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If only for economic reasons an accurate count of "homeless" people is an issue of consequence. Each and every year hundreds of millions of tax dollars — $642,000,000 in 2005 — are spent to maintain and run the New York City "shelter" system. A large, if unknown, number of lives depend on the truth of this measurement.
Does this story need dilegent journalistic treatment, or is it a passing pie eating contest out on Coney Island?
gossip sheet?
revealed
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Is It Science or Is It News"The feckless search for the "homeless", touted as the "Homeless Outreach Population Survey", is a fine example of a "seemingly benign operation that promotes purposes other than those openly declared". |
Read this "Bureaucracy ...is a tool that legitimizes control of the many by the few" |
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Subtracting the "spin"...
As covered by the daily papers, there were no surprizes...
... the establishment New York Times sent a reporter out with
the city troops; while the New York Post parked their reporter on
a discarded sofa, along with one of the hunted homeless.
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homelessINK takes a look at
Mindless knee-jerk stupidity
"Only a handful of attempts to count the homeless have been made at both local and national levels in Canada. These attempts have failed for a lack of a consistent definition of who the homeless are, as well as the elusiveness of the population.
"Absolute homelessness refers to people living on the streets with no physical shelter, while relative homelessness refers to those who live in spaces that do not meet basic health and safety standards.
"The broad definition of homelessness includes those who live in sub-standard housing, or in overcrowded or undesirable conditions. For instance, a woman may live with an abusive man as the lesser of two evils, thereby avoiding being on the streets." read more
Authors King and Carley suggest that living in a shelter, while little is done to address the lack of low-cost housing, is often demoralizing."Many people have said that shelters are a true example of Christian charity. People who say this have never visited a shelter. It isn't wonderful to sleep in a cot in a makeshift dormitory; to line up with strangers for a shower and have to undress in front of them; to be afraid to fall asleep while listening to coughing, crying, and angry muttering around you; to have to leave in the morning, no matter what the weather, even if you are sick. Above all, it isn't wonderful to be alone."
Beyond basic economics, there are political causes as well. Because the poor often do not carry much political weight, a government may not feel the political pressure to improve its housing and anti-poverty policies. Many governments are elected because a small number of wealthy people pay to have them elected. They want things a certain way. They want to maintain the status quo and do not want to lose their privileges. The government will not put much energy into eradicating poverty because that is not what the wealthy people want.
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