The Homeless and Politics As Usual

Hello All,

Today I was thinking about politics, as a member of Generation X it is possible that we might finally have a president that comes from our group who would also be the first minority to take office, as a woman the chance to finally have our voices heard through Hillary is a big win for the feminist movement everywhere, words can not describe how elated I am about this upcoming election, I feel Barrack or Hillary would do a far better job than the current administration. That is where my praise ends. I have a problem with the presidential candidates in the fact that they do not talk about issues that are affecting me today and I am left to wonder that if they should make it to the big show, is it going to be business as usual or are they actually going to change things?

Take the issue of homelessness in Colorado or for that matter around the United States. It is estimated that in the state of Colorado there are about 20, 134 homeless people according to a study done by Housing and Urban Development (HUD), http://www.hudhre.info/documents/2ndHomelessAssessmentReport.pdf this assessment was done in 2006 and the figures released in 2008, which means that the problem is considerably worse now as more people are becoming homeless with issues such as job loss and foreclosures on the rise. So what are Barrack and Hillary doing about the homeless problem, not much from what I can hear. The issue of homelessness does not even warrant mentioning in most speeches yet if you talk to the average man/woman on the street they would tell you that it is probably one of the top ten issues that they feel needs to be addressed.

Homelessness in Colorado, as in many other states, grew exponentially during the 90's boom period when the state had a large number of jobs and the cost of living was relatively low in comparison to the rest of the U.S., this gave people the idea that it would be easy to find a job and get settled here, because of this belief Colorado became a dumping ground for states that either did not have any homeless facilities or had too few for their overall homeless population. People were dumped by being given a bus ticket to neighboring states and phone numbers to Social Service agencies, they were then told to call the numbers when they arrived at their destination, and the state they were sent from washed their hands of the problem. The problem with the trend of bussing people is that the states that people are being bussed to are not getting any money from the places that they were bussed from and the transferred are taxing the resources from the people who are not only living in the state but who are also tax paying residents who truly deserve and need the help. It is important to note that Colorado is not the only place that receives homeless from another state, residents in the state of Washington and Texas report that their states also take part in this practice. So in the case of Colorado,it's not that the state has too few programs to deal with its homeless, it's that other states have too few or no programs to deal with their homeless and are sending them here.

With the numbers that we are seeing across the country regarding this situation, I believe that it's time our politicians begin to talk about what they are going to do about this horror should they be elected. That I have not heard anything of value from Barrack or Hillary regarding homelessness tells me that they intend to treat the issue now as it has been treated in the past and totally ignore the crisis in favor of handing over responsibilities to the individual states concerned, and we've all seen how well that works. The states do not have the resources to deal with a problem of this magnitude and they never will.

Homelessness in the past was an issue for for people who were alcoholics, drug addicts, mentally ill, temporarily displaced, and abused, but because of the foreclosure crisis and the loss of jobs due to the economy there will be a rise in the number of homeless who were once middle class and have lost everything and have no place to go. This is not something that is going to happen, it is something that is happening. Many shelters are reporting higher education levels in their residents that hint that residents were victims of foreclosures or job loss. Since this trend will continue I feel that I have a right to ask Barrack or Hillary, what they are going to do about this problem should they be elected and expect a well thought out plan of action, not just excuses and passing the buck. The homeless are citizens too, they pay taxes and have a right to a roof over their head. The states make more money from someone who is actually contributing to society rather than just surviving from day to day, maybe if the candidates see the issue as one that can generate income they will finally be able to show some compassion. Thanks for listening.