Wisconsin could and may be Ontario/Nova Scotia/B.C.
Governments are great and necessary but boy oh boy do they waste money.
An example thereof would be something that Lowell Green talked about a couple of weeks ago on his 580CFRA talk show. He said, and I know he often has a Rush Limbaughesque on the truth, that the government spends 100,000 a year per homeless person in Ottawa. Even if you cut bullsh*t by half that is 50K a year. Surely that number could be lowered through some creativity, say by doubling what assistance pays.
It is a time for a rethink, not just in Wisconsin.
WFDS
There are projects afoot to just give the homeless a home, so that once safe and feeling secure, they can then direct their efforts toward mending the issues that contributed to their homelessness, like the addictions. BUT, OMG, the howling from those who just couldn't bear to see someone in heed getting some help. "They dont deserve it!" "Don't help addicts!" My kids want a free house too!" And my favorite, "Send them back to the reserve. They get everything free there anyway."
ReplyDeleteIt costs $100K per year for a prisoner too. You could pay a full time counseller and a full time wage to someone to attend a achool instead of sending them to prison, but the same group of "No gets anything but ME" crowd will crap all over it. I'm surprised they arent elbowing the homeless out of the lineup for free food at the shelter sometimes....