The article discusses how economic downturns often lead to cuts in safety net programs, disproportionately impacting impoverished communities. In Silicon Valley, enforcement actions aimed at unhoused residents escalate, reflecting a trend of pushing poverty out of sight rather than providing real solutions. As local governments grapple with budget pressures, the focus shifts towards enforcement rather than supportive services, exacerbating the cycle of poverty and criminalization. Investments are needed in housing and mental health support, instead of fines and citations that hinder progress for the disadvantaged.
The economy wobbles, markets panic and policymakers start sharpening their red pens. Budgets shrink. Programs are cut. And the people who always seem to take the hardest hits - the ones living on the edge - get shoved even further into the margins.
But the deeper reality is this: every dollar we spend sweeping encampments or processing citations for the unhoused is a dollar not spent on housing, mental health support or food security.
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