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America Could End Homelessness with the Money Spent on Christmas Decorations

dudeone

By dudeone
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dudeone Abbotsford Regular

dudeone

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INFOGRAPHIC: We Could End Homelessness With The Money Americans Spend On Christmas Decorations

By Adam Peck on Dec 10, 2012 at 4:25 pm

http://thinkprogress...as-decorations/

The latest annual report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development shows that the national homeless population held steady from 2011 to 2012, hardly good news but perhaps better than expected given the relatively weak economic climate.

Progress is being made within the veteran community, with homeless rates falling by 17 percent since 2009, and among the chronically homeless, with 17 percent fewer people living on the streets as in 2007. But in the fight to end homelessness by the year 2020 — the stated mission of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness in their 2010 plan — progress isn’t happening fast enough:

“[The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness] have set ambitious goals for themselves, but I don’t think those are goals that aren’t doable,” said Nan Roman, the president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. “But not at the rate that we’re going.”

What is needed, says Mark Johnston, the acting assistant housing secretary for community planning and development, is a ten-fold increase in HUD’s $1.9 billion budget to address the crisis. By any measure $20 billion is a lot of money, but the figure is far less daunting when placed in context:

ending-homelessness-17.png

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etsen3 Canucks Second-Line

etsen3

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What are you gonna do? Just ban Christmas decorations and force average people to donate their own money to the homeless? Not happening.

How about the government quits giving out free money to big companies or quits spending so much money on needless wars instead? Then they can spend the money on ending homelessness or improving health care or giving average people a tax break. And as a bonus, companies actually have to run a good business to survive and innocent people don't get killed by collateral damage.

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Special Ed Canucks Regular

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Yeah let's start giving out more free handouts and watch the amount of homeless people triple. Most of the homeless out on the streets want to be there and have alternatives. Easy access to drugs, zero responsibilities and the free handouts they already get is what they're already happy with.

I lived downtown vancouver for 20 years and I have never seen a single homeless person who wasn't just as happy as anyone else(when not pretending to suffer for freebies). Now before you bleeding hearts get at me, just understand this is the reality of what I see every day. I'm just calling it how I see it if you don't like reality don't blame me go watch another movie.

Or go give your boots to some poor shoeless bum so he can get rid of them and con some other sucker into a free pair of boots. I don't really like any of the homeless people I have seen or helped. I don't think anyone likes them and that's why they're homeless. I wish those people would join the various programs available and do some self reflection.

I have mentioned it before but I will just add that I view homeless people as two categories. Mentally disabled/drug addicted and spoiled brats. It should be illegal to live on the street in public, specially for their own safety. I spoke to a nurse who helped a double amputation on a homeless guy that was drinking and sleeping in the cold. Homeless people should be either placed in a home for the disabled or forced to work in a government program for minimum wages. Paying taxes like everyone else.

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woofwoofmoomoo Junior Prospect

woofwoofmoomoo

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Yeah let's start giving out more free handouts and watch the amount of homeless people triple. Most of the homeless out on the streets want to be there and have alternatives. Easy access to drugs, zero responsibilities and the free handouts they already get is what they're already happy with.

I lived downtown vancouver for 20 years and I have never seen a single homeless person who wasn't just as happy as anyone else(when not pretending to suffer for freebies). Now before you bleeding hearts get at me, just understand this is the reality of what I see every day. I'm just calling it how I see it if you don't like reality don't blame me go watch another movie.

Or go give your boots to some poor shoeless bum so he can get rid of them and con some other sucker into a free pair of boots. I don't really like any of the homeless people I have seen or helped. I don't think anyone likes them and that's why they're homeless. I wish those people would join the various programs available and do some self reflection.

I have mentioned it before but I will just add that I view homeless people as two categories. Mentally disabled/drug addicted and spoiled brats. It should be illegal to live on the street in public. Those people should be either placed in a home for the disabled or forced to work in a government program for minimum wages. Paying taxes like everyone else.

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Ghostsof1915 Canucks Hall-of-Famer

Ghostsof1915

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Get rid of entertainment expenses and it has the benefit of freeing up tickets at Canucks games and getting people off the street. Yes you won't eliminate homelessness, but you'd probably get the majority of it taken care of. Maybe apply some of that funding to mental health as well.

This year I spent $30 on Christmas decorations, and I donated 4 times that to the Union Gospel Mission.

Why is it that individuals donate to charity mostly? How come companies don't donate more?

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Buddhas Hand Canucks First-Line

Buddhas Hand

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Yeah let's start giving out more free handouts and watch the amount of homeless people triple. Most of the homeless out on the streets want to be there and have alternatives. Easy access to drugs, zero responsibilities and the free handouts they already get is what they're already happy with.

I lived downtown vancouver for 20 years and I have never seen a single homeless person who wasn't just as happy as anyone else(when not pretending to suffer for freebies). Now before you bleeding hearts get at me, just understand this is the reality of what I see every day. I'm just calling it how I see it if you don't like reality don't blame me go watch another movie.

Or go give your boots to some poor shoeless bum so he can get rid of them and con some other sucker into a free pair of boots. I don't really like any of the homeless people I have seen or helped. I don't think anyone likes them and that's why they're homeless. I wish those people would join the various programs available and do some self reflection.

I have mentioned it before but I will just add that I view homeless people as two categories. Mentally disabled/drug addicted and spoiled brats. It should be illegal to live on the street in public, specially for their own safety. I spoke to a nurse who helped a double amputation on a homeless guy that was drinking and sleeping in the cold. Homeless people should be either placed in a home for the disabled or forced to work in a government program for minimum wages. Paying taxes like everyone else.

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woofwoofmoomoo Junior Prospect

woofwoofmoomoo

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It's not as though homelessness is something they yearned for when they were young...most of the time these people fall into drugs and alcohol and that becomes their way of life. Are they necessarily "happy"? Probably not. But I betcha most of them are content with their situation, otherwise they'd be actively trying to change it.

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