http://www.latimes.com
Hello Everyone:
I see we're getting closer to our goal of 5,000 pages by midnight December 31, 2013. This is a goal we can make but I need you to keep reading so let's get moving. The clock is ticking. It's already December 16 and we're about 175 page views away from our goal. While you're showing this blog some love, make sure you show Road Recovery
(http://www.roadrecovery.org), the National Trust for Historic Preservation
(http://www.preservationnation.org), and your local food bank how much you love them and the work they do. Thanks.
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Chicago skyline
commons.wikimedia.org |
With Christmas, Kwanzaa, and New Years breathing down our necks, it's time to take a look at an extremely important subject, hunger in America. The United States is often referred to as the "land of plenty" with it's abundance of land to grow food. However, this may be just a hollow title. Despite the fact that the jobless rate is at it's lowest level in five years, the stock market has surpassed its pre-recession levels, these economic advances have not yet effected the urban poor. In his article for the
Los Angeles Times, "Homelessness, hunger, climbing in U.S. cities, mayors' survey says," Matt Pearce reports that hunger and homelessness in major U.S. have not only increased but are expect to keep going up, according to the latest U.S. Conference of Mayors survey of twenty-five large and medium sized urban areas.
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Cleveland, Ohio
en.wikipedia.org |
Last year, the national poverty rate was 15%, still very close to the national poverty rate during the Great Recession, 15.1%. According to Mayor Helene Schneider of Santa Barbara and co-chair of the organization, "We anticipate that problems related to unemployment and the slow national recovery would be reflected in the survey cities and they were." Officials tasked with the survey expressed concerns about recent cuts to food stamps by the anticipated congressional budget deal, which does not renew benefits for long-term unemployment. Those benefits were extended through Christmas. Mayor Schneider continues, "Despite the budget problems we all face, every level of government has to [focus its resources] so solving these problems."
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Los Angeles urban sprawl
lasmogtown.com |
Among the twenty-five cities survey include Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Dallas, chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C, all reported a three percent increase in overall homelessness and half of the cities in the survey expect the number of homeless families to increase in 2014. On a typical night, more than 20,000 people sleep on the streets of Los Angeles and almost 2,000 are in tact families or children living on their own. Homelessness in Los Angeles has increased by 26% since 2012 and 16% of the city's homeless were turned away from housing help. The city of Chicago reported an 11.4% increase in homeless families, with requests for emergency food assistance up six percent. City pantries had to cut back on the amount of food given out to the hungry. Homeless shelters have been increasing the number of people per room in order to meet the growing demand.
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Downtown Philadelphia
flickriver.com |
Civic officials around the nation point to the lack of affordable housing as a factor in the continuing homelessness. The ironic thing is that 19% of urban homeless adults survey had jobs, including 22% of those queried in San Francisco. I say ironic because you would think that if one has a job, one could afford some sort of modest housing. This is not the case. According to Paul Ong, the director of of the Center of the Study of Inequality at UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs, "The housing market is such, particularly over the last few years, that shelter is taking a large chunk of what money they have. To illustrate the point, between 2007 and 2012, the median earning for Americans has increased five percent , while rents have gone up 12%. The result is a squeeze, said Mr. Ong. "You can't pay for shelter and you end up being homeless. Or if you continue to live in the apartment, you have less available to you in terms or you end up relying on other sources of food for your family." Catch-22 situation don't you think?
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Denver, Colorado
acg.org |
The one bright spot in all this doom and gloom is that the great majority of cities report gains in getting homeless veterans off the streets and into housing. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Affairs the national rate of homeless veterans dropped by 24% between 2010 and 2013. "We've seen success across the country...Now we must invest in solutions in staying that course," say Laura Green Zeilinger, deputy director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, pointing to a federal plan to end veteran homelessness by 2015. A quick perusal of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs website reveals a wide variety of services available to homeless veterans and those who help them. The number of veterans benefitting from the DVA's program to end veteran homelessness has not been quantified yet, however if you'd like more information please go to
http://www.nchv.org and click on the "news and media" link.
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Boston, Massachusetts
braco.net |
Some of the 2013 statistics on hunger were grim: 21% of people needing emergency food aid didn't get it, and all but four of the cities surveyed reported an increased need. The exceptions were Santa Barbara, Nashville, Plano, Texas, and St. Paul, Minnesota. Overall, the demand for food aid increase by seven percent, and in all but the city of Dallas, that number is expected to increase. "The hungry and homeless issue continues to be with us," said Tom Cochran, chief executive and executive director of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. "We are very concerned that before budget cuts take place, the mind-set of Washington does not understand what is happening in our neighborhoods and cities large and small across America." True enough.
Is there an end to hunger and homelessness in the "Land of Plenty?" I don't think that there is a single neat answer to this question because as long as we have people in power who hold acting in the best interest of American people hostage we will never see that "Land of Plenty" myth come true. What is needed is a change of culture in the hall of Congress that understand what it means to be out of work and/or struggling just to get by. We need politicians to understand that cutting benefits is not going to motivate an unemployed person to get a job. Conversely, a homeless and/or hungry person, is able bodied, should be required to participate in a job training program or be enrolled full-time in a degree program. Hunger and homelessness can be a thing of the past but it takes real work and understanding.
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