I believe you have it Guy Gambill. Or at least part of the answer. It is
crazy to spend the number of dollars we do on policing those laws aimed at
poverty. It is cheaper to give a homeless person a home than to keep
arresting and treating that person for the medical and psychological
problems that result from that homelessness.
But shelters are not always the answer either. The cost of a shelter bed is
often as much as the cost of a real house. You mention putting facilities
housing three or four people scattered throughout the City. It is a good
idea, and one we have advocated and fought for years to get as policy for
Minneapolis. Rather than paying for shelter bed payments it would be cheaper
to team three or four people together and then GIVE them a house.
We have housing room for ALL the homeless in Minnesota sitting rotting down
at Fort Snelling. It is even a historic site and asset for Minnesota. Yet
our State would rather it rot down than use it for poor people! Why?
Probably not enough money for someone to make on the deal. Remember,
poverty is a big business in our City. RT Rybak told me personally that the
reason he did not ask the State of Minnesota to turn Fort Snelling over to
the City of Minneapolis was because he did not want Minneapolis to pay for
the police to patrol it. Talk about penny wise and 100 million dollar
stupid! So Minneapolis will not take a billion dollars worth of property
because it does not want to pay for security? MY, MY, MY, and we wonder why
we do not have adequate resources for public safety.
I saw on television how small towns working the system were getting millions
of dollars out of that foolish Federal Homeland Security fund. My question
is how much is Minneapolis getting and where is it all at? Or is
Minneapolis missing the boat because we do not have the City Hall leadership
to go get the bacon? Just like we have not had the City Hall leadership to
go get the State of Minnesota Bacon. We have to wait until some of it falls
off the truck, and have a Mayor that brags it is his doing and he should get
the credit because the bacon truck bounced while running over him. We got
that little bacon from the State despite City Hall, not because of the
Mayor's office.
To go on with this fiscal look at policy - American Indian Community
Development Corporation ran a program called KOLA to give services,
including medical care, for the homeless. A wonderful program! The program
was de-funded. So the clientele instead of getting inexpensive treatment
for what might be a small problem is reduced to waiting until it becomes
worse then going to "Emergency Rooms". The program continues with
volunteers and donations, and saves hundreds of thousands of taxpayer
dollars a year. Those people not having adequate housing is more of a cost
that just to the lives of the homeless. Lack of housing also increased
costs in police dollars, in court costs, medical care, social workers, you
name it, it costs more! Forget about human compassion for a fellow man, it
would simply cost tax payers a hell of a lot less dollars to house them
rather than to leave them homeless!
It is probably a weird paradox to have "Liberals" telling conservatives that
they would show a lot more fiscal responsibility if they took care of the
homeless and poor people. For some bizarre reason conservatives and
pseudo-liberals would rather spend a hundred thousand dollars a year on a
homeless single person, rather than six or seven thousand a year on a home
for that person. Even one trip to the hospital with any stay far exceeds
any cost for adequate housing, and some homeless are forced to be treated
several times a year.
Concentrating those folks in supportive housing institutions, in supportive
housing ghettoes, to treat mental illness, alcohol and drugs, sex offenders
and all other problems is also not the solution. It is like a family with a
dysfunctional member. A caring family can still be functional and caring
when there is one dysfunctional member. But if you have two or three
dysfunctional members it is overwhelmed and becomes a dysfunctional family.
The same is true of a community. It can be a supportive community that
gives opportunities and care to a few individuals who are dysfunctional, but
NOT to hundreds of such individuals, then it becomes a dysfunctional
community that perpetuates the problems and costs. A dysfunctional
community where police problems, social problems, addiction problems, and
poverty are exacerbated, and an individual's problems are even more
exacerbated.
These "Impacted" containment zones do not cost tax payers less, they cost us
all more! The homeless person does not cost the taxpayer less he or she
costs more. And as Guy reported a large percentage of these homeless people
are veterans. Many of their problems can be directly traced to service to
their country. Yet rather than them receiving the care and housing we owe
them, we pay huge amounts of taxpayer dollars to keep them homeless. Being
poor in Minneapolis is a real expensive thing for both the individual and
for the taxpayer.
By the way, it costs taxpayers and the City less for GOOD public safety than
the bad job we presently are getting. The City as whole becomes much more
competitive for business. Property values and taxes go up with it.
Just some thoughts from
Jim Graham,
sett'en on the porch steps in Ventura Village
"The people are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.
We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt."
- Thomas Jefferson
REMINDERS:
1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If
you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL
PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list.
2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait.
For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html
For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract
________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn
E-Democracy
Post messages to: mailto:[email protected]
Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
