Recently I had a wisdom tooth extracted, a procedure that should have been done thirty years ago, but rather than follow my dentist’s treatment advice, I postponed the uprooting because…I don’t know why. I guess it is easier not to do something than to do something. That molar’s nerve died a decade ago, but the tooth didn’t cause discomfort, so it was easier to procrastinate than to do what was advised. The dentist warned: “It will eventually cause an abscess if it doesn’t come out.” With that context in mind, the adage, “Delay is the deadliest form of denial”[1] is germane. What, me worry? The doctor ordered that the decayed tooth come out before it caused serious infection and pain, but I kept brushing that unpleasantness aside.
Now think about homelessness as a festering condition. Rather than address the problem with an enduring solution, civic leaders have hemmed and hawed over how to supervise the unhoused and placate those who whine about the unpleasantness fouling their neighborhoods, remedies that resemble a Whack-A-Mole arcade game. Homeless folks pop up in one park or open space and are summarily removed and sent to another spot. All the while, social workers contact the dispossessed and make temporary arrangements to adjust broken lives. A day or two later, nothing has changed. Problems remain, sure, because underlying conditions remain unaddressed. Stands to reason, then, that the more we delay in healing this public disorder, the more suffering and harm will take place. In my community, at least, homelessness has increased noticeably, demonstrated by a growing number of people sleeping on sidewalks and living in dilapidated cars, conspicuously more broken-down RVs housing people who have nowhere to go, and an increased number of folks pushing shopping carts piled high with all they own. Standing at the entrances and exits to every other shopping center is a down-and-out person holding a cardboard sign that appeals, in one way or another, for aid: “Hungry, Anything Will Help,” or “Veteran, No Home, No Job, God Bless.”
As is, too many people live in pop-up tents on vacant lots, in doorways, or under overpasses. Community organizers try to patch the problems: often by sending the displaced to a shelter as an interim solution, usually a one-and-done accommodation. But, finally, with no lasting solution at hand, the plight associated with homeless people becomes more of an unceasing muddle. Civic leaders call meetings and propose stopgap fixes, which equates to something like the anachronistic medical treatment of bloodletting. Town and county governments form study groups and solicit information and grants. Press releases posted, commissions formed, and solutions sought, but what arrives is blah, blah, blah, and then more blah. Lives languish among the homeless population; crime and hopelessness flourish where large numbers of homeless people congregate. Long term, homeless people suffer, but the greater community also experiences hardships as businesses and collective society stagnate. Mental health issues spread, as well as domestic abuse and addiction in dwellings for the homeless similar to Hooverville shantytowns during the Great Depression.
While our country is not alone in having an enormous homelessness problem, we have few excuses for inaction. Why, one wonders, does the wealthiest country in the world allow the ongoing hardships of homelessness to continue? How can we stomach giving huge tax breaks to the propertied-rich while turning away from those impoverished souls sleeping in doorways and under bridges? You may receive a 100 percent tax deduction when buying that private jet plane you’ve had your eye on, but you get abject poverty if you hit a patch of bad luck and lose your job, your house, your health. Over a half-million people are unhoused in our country, and that count rises daily. Without interventions, people on the streets will die from exposure to harsh weather, to crime, and to untreated disease. If Charles Dickens were alive and writing novels, oh what sad stories he would tell.
The recent legislation aimed at restoring our nation’s infrastructure promises to kickstart our economy and provide refreshed highways and foundational improvements across the country. What’s missing is a component that will address our social structure, something that will repair the circumstances damaging our down-and-out citizens. The remedy to end the cycle of misery suffered by the homeless population is not complicated. It costs money and a sizeable investment in empathy. It can be done if we choose to provide a safe space for each person. And a job for those willing to pay their own way.
The fix is expensive, yes, but the solution is simple: start by housing each homeless person. Provide a platform for those people to address those problems that left them with no place to go. Sadly, those underlining problems are complex and not solved by placing them in an apartment or small living quarters. But the foundation to fix the problem begins with a place to live, not a night shelter or a charity bed.
Experiments in Finland (Housing First) have proven successful. Finland is the only European country to reduce the homeless population dramatically. In offering people a home with no strings attached, of course, homelessness disappears. Duh! But, of course, there is a cost. What would it take to fix the problem? Twenty billion dollars? More?
Whatever the cost, let’s pay it. We must invest in human capital. “People before profit” is a line from a local credit union. Sure, let’s fix the roads, the bridges, and power supplies, but in the remodeling of America, let’s provide a solution to our people problem.
It can be done quickly and effectively. In February of 2020, China built a 640,00 square foot hospital with 1000 beds, 30 intensive care rooms—all done in under ten days from the first spadefuls of turned dirt to doors open for business. This feat, in Wuhan, China at the onset of the COVID pandemic, happened because China faced a crisis, a need to house thousands of patients. Using prefab construction, the crisis was met with immediate action. Ten days!
Something like that can be done here in America. Why not? Innovations in prefab building can cut construction time from months to weeks. Even the promising field of 3D printing might facilitate raising structures quickly to house the homeless.
The catchall phrase of President Biden’s latest initiative is “Build Back Better.” Shall we build a better place for all of our citizens?
"Northcote Parkinson Quotes." BrainyQuote.com. BrainyMedia Inc, 2021. 19 August 2021. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/c_northcote_parkinson_159773
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