New measures are being taken to put an end to homelessness in big cities and all across America. The White House is putting forth policies in which are favored among advocates and involve law enforcement. Some of the efforts have seen roadblocks as red flags go up, but the charge is still moving forward.
The move may end up coming from an executive order before all is said and done. President Trump said he wanted the streets cleaned up, and they will get cleaned up one way or another. Advocates feel the executive order is inevitable.
The goal is to give the police the resources to remove homeless encampments and strip housing funds from the cities which allow encampments. The White House’s Domestic Policy Council is working together with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to stop cities from receiving funds from the government if they do not want to clean up their streets and use the money for what it is meant to do, put the homeless in homes.
Housing Secretary Ben Carson went to Houston, Texas, and met with officials to get the ball rolling there first in hopes other cities will follow in the footsteps. Carson toured an emergency shelter and a former Harris County jail facility during his stop. HUD officials have also been looking into real estate in efforts to the federal responses to end homelessness. The government is working toward turning former federal buildings and old correctional facilities into homeless shelters.
Washington officials stated HUD made a list to start off with 24 of the biggest cities with the biggest problems of homeless people sleeping in the streets. President Trump has made it his business to embarrass officials who have done nothing and allow people to sleep on the streets. Most of these cities are on the West Coast.
Houston is one on the list which is in the middle of the nation and has made great progress over the years to cut the numbers of homelessness in half. Even though Hurricane Harvey did extensive damage, the numbers are still going down. Dallas, Austin, and other cities have not made much of a difference.
Eva Thibeaudeau, CEO of Temenos, a development corporation which supports housing units in Houston stated, “I hope that what [Carson] takes away is that if you really turn all your resources to permanent housing and ending homelessness, instead of managing the condition of homelessness, it can have dramatic results.”
She continued, “We shifted a lot of dollars out of short-term, temporary, high-barrier projects, and reallocated them all toward permanent solutions. That really is the reason that our homelessness has been driven down.”
Benjamin Hobbs, who is a special assistant to Trump for Domestic policy, stated, “An executive order might not materialize for weeks (if ever). But such an executive action would reinforce the dynamic in Texas, where the conservative governor has sought to overrule the work of liberal leaders in Austin to legalize tent encampments, for example.”
The whole point of stopping encampments is to keep the cities clean. It is not that the people are trash, it is a fact they have trashed the location where they stay. Businesses cannot prosper if a person is sleeping at the doorway of the store. Making it illegal sounds heartless at first, but President Trump and Ben Carson are working together to put these people in shelters or homes. Federal funds have been put in place by the millions of dollars.
Liberals and sanctuary cites are the only ones who support encampments where people literally live on the sidewalks and streets. Their homes consist of cardboard boxes and tents. The grounds are covered in the trash left behind by those who live in these conditions.
Once the system is put in place, it would be at the discretion of the person choosing to live on the street to remain in poverty. They would have to either move into the shelters or the housing developments which are put in place to house them or face fines which they cannot afford to pay or incarceration.
Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, told USA Today, “We’re thrilled that the court has let the 9th Circuit decision stand, so that homeless people are not punished for sleeping on the streets when they have no other option.” This is a typical Liberal who would rather see American citizens continue to live in poverty.
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