Reply to Bowser Spreads the Wealth opens homeless shelters in each DC ward

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Before we open more shelter doors I hope they first look at whether those to whom we open doors are even from DC in the first place.

I'm fine with taking care of DC's existing homeless, but do we need to take care of the homeless for the entire eastern seaboard?

It's enough of an issue that we have well meaning but underfunded organizations that want to bring people here in order to take care of them.

It's enough of an issue that we fall victim to some other communities that bus their homeless here (and yes, it's common practice for police to round up homeless and put them on a bus with a one way ticket to the next biggest city).

Existing DC homeless families should have first crack.

I also think that the city needs to work on finding more ways to get people self sufficient and functional.[/quote]

With the gentrification that's happened in DC over the past 20  years, with low income and home-unstable DC residents getting pushed out to the mostly-Maryland 'burbs, with spikes in incarceration and drug busts, yeah, I think DC can bring people back and do something good.

I live in a city (not DC) that has (finally) declared a homelessness crisis.  4,500 unsheltered (meaning homeless AND NOT IN A HOME WITH A ROOF). So we're not including people couch surfing just to stay out of the elements.  Can you imagine?  "Solution" is tent shelters.  And, yes, every community gets one.  And it's still not enough.  Our very wealthy enclave has residents who organize food, clothing, and supplies runs to the tent city that's right up against our border.  I'm ashamed that a tent shelter is the best our city can do, our fancy, expensive city with HUGE $$$ tech companies that--like all other corporations--don't pay appropriate taxes.  It makes you angry.  Very angry.[/quote]

Ah yes, the big "Evil Gentrification" bogeyman.  Let's flip that around a little - how do you figure it's somehow "more fair" to force people who work in DC to have to live outside of DC in order to keep the poorer folks in?  If for example you're a young federal GS-9 employee you are looking at slim pickings where it comes to being able to find an affordable place in DC.  So instead you are forced out into the VA/MD burbs, to take a 40 or 50 minute commute, nearly 2 hours out of each day.  All that just so that we can keep the homeless and low income, many of whom don't even have jobs in the first place in DC.  I fail to see how that makes sense, I fail to see how that's equitable.

Also, the pros to gentrification BY FAR outweigh the cons.  Gentrification brings tax base, it brings economic improvement, it brings new businesses and investments, and in turn all of that brings better infrastructure, it brings better schools, it brings job opportunities, et cetera.

What does the non-gentrified status quo bring?  Non-diverse, monolithic neighborhoods that are only 10% white instead of 40% white?  Neighborhoods with more crime and drugs?  Neighborhoods that nobody wants to open a new business in?  Neighborhoods where the only place to buy groceries is a tiny hole-in-the-wall Korean owned bodega with bars on the doors and windows, where you'd be hard pressed to find fresh fruit or produce? Neighborhoods that city council, roads department and city emergency services ignore?  That's pretty much the case.[/quote]

+1000000000000.

[/quote]

Yup. Gentrification seems to bring in a whole bunch of azzholes, apparently, who want the homeless sleeping in doorways to magically "vanish."  Such an uptick in everyone's quality of life...  So glad you're here.  Welcome.[/quote]

Big uptick in quality of life when people just want to sleep in doorways instead of getting a fcking job and taking care of their shit like the rest of us, right?[/quote]

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