I listened to talk radio host Gene Valicenti on 630 WPRO today express what is probably irate neighborhood community opinion on this HOTEL HOMELESS in Warwick , Rhode Island . Decent people - not lacking in compassion for the down and out - should not be shamed for feeling anxiety about creeping social decay.
As a democratic socialist I can think of better ways to deal with the homeless population -not involving a suburban ghetto, underclass CONCENTRATION CAMP scenario.
Fundamentally WE THE PEOPLE should have a national debate on what are now sacrosanct capitalist-landlord PRIVATE PROPERTY rights. As a TRANSITION to decent housing for the homeless people why not make available vacated federal government buildings- like clean and spacey military barracks ? With a nice cafeteria, hot showers , laundries, and pro-active social workers ? Nothing succeeds like HOPE !
On the darker side the tragedy of the homeless people has its roots in the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill - a very LIBERAL program of the 1960s. A real moral catastrophe more than half a century later.
The national RIGHT TO HEALTH CARE should be inseparable from the RIGHT TO A DECENT HOME .
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Ron