Homeless families up, as much as 300% in some places

Post #162,020 by JayMehaffey 6/29/04 12:29:16 AM Reply	Homeless families up, as much as 300% in some places [link\|http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/29/national/29homeless.html\|NY Times] "We are always full," said Darlene Johnson, executive director of the shelter. "Pretty much bursting out of the seams." With its rents near record highs and wages stagnant, this wind-swept Plains city of 60,000 about 60 miles northwest of Minneapolis has seen the number of families requesting shelter climb by 45 percent in the last decade, to an average of 124 families a night. The number of homeless families in Minnesota tripled to 1,341 in 2003 a night from 434 in 1991, when the state first started conducting surveys every three years, and most of the last increase came in rural areas like this one. The White House is claiming that they are aware there is a problem but have no hard information on what the cause is. A significant part is obvious though, wages have remained stagnant for a long time, while rents have gone up. Jay
Post #162,047 by jbrabeck 6/29/04 7:47:32 AM Reply	OT: wind-swept Plains city I know we're considered "fly-over" country, but this is ridiculous. St. Cloud is considered almost a suburb of Minneapolis. "60 miles", maybe from city center to city center, but when you drive it, you never leave the urban sprawl. /rant
Post #162,726 by gdaustin 7/2/04 10:20:46 PM Reply	Food Pantry Demand up Dramatically In Collin County, home of some of the fastest growing suburbs in Dallas/Ft. Worth and in the country. The one we donated to now feeds 15,000 families a month. Many recipients were former donars. Glen
Post #162,729 by Ashton 7/2/04 10:52:00 PM Reply	Also lengthy article in SF Chron SF appears to have about the most street homeless/capita of any city. New mayor is an Unusual man; articulate, non-smarmy (whatever one's opinion on the 'marriage' issue). Gavin Newsome has begun a switch from cash-handouts to actually implementing some {imagine} new(er) housing + too much to encapsulate briefly. (He was on Charlie Rose with his Katharine Ross lookalike, equally sharp wife; the repartee was that which we'd like to find at a "party" say, instead of .. .. He/they gave some amazing answers re the 'marriage' and other actions since he took over.) Homelessness (and that Huge almost- group) appears to be heading towards the most visible sign (everywhere?) of the disconnect from those tired-old Econ numbers as make Wall Street instantly salivate, while tens of millions are driven to moments of sheer visceral rage. If an endless-War fever causes this to continue to be ignored and palliated with unfunded politico-speak, I can imagine this being the coalescing point for riot/demonstration we've not seen since the Bonus Marchers were gunned down by the young pre-'Ike' Eisenhower. Le plus s\ufffd change Your county is fortunate to also contain folks like you; many cities remain more or less depersonalized. SF has a few famous ones (Like Glide Memorial) who have been active in trying to take up the slack of official indifference.. for decades. It's now getting Too Big for just that :(

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