Reality check on Making America Great Again. It’s cold tonight, in the 20’s here in the NW, and people are suffering. Suffering here in the United States, not in some foreign country. Not some imagined other bogyman from over there somewhere. This is a reality check about the regeneration of Hooverville* right in my back yard.
I began this diary as a comment to melrader’s diary 2020 Nominee Needs to Address Racial and Economic Injustice… which I encourage you to read but it quickly outgrew comment size. I live in downtown Olympia WA; a small city which is the capitol of the great state of Washington. These are my newish neighbors. I live on a small boat four blocks away. They’re actually pretty good neighbors and contrary to what everyone expects crime is down in the neighborhood. Knock on wood.
There but for fortune go I. It’s a humbling thought and a reminder of just how fortunate I really am.
Olympia is a very small city. These are the city sanctioned camps downtown which are only partly successful. There are still independent groups, individuals, and vehicles campers around town who won’t go to to the camps.
There was a death in the one of the above last night. I often hear the sirens.
The medics and police average 3-4 call outs a night mostly due to poor health and drug ODs. It’s been cold and rainy for two weeks and it drops into the 20s tonight and for the rest of the week. In these conditions even a common cold can turn deadly.
These are broken people with nowhere to turn. They didn’t ask for this. Many actually do work but the cheapest rent here is around $1000 a month and hard to find at that price. There is subsidized housing for only 1-4 who qualify. I qualify for senior housing but there is a three year wait. I may or may not make it but I’m not out in the rain and cold yet.
“What the country is yearning for is someone to speak with moral outrage at the injustice that Trump has forced on our country, and to provide an inclusive vision for how to address racial and economic justice to move the country forward….” melrader
Who will champion these the least among us in the land of the free and home of the brave? Free to live on the sidewalk and brave the cold and wet. Do these people give a rats ass about the demographics of who is running for President? They need actions. Not words. Now is not the time to be divided.
In fairness. Olympia is a very liberal city. Both the city and county counsels held completely by Democrats. They are trying but there are only so many local resources. The city has allocated $100,000 to provide toilets and security for the sanctioned camps which are on city owned parking lots. They will also forgo the parking fees from those lots. We and we are working on small housing and other alternative housing projects but there will never be enough money for everyone’s needs not so long as all the cream and most of the milk rise to the top leaving the dregs for the rest of us.
The park closure that resulted in a fracas with the police wasn’t about camping. It had become an embarrassing open air drug market next door to city hall. The confrontation took place when people challenged the city to enforce the drug laws rather than categorize everyone the same and shut down the area. The park is the site of the last openly flowing artesian well. It has been open and free for a century. A community well is a real and symbolic gathering place in the oldest tradition of civilization.
Many assume that everyone who dresses a certain way is homeless and the homeless are all druggies. Some homeless are drug addicts, some addicts are homeless and many aren’t. They are two separate and overlapping populations. Nor is everyone who sleeps in a tent is mentally ill. There is only one generalization that applies. People are homeless because they can’t afford housing. Despite reports to the contrary only a small minority that would choose to sleep rough.
The lack of affordable housing is not just a social problem and can’t be solved by a well meaning miss-mash of social programs that provide temporary relief at best. It’s an economic problem that begins with the top .01% and ends here. There is no financial independence for the many when the few control 99.99% of the capital.
The Union Gospel Mission operates a feeding center, medical and dental center and a clothing bank. Both the Salvation Army and the Baptist Church also have feeding programs. St. Peter’s Hospital, (Sister’s of Providence, Catholic Church) operates a warming station with MH counselors and navigators who attempt to find service referrals help with paperwork. There is other church involvement as well.
Blanket negative stereotyping of Christians is ill informed and unproductive. Bluntly put. Not all assholes are Christian and not all Christians are assholes.
"Even a child is known by his deeds, whether what he does is pure and right" (Proverbs 20:11).
The food bank on a sunny day. Now you stand in line for hours in the rain. Never understood why someone couldn’t put up a shelter.
Some people say we do too much; that it’s too easy to live homeless in Olympia; that we actually attract the homeless. I say, “Fine have a go at it if you think all the free stuff is so hot. Go sleep in the rain and report back on your finding. ” In their dream world the Hoovervilles would just disappear and America would be great again. Well unless you are in the bottom 99.9% that is.
Have you someone you know been homeless?
How close are you? Could you survive a job loss? A broken car or major medical expense? Please comment.
*Hooverville: A general description of any homeless encampment during the Great Depression. See: Hoovervilles and Homelessness in Washington State for a historical discussion of the subject.
VOTE Progressive and let’s Make America Good Again.
Friday, Dec 7, 2018 · 10:24:22 PM +00:00
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YellerDog
Thanks to each of you for the recommends. Ive read each and every one and they add so much more than I could have written. Thanks again. There is no excuse for hunger and homelessness in a country that can spend millions so our petulant presidential pretender can make a profit playing golf at his own resort on the countries dime. We are not an Oligarchy. Not yet and not unless we chose to be. VOTE