I read a great article by Cynthia Griffith a freelance writer dedicated to social justice and environmental issues. The article is linked here for your reference. In this article, Cynthia discusses the framing of the homeless problem when it is discussed by politicians. Her article cites a few specific examples, which I encourage you to read. In this post, I will discuss more societal misconceptions and how politicians and other government officials contribute to the disconnect.
Far too often, when discussing homelessness, political leaders seek to blame the people impacted rather than the actual problem, which is a lack of affordable housing. Crime is a societal problem and occurs when there is a lack of opportunity and resources. Drug use is a mental health issue that has been around for many years but is more prevalent and visible in communities due to the housing crisis. By trying to associate homeless people with crime and drug use, it enables politicians to dodge accountability. The lack of affordable housing is a problem that needs to be addressed through policy. Institutional buyers are gobbling up more and more of the housing market. According to an article on fastcompany.com, which you can read here, corporations like Blackstone have a huge footprint in residential real estate. Politicians need to establish and enforce firm anti-trust and monopoly laws to hold corporations accountable and ensure that single-family homes are for families.
Corporations also need to be held accountable by politicians when it comes to wages. The federal minimum wage has been the same $7.25 since 2009. An employee earning $7.25 per hour working 40 hours a week after taxes takes home less than $1,000 monthly. How can anyone expect a person to be able to live on that when the average rent of an apartment is $1536? Politicians need to enact policies to force corporations to pay their employees a wage tied to the cost of living in the community. A 2020 Government Accountability Office report indicates Walmart & McDonalds have the highest number of employees participating in the SNAP program. Walmart has a market cap of over 500 billion dollars, and McDonalds has a market cap of almost 200 billion dollars. Other extremely large corporations on the list include, Amazon with a market cap of a staggering 1.75 Trillion dollars, Home Depot has a market cap of almost 350 billion, Uber with a market cap of 144 billion. Companies this large have more than enough assets to pay their staff a higher wage, yet they exploit government programs to supplement their employees so they can maximize profits.
We must change how we view government assistance and ensure these massively profitable corporations pay their employees and their fair share in taxes. It is portrayed as necessary when the government bails out mismanaged and inefficient companies. Yet when we discuss using government funds directly to benefit people, the talking point becomes "they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps." People will always be worth investing in. Funneling resources into improving the community by providing access to affordable housing, healthcare, and education drastically improves the lives of all people in those communities. Enabling highly profitable companies to pay their employees less than they are worth and forcing them to leverage government assistance is a policy problem. Our politicians need to act on our behalf and not on behalf of the lobbyists for corporate interests. Demand change and hold politicians accountable. We need affordable housing now before the problem gets worse.
