The coronavirus pandemic has led to the permanent closure of tens of thousands of businesses, millions of jobs, and has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the United States alone. In fact, according to an Economic Impact Report conducted by the popular app Yelp, “as of August 31, 163,735 businesses have indicated on Yelp that they have closed” (Sundaram, 2020). The restaurants that have managed to stay open have made accommodations for outdoor dining. These accommodations can be as simple as some tables and chairs on the sidewalk immediately outside of the establishment where weather permits, or more elaborate structures that can technically be considered small buildings. The United States has a homeless population of over 500,000 people, keep in mind these are the numbers of people who have been contacted and counted as homeless according to a report done by the United States’ Council of Economic Advisers in 2019. This population of known-homeless account for 0.17% of the United States population, as well as those that may be facing eviction due to the failure of the government to pass COVID-19 relief since the CARES act expired. It is clear that at least in this country, the United States, we have prioritized preserving our dining experience through the pandemic over housing human beings. Simultaneously, homeless encampments are being torn down across the country for violating CDC guidelines. Why is the United States capable of building shelters when it comes to dining, but is incapable of providing shelter for our homeless population? The United States government needs to prioritize affordable housing in order to protect a vulnerable population from the deadly coronavirus pandemic, as well as protecting all its citizens from homelessness in general because it is the morally right thing to do.
The United States does not regard housing as a human right that should be guaranteed to all of its citizens. Due to the lack of guaranteed housing, homeless people have to turn to the charity of homeless shelters, and luckily there have been an increasing number of temporary or emergency homeless shelters in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The reality of the pandemic and the spread of the COVID-19 virus has led to massive outbreaks in some of these shelters. In fact, just last week on December 4, 2020, a temporary homeless shelter in Colorado reported an outbreak of the virus among 54 people, a mix of both staff and guests (Kesting, 2020). It is clear that the U.S. government is allowing our homeless populations to be vulnerable to the pandemic and unwilling to do anything about it. A responsible and morally inclined government would have responded quickly to home and isolate their homeless populations in order to protect them from this novel coronavirus. At the beginning of lock-down precautions taken to slow the spread of the virus, back in March of 2020, the British government was able to house “nearly all of the country’s ‘rough sleepers’ or homeless people who had been living on the streets or in shelters” (Berger, 2020). Note how this included the homeless populations living in shelters, because close-living quarters with others is ample breeding ground for COVID-19, the extra precautions were taken to isolate people to protect them.
Oftentimes when researching this topic there comes the argument that those that are homeless are unwilling to work hard and are looking for a handout. The reality of the matter is that, according to a community survey done by the Metropolitan council U.S. Census Bureau, in 2017, 49% of renter households in Minneapolis have a hard time paying their rent (Moylan, 2019). It is easy to forget the human cost of such an unaffordable housing system when focusing on numbers, data, and statistics. Amidst these numbers and statistics are real, human lives that are suffering from this ongoing problem. In an article by the Washington Post, Terrence McCoy follows two Americans, Monica Diaz and her husband Pete Etheridge, who have unfortunately fallen victim to homelessness. The two shared an apartment in Maryland but in 2016 the building had been condemned for unpaid utilities and a variety of housing code violations that were no fault of their own. Both Monica and Pete work low-wage jobs and were unable to save enough money to find new housing. Now they reside in a tent-city with other homeless people and are frequently displaced by “clean ups” to keep the public areas clean and safe for general use. In the article, that can be found here, there is a picture of Monica looking into a mirror in a public bathroom captioned “Monica cleans up and does her hair as she gets ready for work. Because she’s homeless, she uses a restroom at Union Station” (McCoy, 2019).
This is a clear, and damning analysis on the current housing crisis in the country, because there are workers contributing to the economy, paying their taxes, yet cannot afford basic necessities like a roof over their heads. It is clear that the system has failed these two workers at the very least, and something needs to be done to address the issue of rising costs of living, and stagnant wages for workers that is contributing to the homeless crisis in the United States. One possible answer to this issue would be providing more affordable housing units and funding programs to help homeless people gain housing in order to be able to find employment and make a life of their own. It is clear that affordable housing has not been funded or prioritized in many cities across the country but one can point to Minneapolis as a clear example of this. Between 2012–2017 the city of Minneapolis has added “about 1,600 relatively affordable apartments and about 13,000 higher-priced units” (Moylan, 2019). This disparity in the number of affordable apartments and higher-priced, often touted as “luxury”, apartments is a clear failure of the government to protect those of us who are more in need.
Now, one of the most popular defenses of free-market capitalism is the defense that allowing the free market to work freely would mean that the cost for consumers goes down. This same argument is applied to those who oppose government regulations that would require local governments to build affordable housing units. The argument is usually along the lines that free markets are best to drive the cost down for renters. Steve Cramer, president of the Minneapolis Downtown council has argued that “Over-regulated housing markets are less affordable markets” (Moylan, 2019). However, one clear point to contradict that view, is the reality that the failure of affordable housing units to be built at the same pace as luxury apartments proves that “free market” housing markets are less affordable markets. That is the current reality of the capitalist housing market that we live in.
It is clear that the free market has failed time and time again to house those that are in dire need of housing. Many of these people are working full time jobs but are unable to put a roof over their heads regardless. The morally correct thing to do is to provide our homeless population with options, with ways to house them whether they are capable of working full time or not, because it is the morally right thing to do. Especially in the time of a deadly virus that has changed every aspect of life as we know it.
Works Cited
Berger, Miriam. “European Countries Rushed to House the Homeless during the Coronavirus Crisis. Advocates Worry the Changes Won’t Last.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 14 Aug. 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/08/13/european-countries-rushed-house-homeless-covid-19-hit-advocates-worry-changes-wont-last/.
Kesting, Amanda. “54 People Test Positive for COVID-19 at Fort Collins Temporary Homeless Shelter.” 9 News (NBC), 5 Dec. 2020, www.9news.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/fort-collins-homeless-shelter-covid-outbreak/73-419c710b-2c40-4945-8dbe-a7b4ca1044f7.
McCoy, Terrence. “Homeless, Living in a Tent Blocks from the U.S. Capitol — and Working Full-Time.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 22 Mar. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2019/03/22/feature/homeless-living-in-a-tent-blocks-from-the-u-s-capitol-and-working-full-time/?utm_term=.aeb0752cef4c.
Moylan, Martin. “Minneapolis Moves toward Affordable Housing Mandate.” MPR News, MPR News, 20 Nov. 2019, www.mprnews.org/story/2019/11/20/minneapolis-moves-toward-affordable-housing-mandate.
Sundaram, Anjali. “Yelp Data Shows 60% of Business Closures Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic Are Now Permanent.” CNBC, CNBC, 16 Sept. 2020, www.cnbc.com/2020/09/16/yelp-data-shows-60percent-of-business-closures-due-to-the-coronavirus-pandemic-are-now-permanent.html.
