Saturday, February 16, 2008

Homeless Update - An Expert's Guidance

(Edmonton, Canada) An expert from New York, Sam Tsemberis, told a local Edmonton crowd that the first step in ending homelessness is to solve the homeless problem.

Time for a collective, international "Well -- Duh!"

The method to solve the homeless problem, says Tsemberis, is to give the homeless free subsidized housing. (Oops! Typo.)

As a result, Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel has confidently made plans to eliminate homelessness in the city within 10 years.

We'll check back to see how things are going. Frankly, though, once word gets out that the city is providing free subsidized housing, homeless people in other locations will be magnetically drawn to Edmonton.

Logically, given that vagrants are quite mobile, the most reasonable method of trying to eliminate homelessness in a city is to offer significantly fewer benefits to homeless people than other cities. Think about it. If City A prohibits panhandling in business districts while City B has no restrictions on panhandling, homeless people will migrate to City B. Net result, City A has fewer homeless.

Just because people are homeless doesn't mean they're stupid.

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