The City of San Jose, CA is planning to house as many of its homeless as they can in local hotel/motel rooms, and some people are furious! Why waste money on these people who prefer to live on the streets and are too lazy or drunk to get a job?
It would be a waste of money–if that stereotype were true. However, many men, women, and children became homeless during the recession when they were laid off from their jobs and could no longer afford their mortgage or rent. Many women (yes, and their children) discovered that their divorce settlement left them with no funds and that their main job as stay-at-home mom (which, often, was what hubby wanted) paid nothing and made them look like they had nothing to offer to companies who were hiring. A good portion are veterans who, when coming home from the battlefield, had illnesses (mental and physical) that kept them from earning a living that would house and feed them. So, let’s set aside the faulty stereotype of the “typical” homeless person.
On the financial side, taxpayers should save some money: in emergency room visits for people who have become ill or hurt on the streets; from police who spend time rounding up homeless; from crews who clean up homeless encampments, only to return in a few months to do it all over again; in aid given to charities to help the homeless. Then there’s the gain in taxes once these people get jobs and back on their feet, which can happen only after they have safe, healthy shelter. And don’t forget the hotel/motel owners, with all the rooms that have been standing empty–more income for them means more tax money in the coffers.
Then there’s the fact that these people are part of our human family and, as such, deserve our efforts to help them help themselves.
Sounds like a reasonable deal to me.
