L.A.: After Spending $25B on Welfare, Homelessness up 20%

[Alan C.]

L.A.: After Spending $25B on Welfare, Homelessness up 20%

 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has declared that with a 20 percent jump this year, Los Angeles is still leading the nation in homelessness–despite $25 billion a year in welfare spending going to the L.A. region.

HUD’s 2015 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress for 3,000 cities and counties estimates that homelessness has declined by 2 percent nationally, but increased by 3 percent in big cities. The booby prize for the worst performance went to the Los Angeles region, with a 20 percent increase, to 41,174 homeless persons.

. . .

...such statistics comes as no surprise to Breitbart News, which has published numerous reports about how California’s extremist taxation, regulation and spending policies have damaged private sector job creation and motivated middle class residents to move to other states. The only reason that the Golden State has achieved any population gain in the last decade is due to importing foreign immigrants.

Since 2005, California’s annual domestic net migration has been negative, with more Americans leaving the state than moving to the state. The almost 200,000 Americans who leave each year are offset by about the same number of foreign immigrants.

. . .

...with about half of California’s $51.5 billion state and local welfare expenditures already going to the Los Angeles region, continually spending more government money on homelessness has not reduced the problem.

 

California is home to 1 of every 3 welfare recipients in the U.S.

[Guest Kiki]

I volunteer at homeless shelters throughout the year, including every Thanksgiving and next week I go downtown Los Angeles. I can assure you that the shelters in Los Angeles are superior in the food delivered and facilities to any I've worked at in Europe, Africa or in Asia. Clean areas, more bathrooms to rooms, and overall ammenities like TV and books are available to boarders. I see primarily Black recovering drug/alchohol addicts, Caucasian mental illness patients, and more and more people who don't use english as primary language. There are more single men coming in than women. The children are coming from one parent homes in the community, usually coming in with a female relative.

 

Tax dollars are definitely being spent. I have been doing this a long time now- 10yrs plus, and I can see the increase in numbers of people coming to eat meals and sleep in the shelter. What's weird is that the population of people coming in are getting younger and younger. I see 20yr olds coming in with young children and toddlers and a lot of folks under 40yrs. And people congregate like families who know each other. I try not to be judgemental, but I can't help but wonder shouldnt they be somewhere with their own families rather than spending their holidays in these big halls with strangers?

 

My favorit place to go are at the Veterans Halls. These gatherings are very intimate and these men and women are there to have a meal and commune with each other over common experiences. They dress well, are proud, chilvalrous and there is a great sense of comraderie among the group. It's a real treat when someone shares their story, especially for us volunteers who love this great country and are grateful for the service of these soldiers. It feels like a formal event and there is a great sense of unity in the hall. I always feel very humbled after leaving the Veteran events.

[Alan C.]

It's certainly commendable that you help disadvantaged people. The purpose of the article isn't to criticize people who help others; it's to point out that government welfare doesn't solve the problem. Simply throwing money at poverty doesn't work for several reasons. The inherent inefficiency of government bureaucracies and perverted incentives notwithstanding, welfare doesn't solve poverty because it merely feeds day-to-day consumption only, rather than addressing the root cause.

The saddest thing you wrote was that you've observed 20 year olds coming in with toddlers. That's disgraceful. In past generations, that sort of behavior was negatively stigmatized and people were forced to rely on the generosity of family and friends. The shame and embarassment imposed a cost which encouraged people to refrain from irresponsible behavior. Today's welfare-state makes single mothers commonplace. It's common to see poor single mothers with a brood of 3 to 5 kids living in squalor.

Of course, the primary cause of this is the government through a combination of barriers to entry into the workplace, and welfare which rewards people for being lazy, irresponsible, and imprudent. It's burning a candle from both ends.

[cab21]

but won't they just say it would be a higher percentage if government did not spend the money?

[Alan C.]

The poverty rate was trending downward before Lyndon Johnson's 'Great Society,' and has remained relatively unchanged since then (for 50 years).

[AccuTron]

"...And people congregate like families who know each other. I try not to be judgemental, but I can't help but wonder shouldnt they be somewhere with their own families rather than spending their holidays in these big halls with strangers?"

-----------

If they're in that hall to begin with, travel cost is probably impossible, and/or the families are best avoided anyway.

 

Six years ago, I gave a spare room to a homeless elderly (my age) woman, whom I support.  We've become valued friends.  The first 2-3 years, I went to outdoors food bank lines that wore upon her for years, so she could just sleep under a roof and be warm.  Educational, along with various other homeless person experiences.

 

People (by whatever label) in continual dire straits simply do not have the energy for self-serving excesses, arrogance for example.  A group of truly poor, survival level, people will display strikingly good character.  They know what really matters, and manners and trust are on that list along with food and water.  (I'm sure you can find places in bad areas, or dense populations, that will statistically collect troublemakers.)  I had the distinct impression of overall better character than some of the "best people" I knew.

 

Some have made friends with each other by various acts of kindness.  They know who they can trust, who is kind and true.  To what degree can you say that about biological families, or even have a choice of non-association?  (Non-association is not always easy for the homeless, because a limited number of resting places exist.)  And what families to return to for the holidays?  Do they still exist, are they spread out over costly long distance, with behavior problems, etc?

 

In many cases, those former strangers now are the families.  And the newest strangers are probably polite.