Homelessness Grew in 2023(The number of homeless people in America grew in 2023 as high cost of living took a toll)
Assumptions Out the Window, Make Room for the New Homeless
Decades upon decades we have wasted resources scorning solutions favoring instead punishment, but now, what do we do with the economically based homelessness, stereotypes are useless now, solutions, yes or no
Introduction
We came out of the 2008 panic/crash slowly, but we did come out and things stabilized. Then COVID showed up and turned the world upside down and sideways and the government got involved.
What they did in the name of emergency care was stick their finger in the dike and make us believe everything was okay. We believed them, for a moment, and then reality slapped us back, painfully. They instituted the puppet show to protect themselves.
Let’s look at His word as we start today
Micah 6: 8
He has told you O man what is good, and what does the Lord require of You? But to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God
Genesis 4: 9
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know, am I my brother’s keeper?”
What say you…
Well, I don’t know about ‘those people,’ but living ain’t cheap and if they can’t control your spending, I guess that is why they had to give up everything and head to the streets, life has consequences
I can barely feed, clothe, and care for my family and keep a roof over our heads, it is tough, and you want me to be concerned about them? No way, bad choices, and decisions, deal with it
The Pandemic was not my fault, the rental crisis is not my fault and I am struggling, what did they do differently that they failed in getting through the mess, let them figure out, who they may be
Homeless Numbers Exploded This Year
The sheer numbers are staggering but are confirmed by independent reports and we must look at these because they speak of a dangerous trend. Sheltered and unsheltered, the fight is real to get people into a mildly safer environment of a shelter, but beds were limited, and shelters even shut during the Pandemic.
An overall average increase of homeless folks of 12% to 16% is what has been reported, in one single year. And the numbers are always underreported. Vulnerable groups were unaccompanied young adults, senior citizens, and for the first Asian Americans.
Veteran homelessness had been falling steadily for several years, which ended during COVID-19 and left more veterans on the streets and struggling along with many others. To think that our older Americans, veterans, and young adults, were on the streets is tough to handle, but what is harder is that people still want to say it is all drugs and alcohol. The numbers no longer support that assumption. The numbers were first tracked in 2007 and these are the highest numbers since that inception.
Unethical National Government
How do I use the word unethical in reference to our national government, quite easily. There are many underhanded and sneaky actions that they have taken during and after the Pandemic that qualify for that term. They poured help and aid out freely during the Pandemic and then shut it off so quickly that people could not recover. It was during this time that the illegals took priority over the American homeless human. Funding wars, governments and not for the citizens dying on the street is the switch that happened after the aide went away.
The key word of this blog is assumption, and the people of this nation have been led into an assumption that is deadly and dangerous. They have been fed a consistent diet of ‘the government is your friend,’ and are here to help you with whatever you have need of, no questions. It is a lie; they cannot take of themselves let alone the American people and it is a trap anyway. This nation was designed for the people to be free of big government and its interference and false offers of help. We have given Big Brother too much access and we must pull it back.
Elections do not matter, a new President does not matter, why, the government is the root of the problem. This is no longer the intended government of our founding fathers and their magnificent documents. Their direct intentions were for a small, limited, streamlined government that stayed out of people’s lives and allowed them to grow, mature and develop as God of Nature or Heaven intended. When someone ran into a problem there were church folk and family around to help them, not the government. We have to wean ourselves off this dangerous addiction, and now.
Rent Burdened/Food Insecure
The pandemic lands in the nation of America and it is literally shut down and everything changes almost overnight. If you are not an essential worker, you are not working, period. You went from being just about okay to flat-out not knowing what to do, having never been here before, and everything is spinning all around you. Suddenly your money is drying up, food is running out and you can barely pay this month’s rent, forget the other bills. To sum it up in one word, Burdened.
Now moving into the next few months, remote work starts up, kids can start back to school, and you can start shopping again but things are not the same, it is scary out there. Now you count your pennies before shopping, looking for discounts and bargains, you put gas in the car only when absolutely necessary, and rent is a tough nut, thankfully no evictions right now. The stores are low on food, paper goods are gone, and the stress is mounting, but nothing can be done. This is life in a Pandemic.
The Pandemic is finally losing its grip on the USA and it is like she is waking up from a deep slumber. Checks came in from the government, food was shipped in, evictions were postponed, landlords worked with tenants, kids learned their lessons, and all could breathe. But then the other shoe dropped, the checks went away, and nothing else changed! Now what, Big Brother just kicked the vast majority of Americans to the curb, now what? Evictions, foreclosures, and homelessness spiked!
No Focused Effort to Prevent
Every single government agency, from the budget people to the housing folks knew when and how the Pandemic aid programs were going to end and the crisis it would cause, and nothing was done to transition the people depending on that money. Remember jobs were lost, lives were lost, incomes were gone, families were broken apart, and landlords had raised rents drastically, and yet nothing was done to prevent shock waves. The government is not our friend. They had no problem handing out those checks, we were in dire need, they just had to print the money and oops, there went inflation, another enemy to our recovery.
Food had become scarce in given areas, and items for everyday life had become harder and harder to find and more expensive when found. It was like hurricane preparation on steroids. And families and homes with elderly and chronically ill folks suffered during those times and needed help and the government stepped in and helped, knowing full well that it would pull that aid quickly and without warning. The country, the economy, rents, mortgages, gas, food, and daily essentials had not changed but help went away.
Yes, vouchers were given, yes landlords worked with tenants, yes, checks were handed out, and evictions were held off, but planning and long-term intervention and real change and real help were not brought forth. They knew that the landscape of America was going to have shifted forever and they lied to us and kept us in the dark about the reality of the changes. Then smacked us with the stick after we reached for the carrot. And homelessness is the direct outreach of the stick and carrot approach that failed! You cannot blame the person alone for homelessness, not after the Pandemic.
No Population Group Exempt
Families with children, young adults, and veteran homelessness spiked again, even the senior citizen is impacted, middle-aged working adults are going from a lease to the homeless shelter system in record numbers. Yes, a given number are helped to avoid homelessness, and even coming off the streets, but more are ending up street bound. Shelter workers are frustrated by the lack of support and assistance being given to them to help those in need. They simply are not equipped for the exploding number in people in need.
CTA…
Answer this,
Did you land squarely, soundly, strongly on your feet after the Pandemic, ready to move forward in the new and vastly different landscape? If not, how can you stand in harsh judgment of those who have lost everything and need help? Meditate….
Grandmother, auntie, younger brother, the veteran, the disabled worker, none came through with everything landing right and all are in need of a hand UP, are you willing…..
The homeless are the of the same ones that we have been taught to be afraid of and judge as they were in the 1970’s and even the 1980’s, these are one that the government are allowing and blending with the ilegals, warning, you may not be safe…
