The United States is facing a historic homelessness crisis, with figures reaching alarming heights. A recent report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies reveals that in January of last year, approximately 653,000 Americans reported being homeless in 2023. This figure represents a 12% increase from the previous year, marking the largest single-year surge ever recorded. The report highlights a 48% increase in homelessness compared to 2015, as reported by the Daily Wire. Many have been s
There are ~10k homeless people in Daytona Beach, Florida. The city built a shelter but it’s about 8 miles from where the homeless are “existing,” but to get there, they have to walk past the Speedway, which gets them either arrested or taken back to where they were. And on top of that, the shelter only has 45 rooms.
Who would walk 8 miles, risking an arrest record (which only makes it harder to rent even if they could afford rent there) just to find out that there was no room for them when they got there?
There’s nothing around the shelter except the county jail and a few bail bonds places. There’s no incentive to help these people and the county has done a piss poor job of addressing the skyrocketing cost of living that is the impetus of homelessness to begin with.
They could use the money from bike week to fund a shelter or, at very least, a soup kitchen, but instead, they just give that money to the city commissioner that oversees the area around the Speedway which is, coincidentally, the district of the Mayor’s sister.