Hunger and homelessness in US continue to rise in 2003

[November 2004]

Hunger and homelessness in the United States continue to rise at double-digit rates in 2003, according to a December 18 report released by the US Conference of Mayors (USCM). In the 25 cities that responded to its survey, requests for emergency food assistance were up 17 percent over last year, while requests for emergency shelter increased by 13 percent on average.

The report cites unemployment and other employment-related problems as the leading cause of hunger, giving the lie to Bush administration claims that an economic recovery is lifting workers out of poverty. While there has been an increase in corporate profits, productivity and stock prices this year, millions of workers remain mired in long-term unemployment and underemployment, with savings and other resources long since exhausted.

Other causes of hunger listed in the report include low-paying jobs, the high cost of housing, medical care costs, substance abuse and mental health problems, reduced public benefits, childcare costs, and transportation expenses.

The leading cause of homelessness is the lack of affordable housing, followed by the lack of needed services for mental health and substance abuse problems, low-paying jobs, unemployment, domestic violence, poverty and prison release.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/dec2003/hung-d272.shtml

(I think this is disgraceful. Please add your thoughts.)

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Happy Holidays from the Bush Administration!

[Skittles]

2. there is no good reason

why anyone in this WORLD should be hungry; none whatsoever.

[kalian]

21. Much less in the so-called "most powerful nation on earth"....

:eyes:

[reprobate]

28. Of course there's a reason some here are hungry.

It's called GREED. Greed on the part of a small portion of the population that believes that they deserve to have it all and those who can't compete should be left to die.

It's called republicanism.

[catmandu57]

30. Agree 1000%

there is more than enough for everyone. Why some of these people think that even though they can't spend what they have in 100 lifetimes, that it's not enough. It just beats the hell out of me.

[Kanary]

31. What are we going to do about it?

Let the GREED stand?

Let GREED rule?

Kanary

[catmandu57]

33. At the present time

there is nothing that anyone can do. We wait and hope that we stay alive, eventually, if we sink back to the level of despair and poverty of the 1930's and if no-one arises like then to hold the country together then we're in deep trouble.

This may be a perfect storm approaching, the combination of events, war separation of classes, growing inequity of wealth distribution, the lack of consequence for anti social action, this uniter may just be bringing on the second American civil war.

[Kanary]

34. Thanks for rolling over

All of us who are slated for dying thank you for giving up.

I guess we'll just be exhibit A?

Kanary

[catmandu57]

38. Who do you want to go after?

I'll be right there, but who do you think deserves to be the first to go to the lightpole? Being poor sucks, that's all I've ever known, and the future is very uncertain, I don't want to be the first to the barricade until I know who has my back. Unfortunately, it's got to get a hell of a lot bleaker to get people fired up and worried.
We are'nt the enemy here, though there are a few trolls lurking about, putting are heads together to figure this out is what we do, if there is a way to bring people to the light peacefully then it should be done, however, that possibility is fading pretty quickly.

[Skittles]

44. ahem

I said GOOD reason

[jsw_81]

3. Compassionate conservatism in action

Isn't it great?

[Danocrat]

4. You're preaching to the choir

I've been unemployed for thirteen months and ran out of money last month. Friends have made contributions to get through December and family pitched in to get me mostly through to February but I'm sure the contributions are done. Hopefully companies will be hiring at the beginning of the year but I'm still going to have to apply for food stamps, etc. So if I can't get a job soon and my landlord doesn't agree to let me stay rent free (which I doubt) until I find something, then I'll be added to those statistics. It's funny. I tell people I'll soon be homeless and their first reaction is to laugh. I guess it's just a nervous reaction but it's very annoying.

[Bertha Venation]

6. given your situation, this sounds really lame, but

welcome to DU. :hi:

I don't know what else to say, Dano. Sigh.

May I ask--do you have kids?

[Danocrat]

7. I'm single

But I do have a dog to think about and the local dog community has been helpful. One of them thinks she can get me a job with the county but it needs to happen quickly.

[Bertha Venation]

8. My fingers are crossed.

I'll look for your posts in the days & weeks to come. God, I wish there were something I could do besides hope & keep good thoughts.

[Danocrat]

9. Thanks

Much appreciated

[November 2004]

11. Here's where you find out who

your real friends are.

Will any of your family allow you to stay with them; even if other temporary arrangements have to be made for where the dog will stay.

The same question goes to any of your friends.

You are in my prayers. I shall think positive thoughts for you as well.

Please do not end up on the street. Please do not end up at a homeless shelter...unless it is that or the street.

A personal note, which I don't do on these threads: I've been there. I am okay now. Hold onto that.

[Danocrat]

13. One family member has offered

I would have to move to another city and live with Republicans. That's hard because I blame them. One friend here has also offered but I think she thinks it will be short term and I just don't know if that's the case but I'll do what I have to survive. I'll get through it I hope but I'd like to get through it without moving. A job sure would end this nightmare though.

[November 2004]

15. Yes, the tremendous sense of

powerlessness, ambiguity and even self-blame will be with you until it turns around.

I'm very happy to know you will do what you have to in order to survive.

A job is best.

The friend who believes it will be more short term than it might be seems the 2nd choice. If no job happens when that is no longer an option, perhaps you will have another new friend. Worst comes to worse, the repiglicans and the (temporary) move.

Do you know that some homeless people have nowhere to turn? No ambiguity there, just a straight downward spiral.

Keep on keepin' on. Turn to us for support. The Lounge is a good place to post on your particular situation. Why, you might even network with a DUer in your town!

Bless you.

[Kanary]

22. Another choir member

I'm in much your same situation, although from a different direction.

Disability is being attacked from all angles, and I don't expect it to survive long, which means my survival won't last long.

Next July, over 130,000 units of Section 8 housing will be "terminated". Since my "recert" comes up in that same time, I may be one of those. That will be the end of me. Obviously, none of my plans are long term at this point.

So, I sympathize and empathize.

All of this stinks.

Yes, there will be lots of deaths.

Anyone listening?

Kanary

[November 2004]

23. OMG

I responded to your other post, but missed this one.

Yes, what has been set in motion for the disabled and Section 8 housing is a crime.

My hope is the courts.

Better yet, perhaps, an executive order halting this ... which would have to come from a democratic president.

I'm listening.

I'm contacting all the candidates as well as my senators & congresswoman on this one! Please, everyone else do so as well.

:grouphug:

[Kanary]

25. How many deaths before court action???

First... thanks for listening!! It's a rare occurence here.

Thanks for contacting your legislators... PLEASE, take this further and keep agitating for others to do the same. Isn't this just a tad more important than putting energy into complaining about what Laura wears????

As for a legislative order from a DEM president.... this will all be DONE, FINISHED before the election in NOV. I may very well not be alive to vote.

I ask again...

Why is this not important?

Why do any threads about this sink to the bottom, yet, to use one example, threads about Laura go on?

Tell me again, what the priorities are?

Kanary

[Bertha Venation]

46. "My hope is the courts." -- beware those crying "JUDICIAL TYRANNY!"

The radical right is crying "JUDICIAL TYRANNY" at the tops of their lungs. So far I've heard it only in re: gay rights & abortion, but I have no doubt that they'll see section 8 housing as some kind of unholy drain on the country's god-given resources and clamor for it to be shut down. When (please, God) the courts intervene on the side of what is RIGHT, they will again shout their rallying cry.

Just another thing to be on edge about. Glory hallelujah, someone pass the Xanax.

[Skittles]

45. I have a friend in your situation

and he knows my couch is available. It's not much but it will be a roof over his head.

[Bertha Venation]

5. my random thoughts

I'm damned angry.

I don't know what I can do myself, apart from voting & agitating.

No amount of food I give, no number of coats I go through as I donate my "used" ones, no time volunteering -- NOTHING I do is anything more than a drop in the bucket.

I am frustrated, furious, that the current administration meanders on thinking all is right with the world; imagining -- as if the 80s taught us nothing; Smirky ignoring what he was supposed to have learned w/ his degree in history (i.e. "doomed to repeat") -- that "trickle down" works; either pretending or honestly thinking that his policies will lift people out of poverty....

I can't even form a coherent sentence. I am enraged, and I am impotent in my rage.

[November 2004]

10. A few quotes for you:

"We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future."
-- John F. Kennedy


"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
-- Mohatma Gandhi


"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found out to serve."
-- Dr. Albert Schweitzer



Keep your eyes on the prize
Hold on, hold on

[Bertha Venation]

17. inspiring

perhaps some laughter will help, too. Going to see "Calendar Girls" this afternoon. Maybe I'll come back to this subject w/ a better perspective.

Then again, maybe not. I have a job, and enough money to go and see a film. :eyes:

Thanks, Nov.

[November 2004]

18. Hi!

:pals:

[catmandu57]

16. Oh he learned

He learned how to make the rich richer, and how to exploit helplessness. This fucker* is just a puppet anyhow, someone to direct our anger at while the hand we're not looking at is busy stealing.

I firmly believe these people know exactly what they want and how to get it. Starve the government of funds, kill off every social program, and soon things will be back to where they believe it should be. A sick, twisted version of Darwinism, survival of the fittest, with everyone bowing scraping, subservient to the ruling class.

[Kanary]

19. One thing to do

Start getting all the DEMS to raise hell with the DEMS in office. WE keep saying it's all the right wing's fault, when it's also the DEMS who keep going along with it.

If all the enthusiastic candidate supporters here would start pressing all the candidates to speak up about this isue, and to commit themselves to change in this area, more would happen.

A simple perusal of the threads on this forum shows that this isn't an issue of much importance to DEMS.

Kanary, also on the edge

[November 2004]

20. You are right.

I am going to email this thread, in fact, to my senators and congresswoman, all of whom are democrats...RIGHT NOW!

Thanks for the great idea.

[DBoon]

12. Homeless encampment = "Bushville"

I propose a new name for any place the homeless reside. We should start calling them "Bushvilles".

Use this term consistently in DU posts when referring to the USA's de-evolution into a 3rd shantytown. Use it in your blogs, your letters to the local paper, your casual political conversations. Encourage the mainstream media to pick it up.

* is responsible for abandoning our fellow citizens. He must be held accountable for this.

[November 2004]

14. You may or not recall

that there have been tent cities set up across from the WH at least twice before.

MLK did it during the Johnson admin, I believe; perhaps helped get the civil rights bill passed.

Mitch Snyder did it and worked tirelessly on this issue during the 1990's before becoming so overwhelmed that he killed himself.

We could join with homeless people and try the same ... I don't know if it would backfire with 'middle America' ... thoughts?

[DBoon]

24. homeless were once "Middle America"

As long as people believe the homeless are only drug addicts, petty criminals, and the insane, then homeless issues can be dismissed.

We need to show the homeless that once were middle America, the people with jobs that vanished, with no social safety net, and with shattered families that can't fill in.

[Kanary]

26. What's the action?

You got it pegged. You're right about the assessment.

Now, what are we going to do about it?

Wring our hands?

What action is going to be taken?

Kanary

[catmandu57]

29. It happened during the great depression also

with devasting results. Have you ever read about the "Bonus March", veterans of WWI had been promised a bonus payment, hoping to accelerate the payment thousands of war veterans and their families set up a hooverville in Washington DC.
Hoover ordered MacArthur to clear the camps, the veterans were driven from the camps, and they were burned.
With the exception of the Roosevelt and Johnson war on poverty programs the United States has never cared for it's poor very well.
This is going to come back and bite these people on the ass. I hope we all hold out long enough to see it

[Kanary]

27. Why are there not huge protests, rallies?

If hundreds of thousands could motivate themselves to take to the streets about a war, and the deaths of thousands in a country across the globe, why cannot these same people get motivated to take to the streets to protest the cuts that are affecting thousands right here in the US?

Why are so many people dying and more going to be dying so quietly right here in our own country, with hardly a whisper?

Why is this not important?

Is there one good reason why the same forces that mobilized all the huge anti-war protests cannot do the same for their own brothers and sisters among them?

Why?

What does it take?

Kanary

[salin]

32. Deep denial and fear.

For most folks it is easier to fear the spector of some external ephemeral threat (the ruskies... the commies... now the terrorists)... then to face REAL threats to survival. Understanding how real these threats are - are for many psychologically disabling - so there are two common reactions... loud vile proclamations about how the problem isn't real (and blaming those in greatest needs)... OR complete ostrich denial in order to stay oblivious. Thus folks chose to turn a blind eye and a stoney cold heart.

[Kanary]

35. That's it? An explanation about stoney hearts?

Are *you* psychologically disabled, to use your term?

What in the world is with this?

No wonder I feel so completely alone and abandoned!!

As I said in another thread, remember these comments, when there is once again the same old talk about registering "the poor" to vote. Remember these comments when there are again the crude comments about how ignorant "the poor" are politically.

And, it *will* come up again.

This is why "the poor" don't see a lot of advantage to making the effort to vote.

The "stoney hearts" are too "psychologically disabled" to motivate themselves and others to speak up for "the poor".

See how it all fits together?

"First they came for the disabled....."

Kanary

[salin]

36. No, an explanation why so few people will even

THINK about the issues let alone act on it. Not an excuse for it - but about the only explanation for the abject cold-heartedness I see around me on a daily basis.

A family members Christian church does "community service" and it means building a shed for the church. And once a year they help serve thanksgiving dinner. The members of the bible group talk about things like how awful it is that clothes given to places like GoodWill sometimes gets picked over by the volunteers - so its best to just give clothes to friends (who don't need it) or throw it out. (wtf?!)

About another religious family member who does try to care (and donates professional service to those who can't afford it) - but to whom the problem with low wages in this state - is illegal immigrants... try to point out that the use of illegal labor lays with the company (who won't pay legal wages)... and the problem is (somehow) welfare - because people won't work for low wages - as they will lose assistance (I gave up following the logic.)

Families whose prayers over the holidays are respectful and thankful for health and family... but within which somehow those in true need are never mentioned.

I work in an area that deals with poverty issues - with youth who are more likely to drop out... the related issues are so great that we can only be successful to work in tandem with other service oriented groups. I do what I can. I was appalled at the welfare reform act passed in 1996 and its callous treatment of children whose families are always first impacted in times of economic downturns... but whose families could "time out". But over time - for some reason - even democrats who had been against the act at the time - have come to tout it as a success for Clinton. Can't explain that to me.

There are so many forces at work - to frame poverty issues solely as issues of personal responsibility (while treating all areas of corporate illegal behavior in the exact opposite way) - to lock politically activated religious people (ala Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition) into thinking that turning away people in need is somehow a virtue - and that "charity begins at home" - these safe themes (safe in that one does not have to listen to one's heart or conscience any more) are iterated again and again and again through the media.

There are the financial folks who LIKE the growing disparity in economic wealth and the return to society prior to the Great Depression - who for whatever unexplainable reason seem to think this is healthy for a society. (WTF!?!) These folks fund that incessent media drivel that reemphasizes the selfish view of ourselves and the demonization of the poor.

Do I care? Hell Yes. And I play my part to try to help youth and families in poverty try to navigate the daily crash-course that is survival - while trying to open up increasing opportunities (through education and college and work experiences) for the future. I believe that people DO still have the power to exercise their voice through voting. I would also agree that right now there is very little done to help those in greatest need. Combine the natural cynicism (ala.. why vote - it won't change anything) with the amount of energy required just to survive - let alone have enough time/resources to be politically aware and active - and the likelihood of increased turnout is pretty low.

Do I think that understanding the forces that keep our society eating up this world view is useful? Yes, I do. How else can one begin to create strategies that can help address this - if one doesn't understand it? Sadly - we have a cycle... unless we change active voters perceptions - there will be no will to work for change. Without seeing change the cynicism that keeps many in need on the outside of the political process remains high - and the likelihood of becoming a real voting force (and thus demanding/requiring that issues be addressed) - stays diminished.

I appologize that you find my comments disturbing and a sign of a psychological disability. Hope that this clarifies it - but it could be read as just a greater indication of such a disability.

[Kanary]

39. I appreciate your work, and your efforts

There seem to be so few involved anymore.

What I was trying to get at is that this is NOT something that people can do *alone*. As was mentioned about Mitch Snyder, he fought the good fight against homelessness, got overwhelmed and killed himself. People trying to work in this issue by themselves tend to burn out. The outrage of liberals who fought the good fight against the war is desparately needed to support those who are swimming upstream in their efforts to help those who have fallen through the holes. The outrage of liberals is needed to create enough noise to bring this whole issue to light, because people are dying quietly.

Yes, the right wing has much to gain by turning the tables and going back to the days of Dickens. But the right wing isn't the only problem. The tables are going to be turned because liberals stay quiet. Because liberals don't make noise and make it an issue. Blaming rightwingers isn't going to change anything. Handwringing isn't going to change anything.

Yes, Dems have acquiesced to the right wing about "welfare reform". Because they really haven't been hearing much to the contrary.

I appreciate the one-on-one that you do. I'm sure it is helpful to those you are assisting. I hope you will speak out here and elsewhere about what needs to be done. I hope you will speak out on the need for supporting the work of you and others. In actual terms of what people need to be doing. All the handwringing is going to be the death of us.

Kanary

[salin]

41. I agree.

I am greatly saddened by the degree of escalated materialism that has taken a hold in this country - so that those of modest means and above - who could make a difference - believe that instead every last dollar needs to be spent on the next new gadget - and replacing the car every three years. Sadly - the way our economic system has begun to erode - these spending habits fuel the increase in bankruptcies and foreclosures - and the escalation of more people who did not expect to find themselves in poverty... in poverty.

Meanwhile as the issues of poverty worsen - few people do much about it - professionally, philanthropically nor through political activism. It is times like these - when the lack of concern is so apparent - that I get more beat down. I find it more isolating - than the frustrations that come from working in the field. Why? Because when working with students and families - while it can be hard and sometimes feel almost impossible for things to turn around - there is still always hope, and in hope there is energy and the reason to keep at it. But the face of apathy of society - it feels like there is nothing more than futility.

[haele]

40. Unfortunately, that is how it works when society breaks down.

I've just become partially disabled myself, and am switching between hope as to the settlement and despair that I'm going to have to start over.
Even so, for my entire life, my immediate family and I have always tried to speak up for the poor and the work-disabled (those who are not able to work to the full extent of their potential due to either health or issues such as education or family care) - and we've never been considered much better off than one paycheck from the streets for the most part.
I've always run into those like myself who are on or close to the borderline of being poor or work disabled themselves, too many, who through fear that they might be next, tend to be the most virulent against government or social aid to those who fall through the cracks. As to what I've seen of these people, it seems as if they need to constantly reassure themselves that through all the hard work and "good moral choices" they make, it somehow makes them worthy enough not to be poor.
There is the issue with the "stony hearts". Fear that they may be next. And I feel that sometimes, there's shame that somewhere in the back of their hearts, they have hoard and waste increasingly stretched community resources to pretend they are proving themselves more "deserving" than others, and they are possibly cheating the poor who need help or resources by refusing to let go of what they personally don't need in aid their own community. (I know that's how I'd feel...)

The promotion of the ideals of "fortress Amerikka", and the increasingly moralistic public embrace of the religion of "You Get What You Deserve" Mammonism serves to isolate and cull society. Unfortunately, as you said, in such a society -

"First they come for the disabled, and I did not protest, for I was not disabled and I work my ass off for my paycheck even when I don't feel like it"
- which encompasses not only those who have physical and mental disabilities, but those who cannot successfully "work" - the single parents, the homeless; those who are caught in a downward spiral that keeps them tied to the bottom of the societal ladder unless they can get some sort of hand up or support - the expendable non-entities...

"Then they come for those in debt, and I did not protest, for, unlike them, I can manage my debt and had a good stock portfolio to fall back on"
- The working poor, the credit wracked family with a mortgage and rising health costs, the small businessman in a decaying urban area - the "risks to profit", those below "the bottom line"...

"Then they came for the heretics and unbelievers, and I did not protest, for I'm a good patriotic countryman who believes in my leaders, goes to the right church, and follows the rules"
- Those who expose illusions or unpopular facts of life that are being whitewashed over, those who don't believe in ends that justify the means, those who can't be "bought", those who are true to their personal ethics,(a)theism, or cultural heritage - the rabble rousers, the malcontents, the loudmouths...

"And finally, eventually, because I had one little accident or made one small mistake, they came for me and my family - and even though I finally protested as much as I could, we are now lazy, useless, risky malcontents who deserve what we get...and there is no one left to stand for us"

Unfortunately, that's the way it goes, when greed and fear rule a society.

It doesn't mean we should stop fighting, it just means we have to realize what we are up against. And we have to educate others as to what situations such attitudes eventually will leave them.

Haele

[salin]

42. I couldn't have said it better

though it makes the heart heavy. As always you cut straight to the quick and hit the attitudes that need to be penetrated before we can reach the vast potential in this society that awaits under the fearful, greedy surface.

[wanderingbear]

37. Because Bush and the conservitives are so hardhearted.....

That we know such things wouldnt work.. We Tryed..They just shut us off from the media..

[salin]

43. kick