When are Bush voters going to get a clue?
he report being released Tuesday by the National Student Campaign Against Hunger & Homelessness found a 28 percent rise last year in emergency food assistance requests, and a 27 percent increase in requests for emergency shelter.
The organization surveyed 900 agencies in 32 states and gathered information from urban and rural areas. About one-quarter of the emergency food providers said they had to turn away requests for food because of a lack of resources.
And three-quarters of emergency shelter providers reported turning people away for the same reason.
Kathleen Barr, the report's author, said the Bush administration's 2006 budget proposal hurts many programs aimed at low-income Americans and could set back emergency assistance providers further.
Unemployment and wages too low to afford enough food are among the main reasons that people seek help from shelters and soup kitchens, Barr said.
Many people are also hampered by high housing costs that force them to spend more than 30 percent of their income on the rent or mortgage payment, said Susan Ban, executive director for ShelterCare, a Eugene, Ore., organization that provides emergency shelter for families with children who are homeless.
But the Bush administration has identified the real culprits. "Too much environmental regulation!"
Among the concerns listed by HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson were slow permitting procedures and complex environmental regulations that can significantly increase the length and cost of home building review and approval processes.
Gosh! Isn't the President just swell?
link