this effort you still don’t know what the real enemy is or how to fight it. This is because the methods you use are ‘reactive’ and while you might win a small victory here and there, the battle still rages on as the ranks of the homeless swell almost nonstop and unabated. Would you consider trying something from the playbook of a former president called the Bush Doctrine of waging a ‘preemptive’ first-strike attack instead of dealing with disaster after-the-fact.

Ok, so where do we start? I think the cause of many homeless situations involves persons having incurred a felony (conviction or probation). This makes it difficult; if not nearly impossible to finding employment earning a living wage, receive financial aid for attending college or technical training, as well as passing a background check to even obtain housing. Even if someone were employed it is usually a low wage, labor –intensive part-time job with few benefits or stability.  A person might have become evicted in the past and it is unlikely that a landlord or property owner would want to risk leasing a place to an applicant with that kind of history. Now, oftentimes well-meaning, progressive and socially-liberal thinkers who initiate enlightened programs like those administered in King and Pierce Counties (Seattle and Tacoma, WA) think this solve the problem of homelessness; but it won’t. What it does do is act as a magnet, attracting indigent travelers, runaways and people from other areas because they can take advantage of services that they might not otherwise qualify for; or in some instances have exhausted the benefits and services in the places where they previously lived.

This last point is the most difficult to do, painful to think or implement because not only is it controversial but counterintuitive as well. What needs to be done is to scale back instead of increase services because it will force the free riders to seek other means to help them survive and it will help reduce the numbers of people that can be helped to a manageable level. This may not be convenient or the answer that people want to hear; it is certainly not the politically-correct thing to advocate as it is a bitter pill to swallow but sooner or late reality has to be dealt with. The thing is though, even if one disagrees with this suggestion, still it is becoming increasingly apparent that what is in place now is not working.

Robert Randle
776 Commerce St #701
Tacoma, WA 98402
September 16, 2016
[email protected]