Feeding Homeless Apparently Illegal in Raleigh, NC (w/MAJOR update at 4:43 PM)

[freshwest]

102. Better to end homelessness. The current situation is due to Reagan era actions.

FDR's campaign trip to Pittsburgh, PA, during which he dedicated the Terrace Village housing project on October 11, 1940.

FDR and Housing Legislation

In his State of the Union Message of January 6, 1937, President Roosevelt spoke of the urgent need for the new Congress to address the housing situation:

“There are far-reaching problems still with us for which democracy must find solutions if it is to consider itself successful. For example, many millions of Americans still live in habitations which not only fail to provide the physical benefits of modern civilization but breed disease and impair the health of future generations. The menace exists not only in the slum areas of the very large cities, but in many smaller cities as well. It exists on tens of thousands of farms, in varying degrees, in every part of the country.”

Two weeks later, Roosevelt made the point more succinctly in his Second Inaugural Address:

"I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished. . . . The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

FDR then worked behind the scenes with lawmakers and administration officials on the housing bill. Issues such as financing of projects, caps on costs per unit, and the staffing and governance of the proposed housing authority were sorted out in conferences held at the White House. With the major concerns of various Congressmen—including Rep. Steagall—resolved, the bill finally went to a vote. President Roosevelt signed the Wagner-Steagall Housing Act into law on September 1, 1937.

The new law established the United States Housing Authority (USHA) that provided $500 million in loans for low-cost housing projects across the country. Under the new law, the USHA acted as a loan granting agency to state and local housing authorities to build low-cost housing in both small and large urban areas. The USHA was empowered to advance loans amounting to 90% of project costs, at low-interest and on 60-year terms. By the end of 1940, over 500 USHA projects were in progress or had been completed, with loan contracts of $691 million. The goal was to make the program self-sustainable through the collection of rents: one-half of rent from the tenants themselves, one-third paid by contributions from the Federal government; and one-sixth paid by annual contributions made by the localities themselves. During World War II, the USHA was instrumental in planning and constructing housing for defense workers.

To Franklin Roosevelt, adequate housing was not just a need, but a right. The Wagner-Steagall Housing Act of 1937, along with other New Deal housing and mortgage initiatives, brought greater economic security to hundreds of thousands of Americans. In his January 11, 1944 State of the Union address, FDR declared a “second Bill of Rights” that included “the right of every family to a decent home.”



I watched these public projects, which in my city were in good shape, and all but one of the city's public hospitals all sold off to developers in the era of Reagan. That reduced health care and housing to the poor. I know that some were in bad conditions in other places, which spurred part of the changes.

It was the beginning of chronic homelessness for many people. And by putting the problems of anyone up for public ridicule as Reagan did with the welfare queen meme, his anti-union, anti-civil rights agenda, add deregulation, and we have this problem continuing to fester.

Where I live, there is a good deal of subsidized housing that does not depend on large projects being built, and it works better than nothing. I'm not sure what's going on in Raleigh, but listening to Reverend Barber, the GOP has cut everything.

With all due respect to private charities, it is the lack of affordable, free or subsidized housing with unemployment payments and other social needs that need to be addressed. There is no lack of housing but there is NIMBYism.

We should not just be having the homeless fed while they are still left homeless as if we didn't know any better. I see communities that have banished those without homes, and others who grant them the right to be homeless without being bothered. What I want to see them not be homeless, period.

It is sad to think we are reduced to cheering a daily hand out to the homeless that equals the price of a cup of coffee and a sandwich. Such nominal efforts show a good heart but do not solve the problem.

Don't get me wrong, I've been homeless. When the big churches would not help me, a small one did give me coupons to get fast food meals. I am grateful for that to this day. Also, my situation was temporary and I was between places to live for a while.

Fortunately I did have a vehicle and people do live out of their vehicles. The church that gave me the coupons also told me where to park, as none would allow me to park overnight since their insurance didn't allow it. The woman pastor told me of a quiet state rest area with a bathroom and highway patrol office there for my safety. I was touched by her heartfelt concern after being dismissed by other churches and scared. It was also in late November and the autumn rain and gales were in full force.

And I was not asked anything by the police at the rest area until my second week. Then a patrol officer came to tell me kindly that they did not allow people to stay there permanently. I said I had found a place to stay and would be moving on as soon as it was available, which was true. The officer said alright and good luck.

Money exists to house people, but this is NOT the America of FDR. The will of Amercans to take care of strangers as a matter of human dignity seems to have left us years ago. Charity is an optional act and people should have rights, not live off the whims of others. We have been taken over by Randians who see nothing wrong with this state of affairs.

JHMOs.

P. S. About half the people in the USA are recieving sufficient services to not be homeless, without meals, or healthcare, all paid by the federal government and the states that are committed to doing so. We need more humane representatives in every state that this is not the case. The purpose of Social Security, Disability, unemployment payments and all the other programs prevent homelessness and chaos in millions of lives everyday of the year. Those stories are not brought up, they are taken for granted. We must extend these, not let the states get away with leaving their citizens without jobs, food, health care and housing.