Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hawaii actually is having a major crisis with all of the homeless people that were sent there. Yes, people actually bought homeless folks a one way ticket to Hawaii to get rid of them.

Those people requested tickets to Hawaii; they weren't shipped there against their will. And they are a teeny tiny segment. Most homeless in Hawaii are Hawaiian. And the rest came on their own looking for work without realizing how expensive it is to live there. Plus, the drug scene is off the hook and fuels the numbers.

Ask an actual Hawaiian. It's a real problem - not so teeny tiny, and not local.

Well, I have asked actual Hawaiians. In fact, I've provided TA to elected officials and providers.

Hawaii has a massive street homeless problem that exploded in the last handful of years. It didn't happen overnight. Hawaii draws lots of people from the mainland, but they aren't homeless. They buy their own tickets and expect to land jobs. They typically do find work, but housing is very costly--in fact, everything is costly (food, transportation, and fun). So people sometimes end up homeless.

But the locals comprise the largest segment of the homeless population. Drugs and lack of affordable housing are the leading causes. The education system super sucks, there's lots of crime, and it's tough to secure a job if you are poorly educated and saddled with a criminal record.

Hmm. Sounds familiar, minus the gorgeous scenery.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Homelessness in DC has been going up by double digit percentages in the last couple of years, whereas it's been going down in other major US cities... That's a problem.

Family homelessness has increased 40% since 2010. Housing prices have gone up at a similar rate during that time period. Wages have not moved much and there are not hundreds of new living wage jobs being created. You do the math.

That still doesn't really account for the big difference between DC vs. other cities.

Yeah, housing goes up, and wages have been stagnant. But that begs the question, why stay? I grew up dirt poor, and we moved when we couldn't make it. The reason for staying can't be because of family, as the families obviously can't help either, or they wouldn't be stuck in poverty. There are a lot of communities with a lower cost of living than DC. DC isn't much of a hub for jobs for unskilled or semiskilled labor either.

They have no resources, no family to go to, and no way to get there. Do you think they're going walk to a new town?

I think you are seriously underestimating the barriers to self-sufficiency that these people face.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hawaii actually is having a major crisis with all of the homeless people that were sent there. Yes, people actually bought homeless folks a one way ticket to Hawaii to get rid of them.

Those people requested tickets to Hawaii; they weren't shipped there against their will. And they are a teeny tiny segment. Most homeless in Hawaii are Hawaiian. And the rest came on their own looking for work without realizing how expensive it is to live there. Plus, the drug scene is off the hook and fuels the numbers.

Ask an actual Hawaiian. It's a real problem - not so teeny tiny, and not local.

Well, I have asked actual Hawaiians. In fact, I've provided TA to elected officials and providers.

Hawaii has a massive street homeless problem that exploded in the last handful of years. It didn't happen overnight. Hawaii draws lots of people from the mainland, but they aren't homeless. They buy their own tickets and expect to land jobs. They typically do find work, but housing is very costly--in fact, everything is costly (food, transportation, and fun). So people sometimes end up homeless.

But the locals comprise the largest segment of the homeless population. Drugs and lack of affordable housing are the leading causes. The education system super sucks, there's lots of crime, and it's tough to secure a job if you are poorly educated and saddled with a criminal record.

Remember when Barry had the hookers marched across the 14th Street Bridge to Virginia. Best.visual.ever.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No worries, pp. Every shelter checks for residency...especially for families. DC, MD and VA all check for residency. They also collaborate on a regional level.

It's a myth that homeless people are "from someplace else."

Why would they check for residency? A homeless shelter should take in anyone in need of shelter and food.

Tell that to all of the communities that round up the homeless and ship them elsewhere. It's a fact that it happens, and more frequently than you realize.

Well, Rudy Giuliani famously did that...put them on buses and drove them to Jersey.

But this doesn't happen anymore. Lawsuits prevent this (for the most part).

Everyone thinks that homeless people flock to their communities for free housing and services, but the data proves that homeless people are locals.

Signed,

20 years of homeless advocacy

It does still happen, quite regularly.

The flipside of communities busing homeless out is organizations like Little Sisters of the Poor and others busing the homeless into the community from other locales. That also happens, quite regularly.

I've seen both of these scenarios, first hand.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hawaii actually is having a major crisis with all of the homeless people that were sent there. Yes, people actually bought homeless folks a one way ticket to Hawaii to get rid of them.

Those people requested tickets to Hawaii; they weren't shipped there against their will. And they are a teeny tiny segment. Most homeless in Hawaii are Hawaiian. And the rest came on their own looking for work without realizing how expensive it is to live there. Plus, the drug scene is off the hook and fuels the numbers.

Ask an actual Hawaiian. It's a real problem - not so teeny tiny, and not local.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No worries, pp. Every shelter checks for residency...especially for families. DC, MD and VA all check for residency. They also collaborate on a regional level.

It's a myth that homeless people are "from someplace else."

Why would they check for residency? A homeless shelter should take in anyone in need of shelter and food.

Tell that to all of the communities that round up the homeless and ship them elsewhere. It's a fact that it happens, and more frequently than you realize.

Well, Rudy Giuliani famously did that...put them on buses and drove them to Jersey.

But this doesn't happen anymore. Lawsuits prevent this (for the most part).

Everyone thinks that homeless people flock to their communities for free housing and services, but the data proves that homeless people are locals.

Signed,

20 years of homeless advocacy

Anonymous wrote:Hawaii actually is having a major crisis with all of the homeless people that were sent there. Yes, people actually bought homeless folks a one way ticket to Hawaii to get rid of them.

Those people requested tickets to Hawaii; they weren't shipped there against their will. And they are a teeny tiny segment. Most homeless in Hawaii are Hawaiian. And the rest came on their own looking for work without realizing how expensive it is to live there. Plus, the drug scene is off the hook and fuels the numbers.

Hawaii actually is having a major crisis with all of the homeless people that were sent there. Yes, people actually bought homeless folks a one way ticket to Hawaii to get rid of them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No worries, pp. Every shelter checks for residency...especially for families. DC, MD and VA all check for residency. They also collaborate on a regional level.

It's a myth that homeless people are "from someplace else."

Why would they check for residency? A homeless shelter should take in anyone in need of shelter and food.

Tell that to all of the communities that round up the homeless and ship them elsewhere. It's a fact that it happens, and more frequently than you realize.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No worries, pp. Every shelter checks for residency...especially for families. DC, MD and VA all check for residency. They also collaborate on a regional level.

It's a myth that homeless people are "from someplace else."

Why would they check for residency? A homeless shelter should take in anyone in need of shelter and food.

Emergency shelters for individuals are more lax, but family programs are pretty rigid. And the line trans program only takes dc residents as well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Homelessness in DC has been going up by double digit percentages in the last couple of years, whereas it's been going down in other major US cities... That's a problem.

Family homelessness has increased 40% since 2010. Housing prices have gone up at a similar rate during that time period. Wages have not moved much and there are not hundreds of new living wage jobs being created. You do the math.

That still doesn't really account for the big difference between DC vs. other cities.

Yeah, housing goes up, and wages have been stagnant. But that begs the question, why stay? I grew up dirt poor, and we moved when we couldn't make it. The reason for staying can't be because of family, as the families obviously can't help either, or they wouldn't be stuck in poverty. There are a lot of communities with a lower cost of living than DC. DC isn't much of a hub for jobs for unskilled or semiskilled labor either.

Anonymous wrote:No worries, pp. Every shelter checks for residency...especially for families. DC, MD and VA all check for residency. They also collaborate on a regional level.

It's a myth that homeless people are "from someplace else."

Why would they check for residency? A homeless shelter should take in anyone in need of shelter and food.

Has anyone looked at the current distribution of homeless shelters, homeless families and schools with homeless kids? Charles Allen said Ward 6 already has more homeless shelters than the other Wards. http://www.nbcwashington.com/blogs/first-read-dmv/Homeless-Shelters-to-Open-in-Each-Ward-of-DC-353215441.html

And, they already have several new housing projects in planning and already under construction which will have significant accomodations for low income. There's far more of that kind of housing coming online in Ward 6 than anywhere else in the city.

It sounds like the proposal just figures on distributing DC General's homeless more or less evenly across all Wards without consideration of what's already going on in many Wards.

It seems to me that the other Wards should be stepping up to the plate. Ward 6 has already absorbed a huge brunt where it comes to accommodating the homeless and low income.

Anonymous wrote:Homelessness in DC has been going up by double digit percentages in the last couple of years, whereas it's been going down in other major US cities... That's a problem.

Family homelessness has increased 40% since 2010. Housing prices have gone up at a similar rate during that time period. Wages have not moved much and there are not hundreds of new living wage jobs being created. You do the math.