ANALYSIS/OPINION:
The D.C. homeless problem is once again out of control — at least that’s what the government, experts and poverty pimps tell us.
I do not think it’s as bad as poverty pimps say, so I’m not going to cite a bunch of statistics. Afterall, it’s not in their best interests to solve such socioeconomic problems as homelessness. If we were end to homelessness, those pimps would be out of business.
I do know there is a problem, however.
I know there is a serious D.C. homeless problem because I see the hundreds of homeless families packed in a Days Inn Motel on New York Avenue NE — a gateway to the nation’s capital.
I know because friends of mine, Marvin Tucker and Mark Jones, helped give 500 backpacks to children “living” in that motel. I also was told from other friends familiar with the D.C. housing and social service network that the city is paying an estimated $1,000 a month for motel/hotel rooms around the city.
I know the problem is acute because every day I see men and women, most of them with children in tow, trekking from the motel to the Dunkin Donuts next door.
And trekking to the Checkers burger joint next to the Dunkin Donuts. And to the convenience store across from Checkers.
And to the McDonald’s next to the convenience store. And to the KFC/Taco Bell across the street from McDonald’s.
And to the Nike sportswear franchise a couple of blocks up from the KFC/Taco Bell.
And then back “home,” where moms and dads not named Hilton or Marriott are trying to raise their families.
The families are “living” in terrible situations because our laws and policies create vicious cycles of dependency.
A couple of weeks ago, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced her initiative to end chronic family homelessness by 2020. (Her plan might work if the mayor included in her initiative a line item insisting that other jurisdictions around the Beltway stop directing their social services clientele to the city.)
The ambitious Bowser plan proposes closing the emergency homeless-family facility at the old D.C. General Hospital site. The families would be moved to other housing options throughout the city. This is good news for several reasons. For one, the hospital is no more suitable to raise families than the motels. Another important reason is land value: The site should be used to generate property taxes and other revenue.
The administration has made what’s called a wait-and-see promise: Building a prevention program. We likely won’t see the results until 2020, as experts already are projecting a bump up in homeless numbers for the next two years.
This winter, the Bowser administration wants to begin offering short-term housing placements when shelter space is unavailable. This could include motels, three-star hotels, and expensive condos and apartments unless legislation deliberately excludes such options. That this proposal requires approval from the D.C. Council is key. The truth of the homeless and attendant lack-of-affordable housing problem both stem from council members’ NIMBY syndrone proclivities. That’s why all those families were segregated into D.C. General in the first place. Out of sight, out of mind.
Old Man Winter and his frigid temperatures always blow a new set of homeless issues — and Ms. Bowser and her new homeless initiative, plans to push people into the middle class before their time and her attempts to give ex-felons more additional handouts could exacerbate an already intractable problem.
The No. 1 line item in the blueprint for political poverty pimps says: Do nothing that allows your client to become independent.
Allowing children to “live” in shelters means they most assuredly will become institutionalized.
This city is not going to be homeless family-free by 2020 just because the mayor draws up a plan and the council throws some dollars at it.
The city can, however, give families a hand up by finding out why families don’t want to help their own relatives. Families not helping their own is one of the reasons the government enters the breach in the first place.
Synagogues and churches know when and why families are in distress. Others in houses of worship know too. But faith-based organizations don’t get direct government grants, so those places aren’t on the government’s help-us-fix-it list.
It’s a crying shame our tax dollars are still being used for programs and policies — failed homeless programs and polices — that then-Mayor Marion Barry was tarred and feathered for implementing. Interesting, eh?
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is under the gun just like Miss Bowser, and it’s scary: He wants police to keep track of homeless people sleeping on the street, folks living in shanties and Central Park, and under-the-bridge dwellers. Really. Guess Mr. de Blasio thinks members of the NYPD have too much time on their hands.
Like I said, poverty pimps will do anything to keep the vicious cycle of dependency in play.
The police aren’t responsible for the homeless, but the data they collect will affect various agencies, including social services, housing, health, mental health, schools you get it. And the plan is to make sure homeless people go ’round in circles getting in touch with those agencies.
And “living” in motels and feeding their families at Checkers.
• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
• Deborah Simmons can be reached at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
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