Young Shakespeare

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Bob Lefsetz’s Original Post – Young Shakespeare

You need to do your homework and fact-check the claims you make.

“You have no problem envisioning this in 2021, with homeless people in every city and burg, but back then hobos were a thing of the past, you rarely saw a homeless person on the street, and if you did, it was clear they were mentally ill, they claimed they were God or something.”

“Housing

In the decade following 1973, 4.5 million units were removed from the nation’s housing stock, half of which was occupied by low-income households. In roughly the same period, over 1 million SRO units were lost, and the nation’s public housing program was all but abandoned. It was replaced by the ‘Section 8’ rent-subsidy program that increased the residential location choice of recipients but only modestly increased the stock of affordable housing. At the same time, the rise in single-person households dramatically increased the demand for housing across the nation.”

Fewer low-income housing units available and the rise in single-person households.

Other causes?

“The first of these was ‘deinstitutionalization,’ a plan to empty the asylums treating and housing mentally disabled individuals, which was promoted by both civil libertarians and cost-conscious policy makers.”

“The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 was a pre-disposing factor in setting the stage for homelessness in the United States. Long term psychiatric patients were released from state hospitals into Single Room Occupancies and sent to community health centers for treatment and follow-up.”

“In the United States, during the late 1970s, the deinstitutionalization of patients from state psychiatric hospitals was a precipitating factor which seeded the population of people that are homeless, especially in urban areas such as New York City.”

“Deinstitutionalization as a policy for state hospitals began in the period of the civil rights movement when many groups were being incorporated into mainstream society.”

“The economic crises and “stagflation” of the 1970s, which caused high unemployment.”

Thank you, Democrat President Jimmy Carter! But you tell us:

“back then hobos were a thing of the past”!

“According to the Institution of Housing in 2005, the U.S. Government has focused 42% more on foreign countries rather than homeless Americans, including homeless veterans.”

And now President Biden is spending $83 million dollars on hotels for illegal immigrants. That’s going to help! The homeless veterans and American citizens are on their own.

“In the 1980s there was a sharp rise in the number of homeless families in certain parts of the United States; notably New York City. Most homeless families consist of a single mother and children. A significant number of homeless people are teenagers and young adults, mostly runaways or street children.”

The breakdown of traditional families.

“Research shows that the large majority of street homeless New Yorkers are individuals living with mental illness or other severe health problems. Four out of five street homeless New Yorkers are men.”

“Americans ignore the bad stuff. Like Bush who told us to shop after 9/11. They want to do their dirty work while we’re not paying attention.”

Of course – homelessness is George Bush’s fault, or better yet, Donald Trump’s. If only these problems were that simple.

Your presentation of Neil Young’s music, lyrics and history is interesting and valuable. But please leave your shallow knowledge and understanding of politics and history out of it.