Giving People Homes

Via Post Scarcity Daily, True Activist reports that Utah may become the first state in the nation to end homelessness, and by simply giving people homes.

That's right, over the past eight years, Utah has reduced homelessness by a whopping 78% doing what should be so obvious to "lawmakers" everywhere, and all while saving rather than spending more money.  For the state has found that the annual costs of E.R. visits and jail time for homeless persons had been $16,670 per individual compared to the $11,000 per individual they are now spending by providing normal apartments, no strings attached.  Along with the apartment, each (now formerly) homeless person in the Utah program also gets a caseworker to "help them become more self-sufficient," and they still keep the apartment if they are unable to meet the self-sufficiency goal.

The Utah program proposes ending homelessness in the state altogether by 2014 and it looks like they are on the fast track to achieve a historical nation-first success.  

Can any other states out there beat Utah to the finish line?  

Now that would be an Olympic gold unlike any other, wouldn't it.

Wyoming, which has seen homelessness double in the last three years, is looking to start its own Utah-styled program, and other states are reportedly starting to look into it as well. For Utah's success stands in stark contrast to efforts in states where homelessness continues to sky-rocket alongside (and including) the following alternate, time-worn, and ultimately ineffective approaches used by "lawmakers":

* giving homeless person the option of relocating or being arrested,

* smashing homeless persons' shopping carts with a sledgehammer (via Think Progress, see photo left of state representative Tom Brower (D) in his one-person campaign in Waikiki),

* banning panhandling,

* arresting people for sleeping in public,

* arresting those "storing personal items in public,"

* banning the feeding of homeless people on city parkland,

* asking religious groups to stop feeding homeless people in parks

If you're not in Hawaii - which leads the nation in homelessness statistics - you may be wondering about the representative with the sledgehammer.  More here:



More from Richard Fowler:

 

A 2009 report by The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and The National Coalition for the Homeless similarly found that, rather criminalizing the homeless, it is far cheaper and more effective to simply provide homeless individuals with permanent housing.

*Photo credit, top/via The Contributor/"Utah Is Ending Homelessness By Giving People Homes."

Heart of Gold

Neil Young in his now classic Heart of Gold, live at Massey Hall, Toronto in the 4 city Honor the Treaties tour protesting the Alberta tar sands and the Canadian government ignoring treaties with First Nations communities.

 

You can listen to a full set from the Massey Hall performance here.

Impact Statement

The State Department releases an environmental impact statement on the Keystone XL Pipeline.  Bill Moyers sits down to discuss the issues with Bill McKibben of 350.org who calls on President Obama to "stand up for the environment" and "say no to big oil."

 

At What Cost Development?

Neil Young recently wrapped up his 4 city Honour the Treaties tour to raise money to fight the poisonous tar sands expansion affecting First Nations communities in Alberta, Canada.  The tour raised half a million dollars in legal funds.  

In the video below, Real News catches up with elected Chipewyan First Nations Chief Allan Adam on health issues faced by residents living near tar sands projects, treaty rights, adverse environmental affects, and his response to the oil company position that tar sands expansion is good for Canada. 

At what cost development? asks Chief Adam.  Among the myriad legal and environmental issues surrounding non-sustainable development, the chief describes studies showing 51 different types of cancer afflicting First Nations residents living by the Fort Chipewyan tar sands, 39 of which are considered rare or unusual cancers. 

The Not Health Care For All Plan

A new Harvard University and CUNY study estimates 7,000 to 17,000 deaths per year in states that are opting out of the Medicaid expansion.  21 states are opting out under the Affordable Care Act provisions.  Nearly 8 million people in those states will not be able to access health care as a result.  Dr. Steffie Woolhandler with Physicians For A National Health Plan discusses the study in the video below.  She notes that another 24 million people will not be covered in states that are participating in the Medicaid expansion.

Poetry

From Canadian based poet Taras Kazna, Hermit reads from Dreams of Nostradamus to bison skulls.  More Taras Kazna here and here and here.

War Zone

 
Via Tree Hugger 
Photographer: Peter Essick
"Before and after?: a forest in northern Alberta staked out by tar sands prospectors and the Suncor Millennium tar sands site, Alberta in the March 2009 issue of National Geographic" - "National Geographic Slams Tar Sands - Canadian Politicians Pissed"

Mainstream Canadian press catches up to Neil Young in Winnipeg during his Honour the Treaties tour raising legal funds to fight the poisonous tar sands expansion in Alberta, Canada.  Following recent statements by Mr. Young comparing the area to a war zone,  oil representatives moved in on the activist rock legend, environmental scientists and spokespersons, and First Nations leaders, bristling at Mr. Young's analogy, while claiming that Canadians needed oil and asserting that relations with First Nations communities were positive.  Activists have reported high cancer rates in indigenous communities targeted by oil development and similar findings have emerged in the U.S.

As blogged earlier, the Canadian federal government had given Shell Oil the go-ahead on the destructive Jackpine Mines tar sands project despite the Canadian environment minister's findings that expansion was likely to cause significant adverse environmental impacts.  

The Athabascan Chipweyan First Nations have stated that tar sands expansion also violates federal laws and treaties, a position supported by Greenpeace Canada who have also concurred with Canadian environmental minister's findings.

Below, the Winnipeg press statement by Neil Young prior to the second concert for his Honour the Treaties tour, along with statements by Athabascan Chipweyan Chief Allan Adam, zoologist David Suzuki, and University of Alberta freshwater scientist David Schindler. 

Mr. Young, who visited the Alberta areas in question, describing at the tour's Toronto stop, how guests choked on the air from 25 miles away, reasserted his prior war zone comparison, stating, "It's gone.  Reclamation is a myth."  

"It's not going to be a good thing for our grandchildren," he said, "If this continues."