What a cop out. By the way, you haven't left it to others. You've attack my character more than my arguments. Again on the topic of not being open minded. What am I not open minded about? You haven't offered any new solutions for me to consider. You have the audacity to ask me for solutions while you provide nothing but the old failed policies. Maybe you should open your mind to other possibilities.
Are you referring to my arguments against public housing? There is a plethora of evidence that public housing is a roach motel for the poor. Once you crawl in you're not crawling back out. I would suggest that the closed minded person is you.
I just heaved a huge sigh. It is not because I am exasperated with you, but because I realized I was going to reply to you again despite the strong feeling I have that this discussion has and will go nowhere.
If your perception is that I attacked you character, then I have failed to express my feelings adequately. I apologize for any misconceptions I may have given you. Truthfully, I haven't given your character much consideration one way or the other.
I haven't offered any solutions because, quite frankly, I don't have any. I have ideas based on what seems to be working fairly well in other developed countries, but I also don't know what the downside of their social programs are except that taxes in most of these countries are higher then they are here. The one problem I believe is attributable to today's culture, especially in the U.S. is that families don't stand together and help their own to the degree that they do in some other countries, like Germany. I mention Germany because I have family who live there which gives me a smattering of knowledge regarding the culture there.
I mentioned the WPA, because some folks believe that it was a good solution to a similar problem with poverty that occurred many years ago. Whether something like that would work today, I really don't know. I do believe giving people work where they can earn some money is preferable to giving them handouts.
I am not a fan of public housing either. Shelters are temporary solutions which seem necessary I believe because the alternative is to let folks freeze to death during cold weather. From what I've read about homeless camps, many of the people in them shun shelters anyway.
Your suggestion that folks move to places which offer more affordable opportunities isn't a bad idea, but I think it is somewhat flawed. Exampling my own experience, my wife and I moved from West Hollywood, CA to Oregon in the early 60's because we could afford better housing here and because we liked the more family friendly environment to raise our soon to be born son. Also, the company I worked for had a position available in Portland, so I knew I would have an income. Are you aware that in much of the U.S. small towns and smaller cities are failing? Housing is cheap in these places for a reason....there are few if any jobs.
My forefathers lived in a very quaint little town. Albion, MI has great housing. Main street is still paved in herringbone brick. The population there is small. Heck I could sell the home I live in here and buy several there on the proceeds because housing is so cheap. This would really work well for me financially. Why? Well because I am retired and don't need to work. The reason there are a lot of inexpensive properties there is because there are no jobs. Unfortunately this is not an isolated situation in small towns in the U.S.
If you know of smaller cities and towns where there are jobs and services and where there is inexpensive housing, please post this. Who knows, some homeless person with and Iphone might read your post spread the word.
I posted information about HUD housing today, which is a far cry from the public housing projects to which you refer. Those tenements and projects were exactly what you describe. One reason many landlords shun HUD is because low income folks have a bad reputation for maintaining their property. Whether it is deserved or not, I don't really know. I suspect there is some truth to it though.
As for homeless camps. In Portland, the city council has designated an area near the Pearl as a homeless camp. The folks who bought million dollar condos in the Pearl are understandably upset about having a homeless camp in their backyard. I don't blame them. If I lived there, I would be too.
