A New Kind of Homeless Policy

Actually Amy its a common sense policy. Just a guess but I would suppose that it probably costs three times as much to put someone in a new home than to keep someone in a home they already live in.
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For way too long we had a policy that would rather pay ridiculous rates to keep a family in a temporary flea bag hotel housing and pay for cab rides to take their children back and forth to a school not in the same district as the hotel, than to help pay the rent on the apartment they have that they can no longer afford but is a lot cheaper than watching them fall to rock bottom and having to help them back on their feet.

It's not a bad post, but I feel like there's some missing information. Any chance of getting an update on where the homeless come from?
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I mean, I feel a disconnect between the term "homeless" and reading about people having to stay with relatives.

Thanks for the substance. Amid all the media repetition of Publican nonsense (mice, ACORN, etc.) I had heard nothing about this component of the package

"But in the current economic and housing crisis, preventing homelessness has become an issue of equal concern."
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Forward thinking? How refreshing. And as Dee points out, likely a money saver.

The Borgen Project has some good info on the cost of addressing global poverty.

$30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.
$550 billion: U.S. Defense budget

Hadn't seen that one. Good post.

atsegga –
You've told us this often. Thank you. Now stop.

OT
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I know many of us have heard all day that Iran has enough uranium now to build a nuke Oh Noez. Turns out, its all bullsh*t.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20090220/cm_thenation/1096410167

Thanks Amy, one of the commenters here the other night mentioned that they were for the housing bail-out even though they're a renter with no hope of getting help if/when needed. No one even suspected that this lifeline was part of the package.
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O/T too but found it lovely...
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Driving home tonight I found myself behind a car that has a new IL license plate - it has a picture of Obama with the flag behind him and on the side it has the acronym PBO. The license plate bracket was that of the Marine Corps and an officer's dress hat lay in the back window. I thought that was pretty wonderful (and enough to give Hula the shakes) but the best part was when I pulled up next to him at the next light. The driver was a middle-aged white guy, shaved head, and looked tough as hell. What a nice way to end the day.

I'm working midnights so I'm going to claim I'm groggy and therefore not thinking straight. Can we up the defense budget just a little bit more to buy a missle to take out the Borgen Project? Apologizing in advance for my thoughtlessness.

sacredh, I'm in.

Sacredh don't apologize I'm a fan of the funny.

We can always claim their headquarters were housing terrorists.

To get back to the actual topic. I missed this item too. There are so many things in the package that strike me as great ideas. I've never been homeless or even close to it. This is the kind of thing I want to see my tax dollars support. Maybe I should say this is the kind of thing I want to see the printing presses support. Regardless, thanks to Amy for posting this.

Something else I learned about the bill this week-If one is laid off in 2009 the COBRA payment is 1/3 of the normal amount. The balance is paid for by the former employer. That will keep a lot of people insured.

I don't know about you but their continuous insistence on irking my last nerve qualifies as terrorism. The Borgen's are enemy combatants.

Yes, the cobra thing is a first but it is very important because it us is expensive otherwise. I just hope they also include a provision to extend eligibility for cobra beyond 18 months even if they don't continue to subsidize the cost.

First we round up the white people, then we bomb the Borgen Project.
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http://www.borgenproject.org/donate.html

That's why I mentioned it Dee. The cost is prohibitive as it is, to the point where it is almost worthless as an option for even middle wage earners.

Cincy, do we have to round up that guy that was driving the car witht the Obama license plate? He seemed real nice (said with a Scout Finch accent.)
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Still okay with the Borgen bombing though. As my southern friend Karen would say "never text, email, call old boyfriends, or apparently comment when drinking unsupervised gin."

But those of us who are chronically ill and can't purchase individual policies at any cost we would be willing to pay our own cobra if they would just lift that 18 month eligibility cap. I'm up in July and unless they allow me to continue to pay these ridiculously expensive cobra payments I'm screwed and I know I'm not alone.

I suspect you are already aware of all the details Dee but on the off chance, do either of these options apply for you?
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2. Extension of COBRA for older and tenured workers: COBRA-eligible workers who are age 55 and older, or have worked for an employer for ten or more years, would be able to retain COBRA coverage, at their own expense, until they become Medicare-eligible at age 65 or secure coverage through a subsequent employer.
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http://www.employersinc.com/content.aspx?cid=1085

Are you kidding me? The Borgen Project websites says they're known for being tech savvy. Yet their website looks like it was put together by an 8 year old and frankly that's an insult to some 8 year olds I know personally. Are they some sort of fraudulent outfit. Because I can' see too many people donating to them based on the site and certainly not because they annoy us in the comments.

Dee: Healthcare costs are killing most of us. My wife is also chronically ill and I have basically the same coverage as members of congress. I still have co-pays and they pay 80% of treatments. I don't like to complain because I know I'm still better off than most people. If the answer is nationalizing healtcare, I say do it. I don't care if they call it socialism, communism or selling our souls to the devil. People come first and all the labels are nothing more than BS. Social Security and unemployment benefits are just glorified socialism and the country needs both. I've been to Canada and we thought about moving there when I retire. I've talked to people there about healtcare and their horror stories about their system are no worse than ours. Our system is broken and we need to do something about it. If socialism is the answer, then call me a socialist. When I heard people say Obama's ideas were socialist, it just gave me one more reason to vote for him.

pnnto - Thanks I didn't know about this I have letter into my Congressman buy no answer yet. I will definitely look into the ten year thing unless of course the eligibility hinges on that date they use for the subsidized cobra. You would think that they would allow anyone who is already paying at their own expense the right to continue no natter what since it doesn't cost the gov't anything. But anyway thanks a lot for the lea it gives one hope there is an out for me.