Pinellas County Fails The Homeless

Pinellas County Fails The Homeless

In a story that gets very little attention outside of the Tampa area, it seems as if the county of Pinellas has taken a page out of the Rudolph Giuliani's 1990s hand book of how deal with the homeless and forcing them out of one area with no place to go. What is known as "Tent City" is located on the grounds of Saint Vincent which is also the location of a society that allows the homeless to maintain their makeshift community. Unfortunately, authorities claim that the set up violates code laws. Local representatives have ordered the tents to be removed but, offer no real alternative for those residents in terms of housing. To make matters worse, as Tampa in general becomes one of the new hot spots for those who are looking to relocate, the cost of housing continues to go up, Jeb Bush has been little more than a nightmare for those older residents who wish to continue to live in the area.

The homeless in America represent those that are by all statistical measures a growing population that is not kept on any employment record. That is to say, before one reaches the point of homelessness, he or she is stripped from the official records of employment. In fact, anyone who is unemployed for over one year automatically disappears from most government records. This also goes for a category that is widely ignored, that is, the underemployed, those that make less than 20,000 dollars a year. So when we hear that the unemployment rate is going down, one must ask how much is this due to those being taken off the official record.

While those who make less than 20,000 dollars belong to the fastest growing population in America, the rate of affordable housing is going down at an expediential rate forcing many working poor out of the once suitable locations throughout Americas major cities. Living in New York myself, I've seen Harlem become the fastest growing community of what we called yuppies in the 1980s. And don't think landlords are not involved in the modern day version of the trial of tears. In a place like Florida, however, which is on a continued up turn of population growth the impact on the homeless is even greater.

For more on this story check out the link below. Until next time.       

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