Let’s play a game.

  • We start first thing Monday morning with everyone moving out of their home, then set all house prices at $4-million dollars. Only those that can afford a $4-million dollar home can get one.
    How many people are homeless on Monday night?
  • Tuesday morning, we set the remaining house prices at $2-million, but only those that didn’t get a home on Monday, and can afford a $2-million dollar home, can get one.
    How many people are homeless on Tuesday night? Of those that are homeless, how many do you think went to bed on Monday, expecting to be homeless Tuesday night?
  • Wednesday morning, the remaining house prices are set to $1-million, and again only those without a home, and can afford a $1-million dollar home, can get one.
    How many homeless do we have on Wednesday night? How many people’s ability to get a home is being impacted as they continue to be homeless?
  • Thursday morning, the remaining house prices are set to $500,000 and again only those without a home, and can afford a $500,000 dollar home, can get one.
    How many homeless do we have on Thursday night? How many of the homeless people are facing loosing their jobs because they are homeless?
  • Friday morning, the remaining house prices are set to $250,000 and again only those without a home, and can afford a $250,000 dollar home, can get one.
    How many homeless do we have on Friday night? How many new people have lost their jobs due to homelessness?
  • The game continues Saturday, Sunday and ends on Monday morning, as prices have fallen to $62,500 but the remaining people without homes, can’t afford them at any cost.

This game illustrates part of the reason for the increasing number of homelessness everyone is seeing in their cities and towns. People do not become homeless by choice, they become homeless because they have no choice. Increasing house costs, increasing rent costs, renovictions, foreign investment, immigration, whatever you want to blame for the lack of affordable housing, the lack of affordable housing options is what is contributing to homelessness today. It even illustrates how the price of housing, directly affects the number of homeless.

  • Let’s extend the game for another week, but let’s flip the switch and make the remaining homes free for 6-months, for those that are without a home.
    How many people remain homeless? How many people look to get their jobs back, or look for any source of income to enable them to remain housed?

Nobody wants to be homeless, unless they have been homeless so long, it has become a lifestyle.

  • Let’s stop creating more homeless, by developing a plan that includes affordable housing options, that stops new people from becoming homeless.
  • Lets make a plan that moves people along a path of acquiring stable, affordable housing, in a community environment that supports them.
  • Let’s not see homelessness as a burden on society, that we try to fix for the lowest possible cost.
  • Without a plan to address the problem, issue will compound as will the burden on society.
  • Let’s acknowledge that we are responsible for the increasing number of homeless, and create a plan that addresses the issue.

We need a step-by-step program that gets and keeps people housed, affordably.