This pandemic is really proving that government has the means to solve all problems they just choose not to
I studied abroad in London in 2014 and my British Politics professor literally brought in a former homeless woman who had been made not-homeless when, during the 2012 Olympics, she and everyone else were given temporary housing to keep them off the streets. and while some people returned to being homeless afterwards, most people didn’t, because it turns out it’s easier to get a job and be secure if you already have the house thing taken care of.
the government could absolutely fix homelessness today, and it would solve homelessness not just temporarily, but for the long term. but the government chooses not to, not because it’s expensive (it’s more expensive to have homeless people than it is to give them homes), not because it doesn’t work (there are a lot of studies confirming that it does), but because some people think that being poor is a moral failing that can only be solved by shitting on them some more.
It’s because capitalists need the threat of being unhoused to coerce people into working increasingly exploitative jobs. The morality narrative is a justification for the root economic motive.
