Report a Comment

DC has long shouldered the burden of regional homelessness and poverty, simply because DC has THE most liberal policies regarding homelessness and poverty. You show up, we feed you, you’re sick, we offer 100% medical coverage unlike any jurisdiction in the nation to pay for ills (or tattoo removal as has been the case in years past), you are cold, we put you up in a hotel and the best part is, you don’t even have to be a District resident to do so!.

People can wax poetic about “golly gee, DC has an outsized burden”, yeah, well we’ve known that for decades and “knowing” it hasn’t changed anything. You aren’t going to get MD or VA to admit it, or help pay for it.

That leaves the District with solving its own problems, and DC’s biggest problem is that it offers “all carrot, and no stick”.

Step 1. No one deserves to die of exposure. Even the most heartless conservatives in the nation want that. However, that doesn’t mean you get to live in relative luxury in a free hotel room that comes with free breakfast for 6 months of the year on my dime. I’ve seen quite a few shelters in the US and none of them are plush, I don’t know why ours have to be. Many are just big gymnasium sized rooms with army cots in rows and locker room like shower rooms. Keep the people warm and give them a roof over their heads. We have half a dozen closed schools in town that are now sitting empty. How many cots can you fit in a gym, a couple hundred? Or, spend a years worth of hotel bills (7 million) and build a no frills emergency facility. Problem solved.

Step 2 is joining the rest of the nation and putting a 5 year limit on welfare benefits. We are the ONLY jurisdiction in the nation that didn’t put a limit on it, and surprise, surprise, nearly 40% of the cities reciepients have been on it longer than 7 years, nearly a quarter for more than a decade and we wonder why generational welfare in this city seems to be so popular.

by Shelter on May 2, 2012 10:24 am • link • report