Over Half Of Detroit Homeless Population At Risk Of Dying On City Streets

[midnight]

The homeless in Detroit face a dire situation. The Detroit Free Press reports, that living on the streets puts more than half of them at risk for dying -- a far greater percentage than in any other American city.

Fortunately, several nonprofits are stepping up to address this problem. Detroit homeless service providers, in partnership with the Neighborhood Service Organization, took to the streets to identify, interview and find the most at-risk homeless people. This effort is part of Common Ground's 100,000 Homes Campaign -- to give homeless people housing and help them get back on their feet.

Nonprofit workers were able to interview 211 homeless people in three nights to find out what caused them to lose their homes and learn about the risks they face living on the streets.

Through the interviews, they learned that almost half the Detroit homeless struggle with mental illness and substance abuse; 13 percent were veterans and 15 percent had grown up in the foster care system. Out of the 211 people interviewed, there have been 358 hospitalizations in the last year, 456 emergency room visits in three months, 103 people do not have insurance, 74 people had been in prison and 149 had been in jail.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/09/over-half-of-detroit-home_n_532037.html



How is it that our Federal govt. can bail out the banks but not the people?

[maglatinavi]

1. Detroit Homeless

Most conservetives in government and public services have the belief that it is the homeless people's fault. Blame the victim... It is a shame...
:mad: :mad: :mad: :grr: :grr: :grr:

[midnight]

4. That's because they are not listening to Brooksley Born or Elizabeth Warren.

[diane in sf]

2. So many empty homes there--they ought to give them to homeless people

[Demeter]

3. Many of Those Houses Are Uninhabitable

Stripped of plumbing and wiring, torched, moldy....Detroit's been dying of governmental neglect since 1967 riots.

That's why Mayor Bing is seeking to tear down the derelict houses, consolidate the population into more viable neighborhoods and resize the city to improve the efficiency and cut the cost of providing basic services: police, fire protection, trash collection, schools, water and sewers, roads, etc.

And neighborhoods are turning vacant lots into people's gardens for fresh food.

by necessity, Detroit is becoming the nation's experiment in post-Apocalyptic city life.

[rubberducky]

5. IMO The biggest mistake that will come back to bite Bing in the ass,

is paying people the pittance that thier homes are worth. I strongly feel that this program would have worked better if Bing would have swapped out the outlying homes with a home in this smaller city that they envision. Basically I think the idea is good, but giving people a few thousand dollars to move elsewhere is a really bad idea. where will these people go? I hope that I`m wrong, but this is looking like just a way to "clean out" the city`s poorest people.

[Fire1]

7. More like "clean out" blighted areas. He wants to demolish

these uninhabitable homes and relocate these people to one 'area' of the city. I've seen this in other cities, too. More than likely, we're talking about subsidized housing. I agree with the demolition b/c it would ultimately save the city money.

[rubberducky]

12. Your "blighted area" are HOMES that belong to real people.

Where will these people go with thier few thousand dollars that will be given to them for thier homes? Subsidized housing????? Really???? Or will these people be forced into the streets? After all these are just po folks, maybe they will just disappear into the landscape. But, rest assured the city will attempt to lure suburban people with cheap homes and fabulous lofts. The initial idea to save the big D is a good one,but nobody should be allowed to just say that your home is worthless, now here`s 2 grand just go away. My heart breaks for these people. Creditors will be circling like buzzards for the pennies they can retrieve. Then what is left for these very, very real people?

[Fire1]

13. Subsidized housing. What else is there? No developer OR

the city is going to pay any more than a couple thousand for a home that's going to be condemned. You're talking about one or two houses still standing within a half mile radious among burned out, boarded up, stripped and abandoned structures. This is using up unnecessary revenue to maintain city services for just one or two households. As cash strapped as Detroit is, that's just not fiscally responsible.

[Fire1]

6. That is so not true. Do you live here? n/t

[Demeter]

9. Born and Bred

Lived there until 1969; West Chicago Blvd. Visited regularly until relatives died. Drive through when in city on business. It's a big place. Glad you aren't in the blight.

[Fire1]

10. There's even blight in what used to be the upscale

neighborhoods. Lived there most of my life and still work there. The middle class, who provided the tax base, have been migrating to the suburbs for the last decade, including me. Detroit was alive and well, even after the riots, in spite of the white flight that followed the election of Mayor Young.

[chill_wind]

8. Taxpayers in Detroit will pay $1.2 billion in FY2010 on defense spending.

Taxpayers in Detroit, Michigan will pay $1.2 billion for Total Defense Spending in FY2010. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

9,546 Affordable Housing Units

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/tradeoffs?location_type=4&state=26&town=0.001681243000000000000000000000&program=273&tradeoff_item_item=279&submit_tradeoffs=Get+Trade+Off


*******************************

Combined war spending since 2001:

Taxpayers in Detroit, Michigan will pay $1.8 billion for total Iraq and Afghanistan war spending since 2001. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

14,181 Affordable Housing Units

or 661,454 People with Health Care for One Year

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/tradeoffs?location_type=4&state=26&town=0.001681243000000000000000000000&program=585&tradeoff_item_item=279&submit_tradeoffs=Get+Trade+Off

*********************************

National Priorities website also had a similar Bailout Calculator for awhile (based on the $700 billion figure way back).

All I can find now is this, but it remains staggering:

Help for Main Street, Reform for Wallstreet


The Magnitude and Meaning of the Proposed Bailout:
What $700 Billion for Wall Street means on Main Street

NPP Provides Analysis of $700 Billion for Taxpayers

The plan proposed by President Bush and Secretary Paulson for a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street is difficult for most people to comprehend. At NPP, we've been crunching the numbers and offer this analysis of what $700 billion means to taxpayers.

A healthy and productive economy requires substantial investment in affordable housing, health care, education and renewable energy. Taxpayers in the United States will be required to pay $700 billion for the Wall Street bailout. They should also know that for the same amount of money, they could secure the following:

*

51.6 million people with health care for four years OR
*

181.2 million homes with renewable electricity for four years OR
*

2.9 million elementary school teachers for four years OR
*

27 million four-year scholarships for university students

$700 billion is more than what is currently allocated for the U.S. war in Iraq. This amount would allow us to repair all of our nations 77,000 deteriorated bridges and still have $519 billion to spend; or it would allow us to rebuild all of our nations 33,000 deteriorating schools and still have $664 billion to spend. For more analysis and trade-offs at the State and Congressional District level, please visit National Priorities Project's Trade-offs page online (www.nationalpriorities.org/tradeoffs).

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/magnitude

You are so right about our national priorities:

"How is it that our Federal govt. could bail out the banks but not the people?"

[bulloney]

11. Those stats should be advertised in every city, county, state and any other political subdivision.

#1 - I think it will open some eyes on how obscene our military spending is.

#2 - It will get some to rethink their positions on social spending.

[chill_wind]

14. I agree wholeheartedly.

The site has a testimonial area with commentary from many civic and budget planning groups and leaders from cities, rural areas all over the country, as well as journalists talking about how they use their data.

Businesses can actually buy the running totals displays to put in their windows. I would love to see them the size of giant billboards along all the freeways of the nation.

Candidate Obama himself cited their data on the war spending from time to time on the campaign trail.

I've used the link as my DU sig line since BushCo invaded, and will, until we've one day stopped the insanity.

[butterfly77]

15. They also sent many...

of the homeless from New Orleans to Detroit after Katrina..

[tburnsten]

16. This is dumb. 100% of all people are at risk of dying

However, 100% of homeless people are at a much greater risk of dying prematurely than people with a roof over their heads.


Did this really require a study?