It is a new progressive era.
In Denver in Decay, we saw that progressive politicians had a 10 year plan to end homelessness before 2015. And yet, a new study has found that homelessness was rising in Denver for years before COVID, which hasn’t led to any similar sharp rise in homelessness in Southern states.
“Denver’s annual per-capita spending on the unhoused is at least twice as high as the cost of rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city, a new report finds.
Researchers at the University of Colorado Denver and the business-oriented, “free-enterprise” advocacy group Common Sense Institute said Thursday that Denver spends between $42,000 and $104,000 each year per person experiencing homelessness. That total includes city government spending and spending on homelessness by charitable groups and Denver Health.
Rental housing groups estimate the average annual rent for a one-bedroom unit is about $20,000. …”
Denver now has a Five Year Strategic Plan to cut homelessness in half by 2026. It will also be defeated by the BoBos who live there.
“DENVER — More than 4,100 people called the streets of Denver home in 2020, the highest it’s been in six years, according to a Point-in-Time count of sheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness on a single night.
On Wednesday, following more than a year of public input, the city’s Department of Housing Stability (HOST) issued a draft review version of its Five-Year Strategic Plan to reduce that number by 50%. The plan’s lofty goals also includes the creation and preservation of 7,000 homes and securing 950 income-restricted rentals. …”
It would be less expensive in Colorado for taxpayers just to put them up in single bedroom apartments. The Top 10 States for Homelessness are New York, Hawaii, California, Vermont, Massachusetts, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Alaska and Colorado. 9 out of 10 of these states are Blue States.
Why are there so many homeless people camped out in tents in downtown Denver and in right-of-ways in residential neighborhoods and the Colorado State Capitol? It turns out that at least a quarter of these people are homeless by choice. It is a lifestyle for them. They prefer to live this way in these conditions. The thing that has attracted so many of them to Colorado is generous welfare and legalized marijuana.
In most cases, this is not due to unaffordable housing or poverty or an inability to find a job. There are plenty of poor people with low job prospects in the rural South, but they have housing. This is overwhelmingly a drug addiction problem and a mental illness problem. It is a cultural problem. It is above all else an urban problem. It is subsidized and tolerated by these big cities.
Another great city ruined by diversity.
When I lived in San Francisco I was extremely puzzled by the lack of action on homelessness. It literally killed the city. You could have put them in 4 star hotels for the economic costs. My conclusion is this is what they have planned for all of us.
” . . . There are plenty of poor people with low job prospects in the rural South, but they have housing.”
There is much more cultural cohesion in the South in general and the rural South in particular than other parts of the country. This acts to enforce social mores and provides an undocumented, non-governmental safety net for people in bad times. There is no tolerance for public debauchery in the rural South unlike what has been documented in many cities all over the country.
Immigration, especially mass immigration from completely alien and primitive cultures acts as a solvent, dissolving all social bonds and standards. This is reflected in the communist politics of places like SF where the local government cannot even perform its rudimentary functions such as maintaining order and clean streets. This is considered a feature, not a bug by the governments in places like SF, LA, Chicago, Filthadelphia and NYC as local District Attorneys let criminals run wild.
No need to worry though, the stock market is up!
“No need to worry though, the stock market is up!”
For now.