Free Republic

December 23, 2023/ Francis Menton “Homelessness” is one of my favorite topics because it provides an endless supply of examples of clear, dramatic, and immediate failure of the government programs supposedly intended to assist the poor and vulnerable. All of the big progressive cities follow some version of the same policies, which in summary amount to spending more and more money to provide “housing first” as the obvious solution to homelessness. All of these cities have rapidly stepped up spending over the past decade on promises to the voters to solve the homelessness problem with more subsidized housing; and all...

A recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report has cast a shadow over the U.S. economic landscape, predicting a rise in unemployment from the current 3.9% to 4.4% by the end of 2024. This sobering forecast suggests potential job losses for approximately 7.4 million Americans, highlighting the precarious nature of the workforce amidst a contracting gross domestic product (GDP). The CBO attributes the anticipated increase in unemployment to economic adjustments and policy shifts. As the nation grapples with these changes, weaker consumer spending is expected into the next year, along with a contraction in nonresidential investment. These factors are projected to...

The number of homeless Americans rose by 12 percent to a record level in 2023 as President Joe Biden invited several million legal and illegal migrants into homes and jobs. “More than 650,000 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January 2023, a 12% increase from 2022,” a Friday report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said. The data is 11 months old, suggesting that the current homeless number is far higher.

Just in case you're feeling too cheerful, here are ten more statistics to make you consider emigrating to Mars: 1. Paul Bond quotes a poll by the Barna Group: "Nearly 40 Percent of U.S. Gen Zs, 30 Percent of Young Christians Identify as LGBTQ, Poll Shows." (The Gallup Poll shows considerably less SNIP 2. We read in Breitbart that a poll shows that a majority of Americans aged 18-24 say the Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians was ‘justified.’ SNIP 3. A friend of mine moved to Arizona years ago to escape New York taxes. Though that state is overly hot...

Oakland has created an 'unlivable' situation for residents as homeless population explodes, activist saysOpen-air drug markets, narcotic tourism, rampant theft and lax camping regulation have made Oakland "unlivable," a neighborhood advocate told Fox News. "Oakland and San Francisco have become the promised land of milk and fentanyl, and people are coming here," Seneca Scott, founder of Neighbors Together Oakland, told Fox News. "People who are homeless in Oakland now typically are not from here. They're drug tourists." Recently, people have been flocking to "Fentanyl Island" a patch of land between 7th St. and Brush St. in West Oakland which...

Portland lost 6th-most residents in United States over past year.. Multnomah County, where Portland, Oregon, is located, reportedly lost more than $1 billion in income between 2020 and 2021 as a result of residents fleeing the state amid surging crime, homelessness and safety concerns... 14,257 tax filers and their dependents left Multnomah County during the first year of the pandemic in 2020 and took a record $1 billion of income with them. The data showed that higher earners were more likely to leave since their jobs could be done remotely during coronavirus shutdowns, and the average income of people leaving...

Even prominent liberals think the handling of the migrant crisis in Democrat-run cities is “full of *&^%.” Self-styled “old-school liberal” Bill Maher has blasted progressive leaders of “woke” cities — including New York City — as being hypocritical in crying foul over the mass influx of asylum seekers. The HBO host said that sanctuary cities have been “hoist with their own petard” by signaling that they welcome migrants, just to panic and complain when they actually get shipped in from overwhelmed border states. “It’s just a good example of, ‘Could everybody just stop the posturing?'” Maher, 67, asked on his...

Los Angeles Police Department has lost about 1,000 officers since 2019.. The vice president of a Los Angeles police union encouraged officers to ditch the city and find work elsewhere during unsuccessful salary negotiations with the city. Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) Vice President Jerretta Sandoz ... Sandoz's displeasure comes as the city continues to lose more and more officers who are frustrated with treatment by city officials. Police Commissioner Erroll Southers has called the loss of officers "very, very discouraging," ... Meanwhile, crime and homelessness are spiking in California's largest city. Democrat Mayor Karen Bass signed an updated...

Wasting away again in Bidenville, looking for my lost economy. In June, the White House revealed a new public relations campaign called “Bidenomics” to define President Biden’s economic agenda ahead of the 2024 presidential election cycle. “I don’t know what the hell that is, but it’s working,” Biden stated at a June 17 rally in Philadelphia, begging the question, is it actually working? NO!!!! Americans, particularly middle-class ones, have been crushed in the inflation storm. They’ve been battered by two years of negative real wage growth, forcing many to quickly draw down on savings while using credit cards in a...

Prince William believes you can have zero homelessness and he’s using Finland as a case study. The Prince of Wales is launching a five-year, locally led plan in six flagship locations around the UK that will demonstrate it is possible to end homelessness, Kensington Palace announced on Monday. The program, “Homewards,” will bring together “an unprecedented network of organisations and individuals,” tapping into their collective expertise to “create and deliver a tailored plan to prevent homelessness in their areas,” the palace said. It will provide up to £500,000 ($637,000) of flexible seed funding in each of the six locations –...

If LA County’s homeless population were its own city, it would be the 124th largest city in the entire state. Every year the city does a homeless count designed to help keep track of whether the problem is getting better or worse. This year, despite a flood of money directly at programs, the news was pretty bad.Unsheltered homelessness — which refers to people living outdoors in vehicles, tents and makeshift shelters like propped-up tarps — is up 40% over the past five years, rising to 55,155 people countywide…When including people in shelters in the tally, the count found that 75,518...

On Thursday’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass defended the city codifying its sanctuary city status and acknowledged that being a sanctuary city will spend city resources on migrants and also said that they can’t handle any more buses of migrants sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) or any other Republican officials because “we are in the middle of a crisis where we are not able to provide housing for Angelenos” and more buses “would exacerbate that crisis.” Bass said that she was surprised Los Angeles hadn’t officially codified its sanctuary city status, because...

Homeless Californians are often victims of violence and struggle with mental health and substance abuse issues before losing their homes, according to new research from the University of California San Francisco. The study released Tuesday spoke with a representative sample of 3,200 homeless people in California, the largest number for a study since the 1990s, authors said. California is estimated to have over 170,000 homeless people, about one-third of all in the country. Nearly two-thirds of California’s homeless struggle with severe mental health issues, the study found. More than a quarter had been hospitalized as a result. Another two-thirds also...

The mentally ill wound up on the streets. The problem worsened when the Obama administration and homeless advocates won a lawsuit to prevent Boise, Idaho, from outlawing camping on sidewalks and public parks. President Barack Obama’s Justice Department deemed homelessness a legally protected lifestyle choice. Ridiculous. A person who “chooses” street living, instead of shelter or hospitalization, is exposed to hypothermia, disease and crime. On average, a homeless person survives only to age 48, losing 30 years of a normal lifespan. It’s worse for women. Allowing that choice is neither compassionate to the homeless nor fair to the rest of...

The homeless are often both mentally ill and addicted. Yet the government persists in treating homelessness as almost entirely a housing issue.Homelessness affects cities across the country, but it’s not just a local issue, though media cover it that way. Nor is homelessness mainly about housing; rather, it’s largely about untreated mental illness and drug addiction. Consistently misdiagnosed, homelessness is being wrongly addressed. And the policies that give rise to homelessness largely come from Washington, D.C., not localities. A bill called “Housing PLUS” has been introduced in Congress by Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., with 22 sponsors, to start to rectify...

Canada has enthusiastically embraced euthanasia. And maybe that’s not surprising given that socialist countries must inevitably ration treatment, and the best rationing is accomplished by limiting the number of people who need serious care. However, many Canadians are now thinking of euthanasia, not just as a cure for untreated or untreatable illnesses, but also for homelessness and poverty.These numbers come from a Research Co. poll asking Canadians about their attitudes toward Canada’s expanding Medical Assistance in Dying (or MAID) program:One third of Canadians are apparently fine with prescribing assisting suicide for no other reason than the fact that the patient...

I took my weekly trip to San Diego this week. This is something I have done for more than a decade, just to get a change of scenery, look at the ocean take in a ballgame and just relax for a short spell…it’s a manageable drive from where I live, in a state without an ocean. I have, over the years, noticed a degradation in San Diego, mostly downtown, but the obvious destruction and malaise in California, while present, was actually somewhat muted in the once fair and relatively conservative city of San Diego. But this week I witnessed things...

Another act to subdue an aggressive mentally ill man leads to another George Floyd media-leftist whitewash of the perpetrator and this time, I think it will not work.Don Surber says it well: “Democrats turned subways into hell and now give good citizens the choice between being the victim of a lunatic who kills them or a lunatic justice system that punishes anyone who stands up to the psychos."It’s called anarcho-tyranny.“ Let’s review the comparison. Jordan Neely had a long criminal record -- 42 arrests. He threatened passengers who made several 911 calls without a response. His record showed he was...

Fire Sale: $300 Million San Francisco Office Tower, Mostly Empty. Open to Offers.350 California Street was worth $300 million four years ago. It might sell for 80% less now, brokers say, in a market where office vacancy rates have soared. Before the pandemic, San Francisco’s California Street was home to some of the world’s most valuable commercial real estate. The corridor runs through the heart of the city’s financial district and is lined with offices for banks and other companies that help fuel the global tech economy. One building, a 22-story glass and stone tower at 350 California Street, was...

The state has spent billions of dollars on homelessness in recent years. So why is the crisis getting worse instead of better? That’s what a bipartisan group of California legislators is trying to get to the bottom of by calling for a first-of-its kind, large-scale audit of the state’s homelessness spending. The state has stepped up its involvement and investment in the crisis under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s leadership, allocating $20.6 billion toward housing and homelessness since 2018-19, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office. But despite the influx of cash, during that time, the number of unhoused people in the state...