It appears that another debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will likely not take place. Since the vice presidential candidates Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance were scheduled to face off Tuesday night, how they presented their platforms would definitely impact the November election.
Most political pundits expected Vance to go on the attack against Walz as a radical liberal, and this type of political theater was to be expected. However, I hope that when serious policy questions were asked, the homeless crisis in America was one of them.
Housing affordability was addressed in the first debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, but there was no elaborate discussion of policy proposals for those who do not have a roof over their heads.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, close to 327,000 Americans lived in “emergency and transitional shelters” from 2018 to 2022. Of this number, approximately 15% were unemployed for those over age 16, and 61% were not a part of the labor force. This report was released in February, one month after National Poverty Awareness was observed in January. During January, Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies reported that over 650,000 people were experiencing homelessness at the beginning of 2023, a 12% increase from 2022 and a 48% increase from 2015.
Looking at these disturbing statistics, many analysts are pointing to the well-known facts of rising inflation and soaring rent increases that have severely impacted many working-class people. It’s just incredibly difficult to make ends meet when raises have not kept pace with the increasing costs of living, and even those with incomes above the working class are experiencing hard times.
The Harvard report defined people as “cost-burdened” those who spent between 30% and 50% of their salaries on their rent or mortgage payments. This data correlates with a Joint Center for Housing Studies report that found Americans earning between $45,000 and $74,999 were hit hardest by rising rent, and 41% of their paychecks went to housing expenses and utility bills. U.S. Department of the Treasury data also reveal an eye-popping statistic that the average median rent last year, which was close to $2,000, was a 23% increase compared to prior to the pandemic.
Much of this hardship has resulted from COVID aid ending in 2023 that kept families off the streets. It is obvious being four years removed from the pandemic that many people have not recovered financially and are struggling with housing and food insecurity. Those who are homeless are just struggling to survive from day to day.
I have referred to homeless people in previous commentary as those who are hidden in plain sight, yet I continue to notice street nomads and more folk who have nowhere to go holding signs on corners. Last week I saw a middle-aged Black man sitting at the entrance of a Kroger in Reynoldsburg. He had a scruffy-looking appearance and a blank expression on his face while he smoked a cigarette. All of his belongings were packed in a medium-sized suitcase on wheels accompanied by a small backpack, which led me to believe that he was recently evicted.
In Ohio, housing advocates do not see an end to rising homeless numbers any time soon, as homeless rates increased by nearly 7% from 2022 to 2023, according to the Statehouse News Bureau. The homeless in Ohio and other states will, unfortunately, see their lives being burdened further after the Supreme Court ruled in the City of Grants Pass v. Johnson that cities can now implement bans on sleeping in public places. While there are reasonable arguments on both sides regarding this law, the glaring question is where will people go when shelters are filled to capacity, especially during the winter?
Before the City of Grants Pass case, Chris Avell, pastor of Dad’s Place in Bryan, Ohio, was arrested in January for opening his church doors to the homeless. The city of Bryan found building code violations, but Avell refused to stop helping those in need.
“I’m praising God that at least as of now if I’m understanding correctly, the people can stay,” he said in a news interview.
I believe that many pastors like Avell will begin to take a more active role in the homeless crisis, ministering to people in the spirit of Proverbs 29:7, which says that “the righteous considereth the cause of the poor.”
With this being an election year, we need to know how Harris, Tim Walz, Trump and JD Vance view themselves in serving and aiding the unhoused. We need sound policies to tackle this problem plaguing the lives of thousands of our fellow citizens.
Dr. Jessica A. Johnson is a lecturer in the English department at The Ohio State University-Lima. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @JjSmojc. Her opinion does not necessarily represent the views of The Lima News or its owner, AIM Media.
