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Archive for the ‘Stop the hate’ Category
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Murders Of The Homeless In U.S. At Highest Level In Decade
This report is listed on NADINE along with the mountain of data used to compile it. 20,000 plus pages and 6,000 photos.
Thursday, August 19th, 2010 4:11 am
Killings of homeless people have risen to their highest level in a decade, with 43 killed last year and many more injured in often brutal attacks that are raising concerns among law enforcement officials, rights advocates, and politicians, says the New York Times. The rise in killings, from 27 in 2008, comes as state and local governments are wrestling with the problem of what to do with the growing number of people forced onto the streets by economic woes. Some states and cities are moving to prosecute violence against the homeless as a hate crime; others are imposing tougher measures to prevent people from living on the streets in the first place.
Cases compiled by the National Coalition for the Homeless showed homeless people doused with gasoline and set on fire, attacked with bottles, metal pipes and baseball bats, and sprayed with pepper spray, often for the sport of it. Because the FBI does not track crimes against the homeless, data from the coalition is considered the most definitive. U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) plans to lead a hearing next month on the rising homeless problem, including violence against those living on the streets. Criminologists and others who worked on the study said they believed the rise in fatal attacks has been fueled by a combination of factors, including tough economic times, the popularity of amateur Web videos on “bum fights” and on-line games that glorify and trivialize attacks, an increase in gang initiations involving the homeless, and crackdowns on homeless encampments that have bred hostility.
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Comment: We have been saying that for years!
Homelessness in the US
More reason to challenge the local ten year plan.
Doc
Homelessness in the US
In 2000, 11.3% of the US population, 31.3 million people, lived in poverty. Here’s the most current information on homelessin the US. For ways to help, scroll down.
1. Since 2000, the number of people living in extreme poverty has increased.
2.According to the 2003 report from the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH), Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles and Atlanta are the top five ‘meanest’ cities in the US for poor and homeless people to live in; California is the ‘meanest’ state, followed by Florida.
3.Examples?
‘In Milwaukee, a church has been declared a public nuisance for feeding homeless people and allowing them to sleep there.
In Gainesville, police threatened U. of Florida students with arrest if they did not stop serving meals to homeless people in a public park.
In Santa Barbara, it is illegal to lean against the front of a building or a store, and no one can park a motor home on the street in one place for more than two hours.’
4.Families with children are by far the fastest-growing sector of the homeless population.
Children alone compose about 39% of the homeless.
5.In the median state, a minimum-wage worker would have to work 89 hours a week to afford a 2-bedroom apartment at 30% of his or her income, which is the federal definition of affordable housing (National Low Income Housing Coalition, 2001).
6.For the disabled, in 1998, on a national average, someone receiving SSI (Supplemental Security Income) had to spend 69% of their monthly income to rent a 1-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent.
7.Loss of single room occupancy housing (SRO) exacerbates the problem. From 1970-mid 80s, an estimated one million SRO units were demolish (Dolbeare, 1996).
New York City lost 87% of its $200 a month or less SRO. Chicago experienced total elimination of cubicle hotels. By 1985, Los Angeles lock more than half its downtown SRO. San Francisco lost 43%, Portland lost 59% and Denver lost 64%. [Data is here: http://www.nationalhomeless.org/causes.html]
8.Approximately 22% of the single adult homeless suffers from some form of severe and persistent mental illness (US Conference of Mayors, 2001). 9.’The relationship between addiction and homelessness is complex and controversial,’ says the NCH.
Rates of alcohol and drug abuse are disproportionately high among the homeless but can’t account for the rise in numbers. However addiction does increase the risk of displacement ‘for the precariously housed.’ 10.What’s called ‘eroding work opportunities’ contributes.
According to the NCH, contributing factors to homeless are ‘a steep drop in the number and bargaining power of unionized workers; erosion in the value of the minimum wage; a decline in manufacturing jobs and the corresponding expansion of lower-paying service-sector employment; globalization; and increased nonstandard work, such as temporary and part-time (Mishel, Bernstein, and Schnitt, 1999)’.
Source: National Homeless Organization,HUD, National Coalition for the Homeless, and the Mayors’ Report.
If you would like to help, go here: http://nch.ari.net/local/local.html to find local service providers.
Go here http://www.hud.gov/volunteering/index.cfm to find national and federal volunteer opportunities.
Go here: http://www.hud.gov/organizing/index.cfm to find out about becoming a community organizer.
©Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ Coach’, http://www.susandunn.cc . Susan was formerly the Director of Development for a Homeless Shelter. She resides in San Antonio, TX and writes on various topics. She offers coaching, distance learning and eBooks around emotional intelligence for career, relationships, transitions, retirement and wellness. mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for FREE eZine.
About the author: ©Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ Coach’, http://www.susandunn.cc . Susan was formerly the Director of Development for a Homeless Shelter. She resides in San Antonio, TX and writes on various topics. She offers coaching, distance learning and eBooks around emotional intelligence for career, relationships, transitions, retirement and wellness. mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for FREE eZine.
Author: Susan Dunn, MA, Emotional Intelligence Coach
http://foxsanfrancisco.com/889002-Homelessness-in-the-US.html
