Homeless Problem in Venezuela

(Caracas, Venezuela) El Nacional newspaper reports that the socialist utopia of Hugo Chavez is having problems. According to the state homeless program director Joel Botinni, there is insufficient infrastructure and capacity to meet demand for homeless services. (Source)

The so-called Negra Hipolita program, founded as one of President Hugo Chavez's social "missions" in January 2006, has used its 180 billion bolivar ($84 million) budget to help 12,000 homeless people, overtaxing its resources as poor people pour into the capital from the countryside, the newspaper said, citing Yuoarary Carrizales, who runs the program's main shelter.

Carrizales's is the only one of four Caracas homeless shelters now open, accepting about 60 people a day to shower and eat, but not to stay overnight, the newspaper said.

Less than one percent of homeless Venezuelans are successfully "reintegrated" into society, casting doubt on former Social Development Minister Luis Garcia Carneiro's promise that the program would end homelessness in the country this year, Nacional said.

Frankly, I imagine that Chavez will not have to search far for an answer to the homelessness problem. Logically, he'll be inclined to implement the successful camp systems pioneered by predecessor socialist dictators Stalin, Chairman Mao, Kim Jong-il and Hitler. Their police-state innovations created places for hundreds of thousands of people with virtually no complaints.