Comedy Centrals’s “The Homeless Homed”
The 5.5-minute comedy feature was powerful, throught-provoking and funny and well worth watching (via the links above, below or at the show’s website).
It starts by saying that many communities have found way to fight the homeless problem–by “fining them for body odor, banning them from sleeping outdoors or arresting them for sitting down.” But Salt Lake City, Utah has taken the next step, be removing them from their streets altogether.”
The interviewer asked two people if they had seen any homeless people or anyone sleeping in a cardboard box, and the passers-by answered “no.” Then he asked the program’s director Pendleton how SLC had reduced homelessness by 72% since 2005 “without hiding them underground, converting them from Mormon to gay or gay to Mormon.”
Answer: the city provided apartments for them. Director Pendleton admitted providing the homes costs $12,000 per person, vs. $20,000 when they live on the street–and much more of they have to use the emergency room, jails and/or mental hopitals ($200,000).
The show quoted Fox news segments claiming providing homes would be prohibitively expensive and disincentivize people from working, making them moochers. The interviewers than spoke to “one of these moochers in his moochatorium.” Russell Flowers, a first-time home recipient, who now has a job, a home and self-esteem, said all this will allow him to move back to Chicago and be with his children.
The feature’s final line: “If you meet a homeless person, they can now have a second chance: all they have to do is live in Utah.”
Here’s the link:
http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/lntv3q/the-homeless-homed
