Important Takeaways:
- Line between housed and homeless growing thinner across America
- On April 22, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson—a case which aims to determine whether local governments can make it a crime for someone to live outside and unsheltered if they have no home.
- Proponents argue that criminalizing public camping is a necessary measure for cities seeking to deal with unsafe and unsanitary homeless encampments. Opponents argue that criminalizing the involuntarily homeless only compounds injustice and inequality.
- The hotly contested case is the latest eruption of a long-simmering problem that is rapidly becoming a full-blown crisis in communities around the country. And regardless of what the Supreme Court decides, a stubborn fact remains: Neither strict nor lenient laws will end homelessness. But a systematic and community-wide focus on homelessness prevention measures just might.
- A January 25 report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies estimated that over 650,000 Americans experienced homelessness in 2023—up almost 50% from 2015. Costs of renting and home ownership have skyrocketed while wages largely stagnate. The Harvard report found that half of U.S. households are “cost-burdened” (meaning that 30-50% of monthly income goes to housing), and 12 million people are “severely cost-burdened.” These Americans stand one accident, health setback, or employment disruption away from eviction.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- Report Reveals 300% Surge in Death of Homeless People in LA Amid Fentanyl Crisis
- These tragic deaths, averaging nearly six per day, underscore the severity of the humanitarian crisis unfolding on the streets and in shelters across the county.
- Over the past decade, a total of 11,573 deaths of unhoused individuals have been logged, with fatalities steadily climbing each year. In 2023 alone, 2,033 lives were lost—an astonishing 291% increase from 2014 and an 8% uptick from the previous year.
- The data, however, likely underestimates the true scope of the crisis, as it only captures deaths falling under the medical examiner’s jurisdiction, excluding cases where individuals recently saw a doctor.
- The LA County public health department, employing more comprehensive methodologies, estimates a 20% increase in deaths recorded in its database, further underscoring the magnitude of the crisis. Behind these stark statistics lie stories of profound human suffering and struggle.
- The autopsy reports from 2023 highlight the myriad challenges facing unhoused individuals: the proliferation of fentanyl, untreated physical and mental illnesses, and the absence of affordable housing. Tragically, many deaths are attributed to overdoses, violence, and untreated medical conditions, reflecting the harsh realities of life on the streets.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- US homelessness up 12% to highest reported level as rents soar and coronavirus pandemic aid lapses
- The United States experienced a dramatic 12% increase in homelessness to its highest reported level as soaring rents and a decline in coronavirus pandemic assistance combined to put housing out of reach for more Americans, federal officials said Friday.
- About 653,000 people were homeless, the most since the country began using the yearly point-in-time survey in 2007. The total in the January count represents an increase of about 70,650 from a year earlier.
- The latest estimate indicates that people becoming homeless for the first time were behind much of the increase.
- Jeff Olivet, executive director of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, a federal agency, said “The most significant causes are the shortage of affordable homes and the high cost of housing that have left many Americans living paycheck to paycheck and one crisis away from homelessness,” Olivet said.
- Within the overall rise, homelessness among individuals rose by nearly 11%, among veterans by 7.4% and among families with children by 15.5%.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- San Francisco tries to recruit cops from TEXAS as it faces shortage of hundreds of officers – and business leaders like Salesforce’s Marc Benioff slam the city’s widespread homelessness and drug use
- San Francisco is trying to recruit cops from Texas as it faces a shortage of officers, after businessman Marc Benioff slammed the city’s homeless and drug problems.
- The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) is visiting four Texas university campuses throughout the month as part of a new recruitment drive.
- Candidates from outside of the state of California will take a written test, a physical ability test and an interview to see if they make the cut.
- Mayor London Breed was one of the first to openly speak out in support of defunding the police.
- During a July 2020 press conference, Breed said: ‘We chose to change how this city and how this country treats our young Black men.’
- Breed announced $120 million would be cut from the police and sheriff’s departments to reinvest in programs that help black and brown communities.
- The following year, Breed u-turned on the decision and increased the police budget as the city faced a rampant rise in property crime and looting.
- Latest figures up until Sunday show that there have been more homicides so far this year than the whole of last year.
- Likewise, the number of robberies in the city is also higher now than for the whole of last year, with 1,989 reported incidents this year, compared to just 1,704 last year.
- The number of total crimes this year is also closely catching up with last year’s full total, with 36,573 crimes committed this year, compared to 37,674 in 2022.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Important Takeaways:
- As many as 200 people may have been living in the building, witnesses said
- A nighttime fire ripped through a rundown five-story building in Johannesburg that was occupied by homeless people and squatters, leaving at least 73 people dead early Thursday, emergency services in South Africa’s biggest city said.
- A witness said he saw people throwing babies out of the burning building in an attempt to save them and that at least one man died when he jumped from a window on the third floor and hit the concrete sidewalk “head first.”
- Seven of the victims were children, the youngest a 1-year-old, according to an emergency services spokesperson.
- Mulaudzi, the emergency services spokesperson, said the death toll was likely to increase and more bodies were probably trapped inside the building.
- The fire took three hours to contain, he said, and firefighters needed time to work through all five floors.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Revelations 13:16-18 “Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.”
Important Takeaways:
- California has spent billions to fight homelessness. The problem has gotten worse
- California has spent a stunning $17.5 billion trying to combat homelessness over just four years. But, in the same time frame, from 2018 to 2022, the state’s homeless population actually grew. Half of all Americans living outside on the streets, federal data shows, live in California.
- Across the country, homelessness is on the rise. But California is adding more homeless people every year than any other state. More than 170,000 unhoused people now live here.
- “The problem would be so much worse, absent these interventions,” Jason Elliott, senior adviser on homelessness to Gov. Gavin Newsom, told CNN. “And that’s not what people want to hear. I get it, we get it.”
- But with $17.5 billion, the state could, theoretically, have just paid the rent for every unhoused person in California for those four years, even at the state’s high home costs.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Revelations 13:16-18 “Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.”
Important Takeaways:
- Disaster: Homelessness Skyrockets in Los Angeles; Over 75,000 on Streets in L.A. County
- The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday:
- Homelessness continued to rise dramatically, increasing by 9% in Los Angeles County and 10% in the city of Los Angeles last year, in a stark illustration of the challenges faced by officials trying to reduce the number of people living on the streets.
- The count, conducted by thousands of volunteers during a three-day period in January, projected that 75,518 people were living in interim housing or a tent, car, van, RV, tent or makeshift shelter in Los Angeles County, compared with 69,144 the previous year.
- Almost all the growth came from the Westside and Harbor areas of Los Angeles, with each seeing increases of just over 2,000 people, or about 45%.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Revelations 13:16-18 “Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.”
Important Takeaways:
- The Number Of Americans Living On The Streets “Has Broadly Risen This Year”
- Joe Biden and the mainstream media keep telling us that the economy is in good shape, but we continue to get more evidence that directly contradicts that assertion.
- According to a comprehensive analysis that was just conducted by the Wall Street Journal, the number of homeless people in the United States “has broadly risen this year”
- The Journal reviewed data from 150 entities that count homeless people in areas ranging from cities to entire states. More than 100 places reported increases in early 2023 counts compared with 2022, and collectively, their numbers indicate the U.S. might see a sharper climb than in recent years. Most major urban areas reporting data so far have seen increases, including Chicago, Miami, Boston and Phoenix.
- The Journal received data from 67 of the 100 locales with the highest homeless counts last year, along with many others. Preliminary data show 48 of those 67 reported an increase this year, with combined counts up 9% from the numbers HUD published for those places in 2022 and 13% since 2020.
- In San Diego, the homelessness crisis is worse than it has ever been before. In just the last seven months, 580 tons of trash has been collected from homeless encampments in the city
Read the original article by clicking here.
Mathew 24:12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
Important Takeaways:
- Broken Portland: New images of city’s homeless show encampments taking over – as fed-up residents wake up to tents on their lawns, drug dealers on every corner – and woke lawmakers pushing to DECRIMINALIZE the camps
- Shocking new images show Portland’s mounting homeless crisis as encampments take over streets and sidewalks – and fed-up residents want the city to take action.
- Local authorities in Oregon are also considering calling in the National Guard to help with Portland’s homeless issue – while residents reveal they now no longer walk in certain areas because of the drug and encampment problem.
- This follows news that Democrat lawmakers in Oregon want to decriminalize homeless camps with a law that would allow the people who live in them to sue for $1,000 if they’re harassed or told to leave.
- Portland also made headlines recently after numbers that showed in 2022 there were more than 5,000 homeless people throughout the city.
- Residents of one Portland neighborhood say they are fed up with the growing homeless crisis after their area was cleared just to see encampments pop back up hours later.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Mathew 24:12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
Important Takeaways:
- Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse… Now Oregon looks to DECRIMINALIZE encampments and let homeless SUE for $1,000 if they’re harassed or told to leave: Furious Portland residents say they’re being terrorized in their own neighborhoods
- Democrat lawmakers in Oregon want to decriminalize homeless camps with a law that would allow the people who live in them to sue for $1,000 if they’re harassed or told to leave.
- The hugely-controversial bill claims ‘decriminalization of rest’ would allow city leaders to ‘redirect’ cash from law enforcement into measures that ‘address the root causes of homelessness and poverty’.
- But the proposal has been met with thousands of complaints – and comes as some in the embattled city of Portland plan to move because of the number of homeless camps.
- The bill, HB 3501, was sponsored by Democrat representative Farrah Chaichi and her colleague, representative Khanh Pham. It will be discussed at a hearing of the state’s House Committee On Housing and Homelessness on May 4.
- …essentially stating they can reside in parks and on other public land indefinitely without
- In March, DailyMail.com reported how some Portland residents think the city has become lawless and ‘post-apocalyptic’ because of rising rates of homelessness and drug abuse.
- Earlier this month, Walmart announced that they were leaving the city.
Read the original article by clicking here.
