The whopper: 1.3 billion dollars. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass appears to be committed to telling homelessness like it is.
For example, in a recent speech aimed partly at the federal government, Bass stated that solving the homelessness problems of the City of Los Angeles alone will cost 1.3 billion, and effectively deal with a quarter of the America’s homeless population.
Hmm. 1.3 billion times 4 gives us 5.2 billion. Peanuts.
No, really. A single war machine — a modern aircraft carrier — is priced at more than 12 billion. The Ukraine-Russia conflict is raising questions about the vulnerability of modern warships in the era of inexpensive drone warfare. It may be time for America to stop ‘projecting power’ worldwide. Instead, it could consider getting more defensive in support of its own suffering citizens.
Indeed, throttling the cash flow to the military-industrial complex can be achieved by directing it to the housing industrial complex with no overall loss of government fawning over big business.
One more important take-away from Bass’s speech about LA’s homelessness problems: she places them firmly on the national stage, where they belong.
America is both proudly and promiscuously the land of the free. The nation currently battles the consequences. If homeless people don’t appreciate the amenities of Los Angeles, they can go elsewhere. When local governments ‘sweep’ away fragile shelters, they discount the wishes of homeless residents who want to remain in the area and have every right to do so.
A clearly national problem created by the mobility of American citizens will never be solved when viewed through local eyes. An American aircraft carrier cannot be built by a thousand communities, small and large, each quarrelling annually over the handful of dollars from local budgets to keep the military industrial complex afloat, along with building battleships.
Other countries that celebrate relocating their citizens would do well to take note of the orderly housing construction that could take place if the responsibility and action for a war on homelessness is vested in a national government.
At any rate, here’s more on a local American city currently saddled — if the mathematics and thinking are accurate — with what is effectively a quarter of an entire nation’s affordable housing crisis. Read more at NPR: The Los Angeles mayor says she needs $1.3 billion to address homelessness in the city
