WASHINGTON — In rural communities and urban areas alike, one of the least expensive and most unheralded new initiatives of the stimulus bill is quietly saving hundreds of thousands of Americans from homelessness.
Now housing advocates want Congress to boost the program’s $1.5 billion funding as the vast need for more assistance becomes evident nationwide. (more…)
The Department of Veterans Affairs laid out Tuesday an ambitious five-year goal of curbing the number of homeless veterans, pledging $3.2 billion to an issue that is more rapidly affecting those who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars than by any from past conflicts.
“No one who has served this nation as veterans should ever be living on the streets,” VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said.
“In the past, VA focused largely on getting homeless veterans off the streets,” Shinseki said. “This plan is different. It aims as much, if not more, on preventing as it does on rescuing those who live on the streets.” (more…)
The figure on real poverty in America is far worse than the Census Bureau recently reported. It found that nearly 40 million Americans are living in official poverty ( less than $22,000 for a family of four). This is an 11 year high.
The Bureau figure does not take into count the number of persons tossed into poverty in the past year; the worst year so far of the recession. It also undercounts real unemployment. Officially nearly 10 percent of Americans are unemployed. Economists say that if seasonal and discouraged workers are counted the real unemployment figure exceeds 16 percent. As always, blacks and Hispanics have by far the highest poverty rate. Despite the massive economic hardship, poverty is still a dirty word. Politicians, much of the media and the public have largely ignored the crisis. (more…)
“Part of the change in attitudes that I want to see here in Washington and all across the country is a belief that it is not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours.” - President Barack Obama, March 24. (more…)
“HOPE VI has accelerated the loss of public housing,” House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity Chair Maxine Waters (D-CA) said in her opening remarks at a July 29 hearing, “Academic Perspectives on the Future of Public Housing.” Chair Waters spoke throughout the hearing on her concerns about the program, including that HOPE VI has resulted in a net loss of more than 50,000 public housing units, the displacement of public housing residents, and a low rate of return to the redeveloped public housing units by original residents. (more…)