There’s a major problem staring Americans in the face that demands clear policies at the local, state, and federal levels. This is the problem of homelessness.
Over recent months there seems to be significant growth in the number of homeless persons wandering around the city streets of Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach.
At night, more cars are observed still parked in the parking lots of some malls, shopping centers, and large stores like Walmart and Target.
Recently, a representative of this newspaper encountered a woman in the parking lot of a Walmart store in West Kendall seeking help to purchase petrol for her car. The woman and her three children, a boy and two girls, aged 14 to 5 years, have been sleeping in a Nissan Sentra for the past six weeks, parked at night in the Walmart parking lot.
They conduct their hygiene management in the store’s restrooms. Ironically, the woman is employed at another Walmart in Miami-Dade, but when her former landlord of three years raised the rent for a two-bedroom apartment by some 40 percent, she could no longer afford to live there and was forced into homelessness, unable to find an alternative affordable rental. Sadly, the woman said, she noticed several other families living in cars in the same parking lot that she now calls home.
The challenges presented by the US economy are making the phrase “one paycheck away from homelessness” very real and profound in South Florida and other regions across the US. Increasingly, people are finding it difficult to find affordable housing, while buying food and meeting other necessary domestic expenses. There are no signs the economic situation will improve significantly soon.
Although inflation is gradually falling from the nine percent peak experienced late in 2022, prices for food and rent remain unusually high.
The Federal Reserve has been pursuing its customary policy of increasing interest rates to curb high inflation and bring prices down. However, this policy has not worked effectively to date. Despite the high-interest rates, the US economy continues to run hot, with employment remaining high.
But, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testified before the US Senate Banking Committee last week indicating the Feds could speed up the increase of interest rates. Powell said, “If the totality of the data were to indicate that faster tightening is warranted, we would be prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes.”
A more aggressive policy in rising interest rates could likely remove the resistance to the former hikes by consumers and businesses. Many consumers have resorted to using credit cards to charge goods and services, but as interest rates go up it will become harder to pay credit card bills when they become due.
When consumers are forced to reduce purchases, the demand for goods and services supplied by the business will fall and force them into laying off workers, in a climate where businesses have to pay a much higher rate for loans to remain open.
There’s a real possibility that the relentless increase in interest rates will make it more difficult for more people to pay for housing, credit cards, and car loans, and also result in more people losing jobs. This is a potential recipe for increased homelessness within the community.
Some people believe homelessness in South Florida could get as bad as the situation prevailing in cities like Los Angeles and New York. This is a possibility, but there’s little or no evidence of politicians at the city, county, or state level proactively addressing the homelessness situation. It seems most South Florida politicians, overwhelmed by the magnitude of homelessness, have resorted to denial and ignored the problem.
Thankfully, there are local organizations actively involved in addressing homelessness and trying to assist the homeless. However, the efforts of these organizations are not enough. An effective policy needs to be formulated by lawmakers in Tallahassee and passed down to county and city governments that realistically address the problem.
Since the community knows it cannot depend on the timely actions of politicians to solve problems of significance, it’s also the responsibility of community leaders to collaborate on pragmatic solutions to address homelessness. The solution calls for a long-term approach, beyond the traditional assistance given at Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
While many people are homeless because of financial challenges, others become homeless because of drug addiction. So, the solution also involves addressing illicit drug use.
While there’s anticipation that elected officials in South Florida will take initiatives to address homelessness in the region, it is also anticipated the community recognizes the seriousness of this problem and urgently begins meaningful collaborations to find solutions.
