Homeless Families on the Rise, with No End in Sight

[babylonsister]

Homeless Families on the Rise, with No End in Sight
by Pat Eaton-Robb

AMHERST, Mass. - There is just enough space for Lisa Rivera’s family to sleep at Jessie’s House homeless shelter. 1008 03

In one room, she fits the full-sized bed she shares with her 9-year-old daughter, the trundle for her 11-year-old son, a twin bed for her 14-year-old daughter and a playpen for her 1 1/2-year-old son.

“It’s comfortable, but it’s hard sleeping all together,” the 32-year-old woman said. “Oh my God, sometimes it’s so hard.”

Faced with domestic abuse, high housing costs and unemployment, Rivera’s family finds itself among the growing ranks of the homeless in Massachusetts — and possibly, the country.

About 1,800 homeless families were in Massachusetts shelters last week — up from 1,400 in June 2006 and just under 1,200 in June 2005, according to state figures. There are more families in shelters now than at any time since the inception of the state’s family shelter program in 1983, according to the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless.

State officials blame a wide range of problems — from cuts in assistance to the recent housing crisis.

“We’re very concerned that this is going to keep going,” said Julia Kehoe, commissioner of the state Department of Transitional Assistance.

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/08/4403/

[brentspeak]

1. Sobering, and not surprising

Considering how this nation has fallen down the "every man for himself!" rat-hole.

[NMMNG]

2. It's a travesty that this is allowed to go on

And that so few seem to care.

[Hydra]

3. Ya, the "If it's not me, I don't care"

attitude is really beginning to tick me off. What happens when all of us are down there, and no shelters available?

[NMMNG]

5. Too many people (RWers in particular)

believe that homeless people are in their situation for reasons of their own making. Recently I saw a story about how San Francisco was trying to "fix" its homeless problem. Some of the comments after that story were so nasty I was appalled. One guy claimed that the people weren't actually homeless, their homes were the alleys and doorways of businesses. :eyes:

The utter heartlessness of people astounds me sometimes.

[Hydra]

6. "It can't happen to me!"

and "It can't happen here!"

I suppose I should feel privileged to know that both of those ideas are BS.

[NMMNG]

8. Indeed

I've known people with six-figure jobs who've become homeless. It can be a fire, an accident, a death or some other such thing. Next thing the person knows everything is gone.

[gateley]

4. America. nt

[Disturbed]

7. Would the Homeless take these jobs if the pay was $8 per hr.?

U.S. lets in more immigrants for farms

By Nicole Gaouette, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 7, 2007

WASHINGTON -- With a nationwide farmworker shortage threatening to leave unharvested fruits and vegetables rotting in fields, the Bush administration has begun quietly rewriting federal regulations to eliminate barriers that restrict how foreign laborers can legally be brought into the country. The effort, urgently underway at the departments of Homeland Security, State and Labor, is meant to rescue farm owners caught in a vise between a complex process to hire legal guest workers and stepped-up enforcement that has reduced the number of illegal planters, pickers and middle managers crossing the border.

"It is important for the farm sector to have access to labor to stay competitive," said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel. "As the southern border has tightened, some producers have a more difficult time finding a workforce, and that is a factor of what is going on today." The push to speedily rewrite the regulations is also the Bush administration's attempt to step into a breach left when Congress did not pass an immigration overhaul in June that might have helped American farms. Almost three-quarters of farmworkers are thought to be illegal immigrants.

On all sides of the farm industry, the administration's behind-the-scenes initiative to revamp H-2A farmworker visas is fraught with anxiety. Advocates for immigrants fear the changes will come at the expense of worker protections because the administration has received and is reportedly acting on extensive input from farm lobbyists. And farmers in areas such as the San Joaquin Valley, which is experiencing a 20% labor shortfall, worry the administration's changes will not happen soon enough for the 2008 growing season.

"It's like a ticking time bomb that's going to go off," said Luawanna Hallstrom, chief operating officer of Harry Singh & Sons, a third-generation family farm in Oceanside that grows tomatoes. "I'm looking at my fellow farmers and saying, 'Oh my God, what's going on?' "

More: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fa...

[Hydra]

9. I would and have

The $8 per hour is harsh, but better than nothing. Besides, you can get a few that "slip" into your pocket. Not quite a shift meal, but you don't argue with opportunity :evilgrin:

[Disturbed]

10. With these farm jobs housing is provided.

Of course, those shacks are not so great but better than living in a car.

[Hydra]

11. I'd sign up!

"What, you aren't illegal and I can't stiff you? How am I supposed to make money with a crew that needs paying???"