Homelessness, Poverty and Politics in America

At no time in American history is the poverty and homelessness problem more salient than it is now. Jabs and insults are hurled at political opponents like dirty bombs are hurled during war. Words like “food stamps” and “working poor” and “47%” become a regular part of the national rhetoric and almost seamlessly, they enter the ugly arena of bad words that people use to denigrate and demean. Meanwhile, the nameless and faceless majority of people living at or significantly below the poverty line still yearn for a voice. In days past, impolite rhetoric was covered up with a thin shroud of political correctness, today, there’s no such need as social media opens the floodgates for frankness and politics gets dirtier and uglier than ever. And still, the homeless men, women and children in America have no voice. On the left, President Obama’s administration reminds America that the 47% of people who rely on government programs of some kind and who legitimately need assistance are a group of people forgotten by the right. On the right, Governor Romney’s obsession with cuts and reductions on everything from taxes (paid by the top 1%) to government programs (that benefit everyone else) sound a lot like the fiscal policies espoused by President Bush and President Reagan three decades before that. Reagan has been credited with exploding the homeless problem in the United States (BBC News, 2004; Kengor, 2012) and yet there are many whose policies lie to the right of center and whose policies have been credited with destroying a once-robust middle class. Is the politics of pandering a recipe for disaster for the nation’s homeless or is there some value in supply-side economics that benefit the nation’s wealthy? Most importantly, why hasn’t there been more said and done by both parties to directly address homeless, hunger and poverty in America (Garofalo, 2012; Burt, 2004)?

Many have asked the question: has enough been said by either party to directly address the homelessness problem? And some have come back with a slow and sad “no” (Burt, 2004; Pike, 2012; AP, 2007). Still others point to Obama’s 2009 Recovery Act which saved thousands from homelessness and combated the startling numbers from the previous year that showed “nearly 50% of Americans… slipping from the shrinking middle class into low-income status [or] poverty (Garofalo, 2012; Somander, 2012). Additionally, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (AARA) were passed in order to successfully bolster job creation and fend off worsening conditions in the economy (Garofalo, 2012; Somander, 2012). Fending off homelessness and starvation in America was apparently not a unanimous political priority as this bill (like many others the Obama administration would later attempt to pass) was not supported by a single Republican vote in the House of Representatives (Somander, 2012; Garofalo, 2012).

Unfortunately for the less fortunate among us, American politics lives (and thrives) in the land of the supremely wealthy and the middle class. The middle class is working to make ends meet, paying taxes, voting and putting their children through college the best way they know how. And arguably, this is a good place for American priorities to rest. Homeless people are too busy worrying about satisfying their most basic needs to be too engaged in politics, the political process or even policies which affect their lives every day (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2012). Even though they are disproportionately plagued with mental illness, hunger and many other social ails, they are distracted, they lack political passion, and they have fewer super PACs rallying for them.

Meanwhile, American politics focuses on the middle class and assumes that a big, strong middle class will save the faltering economy. When the middle class is strong again, America should be able to depart from unemployment and rely on higher pay and reasonable and fair taxes. But, what about the homeless and those who are significantly below the poverty line? What remedies are there for this below-the-belt segment of Romney’s infamous “47%”?

Conservative biographer of the life of President Ronald Reagan charges that although Reagan was hammered for the plight of the homeless in the 1980s due to his trickle-down economic policies, Obama’s economic policies have left the nation with more homeless than there were during the 1980s (Kengor, 2012). Reagonomics was a supply-side economics tenet with four pillars: reduce income and capital gains taxes for the wealthy, reduce government regulation of the economy and control the supply of money to reduce inflation. Conservatives argue that prior to Reagan; the country’s economic growth was stagnated while inflation and unemployment steadily inclined. Republicans continue to argue that lowering tax rates on the wealthy while increasing tax rates on those earning less than $50,000 is smart policy, just and fair because, after all, it is the wealthy who create jobs and who bolster economic growth.

In summation, there may not be an easy answer or solution to a massive homelessness problem. On the plus side, the last four years have seen a decrease in the number of homeless people, a 2007 estimate suggested that there were 744,000 homeless in America while a 2011 estimate has the number at 636,000 (AP, 2007; Kengor, 2012). Whatever the case may be, it is encouraging to see that there are still factions and pockets of people who have refused to forget the nation’s homeless. These are workers, volunteers and donors to the nation’s food banks, charities and public servants who believe that sometimes are system has to prop up those who for whatever reason are temporarily unable to help themselves. This topic has built up a lot of steam in the current political climate; it would be so refreshing to see the topic of homelessness get addressed

References

Associated Press. (2007). “Study: 744,000 Homeless People in the U.S.” NBC News Online. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16564208/ns/us_news-life/t/study-homeless-people-us/#.UIfE5MXu2CE. Accessed on 10/22/2012.
BBC News. (June 2004). “Reagonomics or Voodoo Economics?” BBC Online. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/270292.stm. Accessed on 10/21/2012.
Burt, M.R., et. al. (January 2004). “Strategies for Reducing Chronic Street Homelessness.” U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. http://www.huduser.org/Publications/PDF/ChronicStrtHomeless.pdf. Accessed on 10/22/2012.
Garofalo, P. (August 2012). “Republican Convention Taking Place in City with America’s Highest Homeless Rate.” ThinkProgress.org. http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/08/27/751981/tampa-bay-homeless-convention/ Accessed on 10/23/2012.
Kengor, P. (October 2012). “Reagan Took a Beating over Homeless Problem, but Media Ignore Obama’s Worse Record.” http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/10/16/reagan-took-beating-over-homeless-problem-but-media-ignore-obama-worse-record/. Accessed on 10/21/2012.
Pyke, A. (October 2012). “Helping the Homeless Sleep with a Purpose.” Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexandra-pyke/helping-people-sleep-with_b_1925231.html. Accessed on 10/23/2012.
Somanader, T. (January, 2012). “Report: The Recovery Act Saved Thousands of Americans from Homelessness.” ThinkProgress.com