American Billionaires: 744 Homeless: 567,715

 Lack of U.S Government Support Leaves One in Three on the Streets  

January 23, 2021 – In a nation where billionaires earn more than some small country economies, over 200,000 Americans remain living on the streets in conditions called “unfit for human habitation.”

And the problem is getting worse.

Dennis Culhane, the foremost expert on American homelessness, told the Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields that the number of street homeless has spiked 75 percent in the last six years.

            “The biggest crisis that we’re experiencing right now is this huge growth in what we call unsheltered homeless, people who are living outside on the streets or in encampments,” said Culhane, a professor and social science researcher at the University of Pennsylvania.

            American Homelessness exploded in the 1980s due to high unemployment, factory shutdowns, housing price increases, a rise in substance abuse, cutbacks to government housing programs and the federal closure of mental institutions.

            The lack of affordable housing along with the absence of enough mental illness and substance abuse treatment centers continues to plague the nation, Culhane said. Homelessness among veterans has dropped 50 percent due to a commitment of funding from the federal government.

            Yet the government has not shown the same political will to extend similar funds for the rest of the homeless population, Culhane said. About 40 percent of funding for homeless assistance in the nation comes through private donations, he said.

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Listen to the Dennis Culhane Retail Politics Podcast with Gerry Shields interview on Apple, Spotify and retailpoliticspodcast.com