"But here's the catch: The Alliance numbers capture only a very narrowly defined slice of homelessness: People in shelters or other emergency housing, or in public places. In addition to these increases, the number of families living doubled-up with others due to economic necessity increased by 12 percent to more than 6 million. The increases documented in the Alliance report parallel those reported by the U.S. Conference of Mayors in December 2010, which found a 9 percent increase in family homelessness over the past year in the 27 cities it surveyed across the country. "
Despite the enormity of the current crisis, there is virtually no safety net in place to help those affected.
What's more, the already enormous gap is likely to worsen, as need increases and funding cuts at all levels of government continue to decimate safety net programs, from food assistance, to housing, to legal aid, to shelter.
Last year, our country spent hundreds of billions of dollars to save banks that were considered "too big to fail." Now the conventional wisdom in Washington is that there's "no money" to help ordinary people who are suffering in poverty and homelessness. But providing massive government intervention to protect big business while slashing government supports meant to mitigate the impacts of the economy's vicissitudes truly turns basic principles of a "free market" economy on their head. Why does anyone accept this?
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