Trump has said one of his goals in DC is to do something about the homeless population. The problem with thinking on the right is that they believe that the most punitive actions are solutions for problems. Oftentimes, their punitive "solutions" cost more and are less effective than the so-called soft liberal policies they say are the problem.
Trump's DC Occupation Costs 4 Times More Than It Would Take to House City's Entire Homeless Population
Last week, when Trump federalized Washington, DC's police force and deployed the National Guard to occupy its streets, one of his main orders was to "end vagrancy" by destroying homeless encampments and arresting and forcibly relocating the people taking shelter there.
But according to an investigation published on Wednesday by Hanna Homestead of the National Priorities Project, in collaboration with
The Intercept, deploying the National Guard and "getting rid of the slums" is costing far more than it would cost to simply provide housing to every homeless person in the city.
Last week, when Trump federalized Washington, DC's police force and deployed the National Guard to occupy its streets, one of his main orders was to "end vagrancy" by destroying homeless encampments and arresting and forcibly relocating the people taking shelter there.
But according to an investigation published on Wednesday by Hanna Homestead of the National Priorities Project, in collaboration with
The Intercept, deploying the National Guard and "getting rid of the slums" is costing far more than it would cost to simply provide housing to every homeless person in the city.
Governors from six US states have sent troops to Washington to help Trump's effort, swelling the ranks to nearly 2,100 who will soon be on patrol.
According to previous reporting, National Guard deployments cost the US government $530 per guard member each day. Using that figure, Homestead estimated that it would cost just over $1.1 million.
She added that "the number of troops will likely continue to grow. And with no deadline for the DC deployment, those costs could add up for months or even years."
According to the most recent data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), there are about 5,600 people experiencing either sheltered and unsheltered homelessness in DC on a given night. Operating an affordable housing unit for each one of them, the data shows, costs about $45.44 per person, per day, on average in DC.
Providing affordable housing to every homeless person in DC would cost an estimated $255,166, which is 4.3 times less than the cost of Trump's military deployment.
Trump's deployment of the National Guard to Washington, DC costs more than 4 times as much as it would cost to simply house every homeless person in the city, according to researcher Hanna Homestead.
www.commondreams.org
Draconian measures cost draconian money. And we get told how we cannot force the government to spend to provide housing for the homeless. Yet the same people who declare how it's wasteful to spend money to provide housing to the homeless, but cheer the more costly use of troops to take them off the streets.
This is why you do not elect right-wing politicians if you want real solutions.
