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A Simple Solution To America's Housing Crisis.

On an average night in the United States, more than 770,000 people are homeless, and this number includes children as well as adults. Of course, that's just an estimate from government sources. The real number is likely much higher, as outreach teams are unable to count every homeless person, especially those who are technically without housing but have friends who let them sleep on the couch for a few nights or who live in cheap motels when they can afford it. It's not beyond reason to think we could have a million people in America with no permanent, safe place to call home. It's often assumed that homelessness is caused by mental health issues or drug & alcohol abuse, but in reality, the main contributors to homelessness are a lack of housing supply, rising home values, and unaffordable rent. There simply aren't enough houses or apartments available, and as a result, prices go up and the requirements to qualify for a home loan or to be approved for a lease become unattainable for more and more people. The situation has gotten so bad that tent cities have sprung up in urban areas while others are forced to live in their cars. It's unacceptable that the world's most powerful nation is unable, or unwilling, to make sure every citizen has a home.

As usual, government officials have no solutions to what should be a simple problem. Could this be because the housing industry, which donates big money to politicians, prefers to keep the housing supply tight in an effort to keep prices high?

Despite what industry lobbyists say, I believe homelessness can be eliminated fairly easily, by diverting existing government expenditures from war and foreign aid and into a domestic building program.

First, some numbers: according to Janover Multifamily Loans, the current cost to build a 200 unit apartment complex ranges from $50 million to $100 million in an average city (not including major markets such as Manhattan and San Francisco). Since we need the most units possible and not luxury complexes, let's use the lower estimate of $50 million.

Now let's look at where the money could come from. We give Israel $3.8 Billion per year, and since October 2023 we've spent more than $23 Billion in military costs to enable their genocide against the people of Gaza. In Israel alone, we've wasted nearly $27 Billion that could have been used to help American citizens right here within our own borders. That money could have built 540 apartment complexes totaling 108,000 units.

In 2024 we gave Ukraine $1.2 Billion, Jordan $1.1 Billion, Ethiopia $874 Million, DR Congo $843 Million, Somalia $706 Million, South Sudan $657 Million, and Yemen $602 Million. (We give hundreds of millions more to other countries throughout the world in addition to these.) The total for these seven is $5,982,000,000, or roughly $6 Billion to make it easier to compute. That amount of money could have built another 120 apartment complexes totaling 24,000 units.

That's 132,000 homes built using the money we send overseas in just over a year, and in most cases that money is sent year after year. If we did nothing else but keep that money here instead of giving it away, we could continue to build thousands of homes every year and have 770,000 ready in less than six years. That's enough to house all the homeless we estimate we have now, plus provide thousands of jobs in construction and manufacturing. Getting people housed would also reduce crime, it would clean up our cities, and it would give people the hope they need to keep them from turning to drugs & alcohol.

We could gain even more units if local governments would loosen regulations prohibiting the construction of tiny homes and relax building codes that drive up construction costs. Homes need to be safe, but they also need to be available. Regulations and codes are often used to protect a city's image, but they do little good when residents are sleeping on sidewalks or in tents.

Our problem isn't a lack of funds; it's a lack of will combined with misplaced priorities. A nation is made up of its people, and those people can't be productive and contribute to the strength of the nation if they're struggling to stay alive.

Some will say my idea is socialism, a point I can't deny. While I strongly oppose all forms of Marxist ideology, we have a crisis that can be solved using money we're already spending. We just need to spend it on something that actually helps America instead of sending it to other nations that give us nothing in return. With a national debt of $37 Trillion that rises every day, we can no longer afford to fix the world while our own nation crumbles. Our focus has to be at home, at least until our internal problems have been taken care of.

Further, the apartment homes I've proposed wouldn't be given to tenants for free. Rent would be charged sufficient to maintain the properties and possibly return some funds to the federal treasury, but that rent would be affordable to people working the service jobs that help keep our economy going. We all like the convenience of fast food, for example, but the cashiers and the cooks have to live somewhere local or the restaurants won't be able to stay open. And do you really want the guy who makes your food to be living in a tent with no running water?

Ultimately, once we've gotten out of crisis mode, we can stop building apartments and start repairing our neglected infrastructure and paying down our debt. But no money should go overseas (other than for legitimate emergency humanitarian aid) until we've gotten our own nation built back strong again.

Because a strong homeland is the best kind of national security.

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Addendum:

After I published this article, I received some comments on social media suggesting that the best solution to the housing crisis would be to deport the illegal immigrants. Although that seems logical, here's is the reply I posted to explain why mass deportations will never happen:

"To show the fallacy of Trump's deportation psyop, I did some research and found there are an estimated 18.6 million illegal immigrants living in the United States, almost 6% of the total population. That's as many people as the total population of Cambodia and twice as many as live in Israel, Austria, or Switzerland. Deporting even 1/4 of the illegals would crash our economy, something Trump knows. Stunts like the "Alligator Alley" deportation camp are part of the theater that creates the perception that Trump is tough on immigration. In reality, even if 3.7 million people were deported every year, it would take five years to finish the job. (That's 10,136 people PER DAY, every day, for five years).

I'm not pro-immigration, but the numbers don't lie. We have an economy that is dependent on illegals. It also depends on income from illegal drugs, but that's a story for another day."

So while Trump will continue with his highly publicized deportations, he's going for the "low-hanging fruit" and the most violent criminals. What he's doing through ICE is essentially theater for the masses as well as a form of social training that conditions us to the sight of heavily armed police roaming the nation looking for targets. It won't make a significant dent in the number of illegals living in America nor will it solve the housing crisis.

We Demand: Take Care Of Our Own.

Freeze all foreign aid and take care of our own. We are not asking.

The Inhumanity Of Donald Trump.

Let's get this out of the way first: like most living, breathing, legitimate voters, I voted for Donald Trump in 2020. I didn't vote at all in 2016. I knew Hillary was fake and corrupt, but I couldn't work out my feelings about Trump back then. I had a nagging feeling he was going to let us down in a big way, so I stayed home. But after four years of watching him at least attempt to do good things for America while the Communists and their Democratic Party allies worked endlessly to tear him apart, my opinion of Trump began to change. By 2020 he had won me over, and I enthusiastically gave him my support and my vote.

But since then my enthusiasm has been slipping away, mostly due to the words coming out of his own mouth. 

Trump's positions on two issues are so callous and insensitive I have to wonder just how decent and moral a man he really is.

The first issue is his unrepentant stance on the covid vaccines. When he announced Operation Warp Speed, even his critics were hopeful the program would be a success. And when the vaccines reached the market in record time, we trusted they would be as "safe and effective" as promised. But it didn't take long before reports began coming in about horrible side effects and deaths among the jabbed. Many of us saw early-on that something was seriously wrong with the vaccines, but the media suppressed the carnage while the government continued its "safe and effective" propaganda. And Trump's support for the vaccines continued even after he left office in 2021. The body count kept growing, with CDC reports indicating tens of thousands of victims of vaccine harm. But Trump didn't warn us. He didn't tell us to stop getting vaccinated. He kept on being a cheerleader for the jabs, even when the death toll surpassed 34,000 people in the US alone, plus hundreds of thousands who were seriously injured but haven't (yet) died.

In late 2021 Trump said "I came up with a vaccine, with three vaccines, all are very, very good.," referring to the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson shots. He didn't mention the risks. He didn't mention the injuries. He didn't mention the dead.

At a rally in Alabama, Trump told the crowd “I recommend, take the vaccines. I did it. It’s good. Take the vaccines.”

In an interview he told Candace Owens, "People aren’t dying when they take the vaccine.” But people were dying, and people are still dying from Trump's experimental vaccines. And to this day in 2023, he still hasn't acknowledged the harm being done nor apologized to any of its victims or the families of the dead.

As if Trump's insensitivity on the vaccine issue isn't enough, he's now stumbled into another controversy that makes him look cold and out of touch. On April 18 he posted a video on his Truth Social account titled "Homelessness Plan." 

In it, Trump said "the homeless, the drug-addicted, and the violent and dangerously deranged" had ruined America's cities, "turn every park and sidewalk into a place for them to squat and do drugs. When I'm back in the White House, we will use every tool, lever, and authority" to "end the scourge of homelessness and make our cities clean and safe and beautiful once again."

How would he do this? "Working with states, we will ban urban camping wherever possible…. We will then open up large parcels of inexpensive land; bring in doctors, psychiatrists, social workers, and drug rehab specialists; and create tent cities where the homeless can be relocated and their problems identified."

Let's unpack this. He calls homelessness a "scourge", which is essentially saying the homeless themselves are a scourge. We've all seen homeless encampments in big cities and no one would argue that they're good for the communities they exist in. But Trump is implying the homeless aren't quite human and need to be cleared out of the cities in which they live, the same cities where they likely grew up, and still have family, friends, and some level of support. His plan makes poverty a crime, punishable by losing one's right to live freely without government interference. Do the homeless use drugs? Some do, but not all of them. And while drug abuse can cause homelessness, it's also true that homelessness often leads to drug abuse. When people lose hope, they find ways to numb the pain. Are the homeless "violent and dangerously deranged"? No more so than the general population. Most, in fact, prefer to stay calm to avoid any encounters with the police.

I agree that having more doctors, psychiatrists, social workers, and drug rehab specialists would be helpful, but these resources need to be available where people are right now. Rounding people up and shipping them off like cattle to government-run tent cities is inhumane and reminiscent of how the Nazi's treated the Jews and anyone else they considered to be undesirable. Trump's plan completely ignores that the United States has an affordable housing shortage of nearly 7 million homes. It ignores that rents across the country have nearly doubled in the past year while wages have remained stagnant. It ignores that local zoning regulations and building codes, along with inflation, have made the cost of home construction prohibitively high. Cheaper options such as tiny houses and mobile homes are banned in many cities, leaving low income earners few choices other than sleeping in their cars or living in tents. Here in the world's richest nation, we have senior citizens being evicted due to staggering rent increases, with nowhere to go. Trump would force them onto a bus and ship them to a tent city where they would live with all the other undesirables...the drug addicted, the violent, the dangerously deranged.

Trump's plan is the most immoral, inhumane, out of touch proposal I've ever heard from a man who seriously thinks he deserves to sit in the White House again. Combined with his shockingly insensitive and unapologetic stance on the covid vaccines, I have to wonder if he truly has the moral character to make America great again.

We need to find out before November 2024.

Your Silence Is Killing People.

The world spent $1735 Billion on war in 2012. It would take approximately $135 Billion to eradicate poverty.

The world's wealthiest people could end poverty but they don't really care about us. And the rest of us could force change if we stopped pretending this problem doesn't exist.

More than 150 million people are homeless, worldwide. More than 600 million people live in extreme poverty, making less than two dollars a day. And more than 3 million children die from hunger every year.

And now you know, what are you going to do to make a difference?

No One Wants To Fix The Housing Crisis.

All over the world people are struggling to find a place to live. I'm not talking about the chronically homeless that have other demons to fight, such as drug addiction, alcoholism, or mental illness. I'm talking about your friends, family members, and even co-workers who have steady income and stable housing histories but can no longer afford to buy a home or rent an apartment. Until just recently, decent homes could be found for sale in the southern United States for under $100,000 for an older property and around $150,000 for new construction. But check out the little house listed for sale in North Carolina at a whopping $275,000. For that price you get a decent sized lot for a city property, but only 2 bedrooms and only a half bath. It doesn't even have a kitchen according to the real estate agent's listing. If you want something with a full bathroom and functioning kitchen, expect to pay $350,000 and up. Way up. I'm sure people living in California think these prices are bargains, but in an area where most people make less than $20 an hour, buying a house that costs a quarter million dollars or more is a fantasy, not a realistic goal.

If buying a house isn't possible, how about renting an apartment? Not so fast! There's a shortage of rental properties all across America, and it's a problem other nations are facing as well. Even though we've just allegedly come through a pandemic with millions of deaths, for some reason every city and town has waiting lists for apartments, and rents have doubled and even tripled. How can all the apartments be full if so many people died from covid? At the same time that rents are skyrocketing due to a lack of available units, businesses are struggling to find enough employees to keep their doors open. If we don't have enough people to fill jobs, how do we have too many people for the available housing? It makes no sense. And don't blame unemployment benefits for the lack of employees. Most of the pandemic relief funds dried up long ago, and some greedy states are even trying to claw back the money they gave out. But regardless, if you go out apartment hunting, here's what you might find:

Yes, a one bedroom apartment that's under 700 square feet will cost you $2623 per month on a twelve month lease. And that's an older property where the same apartment rented for under $800 two years ago. I've seen other apartment complexes renting at $1200 to $1500 per month, almost double their rates from a year ago. Anything under $1000 is probably in a high crime area you'd rather not live in. 

But that's not the worst of it. Many apartments require a full month's rent up front as a security deposit, and some rental companies now "nickel and dime" their tenants with mandatory extra fees for parking, "valet" trash collection, water bills, and usage of amenities such as the fitness room that no one uses. One company even charges $4 per month for pest control, something that should be a part of the basic rent. The greed being demonstrated by landlords is astonishing. In my city, senior citizens have been forced out of apartment complexes in mass evictions after rents nearly tripled. City officials say they're unable to do anything to ease the situation.

And something rarely mentioned is what it takes to qualify to get into one of these overpriced apartments. Landlords have traditionally required proof of income that is 3 times the monthly rent. When average rents were $600 to $800, most working people qualified. But with typical rents being $1500, the income required to qualify is now $4500 per month. Even someone earning $20 an hour would not be accepted as a new tenant in most of the apartment complexes in America. Getting a roommate is an option, but most landlords require all parties on the lease to earn 3 times the monthly rent. They won't accept two combined incomes to reach the 3X requirement.

So houses are too expensive and apartments are out of reach. What are the alternatives? You might consider building a tiny house somewhere, since they can built for under $10,000 if you're frugal and creative. You might even have a friend who lets you build your house in his backyard. But no so fast! City, county, and state building codes and zoning laws will almost certainly stop you in your tracks. And if the government doesn't catch you, that nosy "not in my neighborhood" neighbor will certainly turn you in to the authorities so they can fine you and tear down your new home.

That leaves tent cities and homeless encampments, which are also targets of city officials and nosy neighbors. Or you could throw away everything you own and move into a homeless shelter. But you can only stay a couple of months before they tell you to leave, and the shelters are all full anyway.

The lack of affordable housing is a major crisis that's only going to get worse due to inaction by developers and government officials. Developers are only interested in building luxury properties that earn the greatest return on their investments. Governments say they can't afford to build public housing, but often the truth is that property developers moonlight as city council members and they don't want cheap housing built that will suppress the value of the properties they own. Governments build just enough housing so that it looks like they're working on the problem, but not enough to make a real difference. 

And so the problem continues, and it continues to get worse. It's gotten so bad where I live the city has opened a parking lot with security guards where people can safely sleep in their cars at night. Many of these people are single moms with kids who could afford a decent place to live just a few months ago. Apparently the greed of landlords hasn't kept them from getting a good night's sleep in their posh homes overlooking the golf course. They're certainly not sleeping in their cars.

The housing crisis could be solved if governments would get out of the way. People need to be allowed to build tiny homes on small lots. Regulations need to be amended to allow rainwater collection or bulk water deliveries instead of requiring city water hookups or expensive wells. Composting toilets need to allowed as an option instead of requiring a septic tank or city sewer service. People should allowed to live permanently in RV's on private land without the city or county forcing them to move. These changes would make housing more accessible to more people and could ultimately reduce crime thanks to there being less pressure to come up with enough money to get off the streets. 

This is a crisis that is easily fixed if people would just be willing to fix it. Will we do it? Or will we turn a blind eye to the suffering until that suffering becomes our own?

American Leaders Let Nation Rot While Sending Billions To Ukraine.

Americans are suffering through record-high inflation and a housing crisis that is making people live in tents. Many families now call their car their home. Depression and desperation have driven people to use hard drugs to numb the pain. Deaths from opioid overdoses and alcohol abuse have devastated families.

The response from the federal government? Send billions of dollars to Ukraine to fight a war that was triggered by the United States and other NATO nations. We're being bankrupted by our own leaders who insanely think they can prop up the western world's crashing financial system by destroying Russia. Our leaders are so demented they've actually suggested a nuclear war might be in our future.

But they have no money and no answers for the problems facing US citizens and the cities we live in. 

Recently I wrote my state's US Senators and the Representative for my district about this horrible situation. Only one of them replied, and he stood by his votes for funding the Ukraine war and he completely ignored my questions about homelessness and the housing crisis. The other two don't even care enough to send a generic response.

Joe Biden has abandoned us. Congress has abandoned us. They work for the international bankers, not us. Their actions make that clear every day.

[video source: Mint Press News - mintpressnews.com]