People's Tribune: The government is responsible to house the homeless

Homelessness continues to skyrocket in our country. It is the worst expression of the poverty being produced by a failing market economy. It is time for the government to outlaw homelessness — rather than the homeless — and take responsibility for guaranteeing that everyone has a home.

Yet the government seems to be headed in the other direction. Federal spending for public housing has fallen drastically over the past 30 years. In Atlanta, the city is planning to demolish thousands of public housing units and displace nearly 10,000 people. In Louisiana, every level of government continues to make clear it has no plans to house the poor who lost what little they had in Katrina. In Fresno, California, and elsewhere, tent cities erected by the homeless are attacked and dismantled by the police. In St. Petersburg, Florida, the homeless are herded into a city-run tent encampment where they are photographed, given identity bracelets and made to pass through police check points — in other words, they are in an outdoor prison. Are concentration camps next?

We, the people, must stand unconditionally on the side of the homeless, and demand that the government, acting as society's representative, provide housing — not shelter beds, not tents, not jail cells, but housing — for the homeless. If the market economy cannot provide homes for all of us, then the government must do so.

Homeless encampment, Fresno, California.
PHOTO/MIKE RHODES

Other countries have done this. Scotland has created an enforceable right to housing, and France is moving in this direction. We have plenty of wealth as a society to house everyone. There is plenty of housing. In fact, the U.S government owns millions of vacant housing units. So, why is anyone homeless?

Homelessness is the end result of a market economy that will not provide anything for those whose labor is no longer needed in an increasingly automated system of production. People are becoming homeless because workers are losing their jobs to high technology. Having no job in a market economy means you can end up homeless, even though there is plenty of housing. The law of private property, upon which this system is based, will not allow for anyone to get something for nothing.

We come together in a human society to take care of one another's needs. If not for this, then what is society for? How can we stand by while our brothers and sisters are homeless? We have the money and resources. We just have to force the government to do what is right — provide a home for everyone who needs one.