The Math On Greed Vs. Homelessness

Chicago offers a new program to consider.

You could argue homelessness is the major moral crisis of our time — I’m still not entirely sure how housing became a commodity as opposed to a right — or you might say that moral issue is addiction, climate change, etc. You might not care about “the moral issue of our time” and instead just try to make money, be content/happy, and raise your kids (if blessed with those). But even if you don’t think about this stuff, homelessness probably affects you: it tugs at your heartstrings, it impacts the experience of living in your city/area, and it’s constantly used as a political flash point.

We’ve been trying to “solve” homelessness for years, but it’s very hard, because it’s so tied up in other major issues — availability of jobs, how companies like to pay people (not well), housing stock, affordable housing, addiction, mental health programs, the criminal justice system, and more. You can’t really “solve” for housing without trying to adjust two or three other dials of society, and that’s where it gets tricky.

The major rebuttal to a lot of homelessness initiatives is, of course, the “bootstraps” narrative.

Why should I, with all my gifts, pay some of my taxes to house free-loaders that aren’t even looking for jobs? I live in Texas, and my county is still pretty red, so I’ve heard this argument 350 times from people. My friend volunteers at a church day school — so, kids under 5 mostly — and she’s even heard that argument from the young’ins. Scary.

Well, now Chicago is trying something as the next brick in the “rich developer guys” vs. “general empathy for all in society” war: