Homelessness – Blame or Solution?

Homelessness in a country of our economic reach seems unforgivable. It seems to impact the most income polarized cities with greater virulence, where high-tech and high-finance jobs consume once downtrodden neighborhoods with skyrocketing housing costs and exploding gentrification. Those who have indeed have more, and they spend increasing amounts on housing. Suburban commuting is increasingly the plight of lower income workers unable to afford living closer to their jobs and preferring not to stack themselves like sardines in very limited space. But some, having faced poor educational standards in subpar inner-city schools, incarceration, addiction or mental illness… perhaps simply being displaced simple obsolescence… are simply pushed out… on to harsh streets.

Homeless camps can also be the scourge of neighborhoods where homeowners fear the accompanying rise in crime, the dearth of sanitary facilities giving rise to sights, sounds and smells they cannot accept, while those trapped in those camps want nothing more than a safe and clean place to live. Dignity. Add a more favorable climate, one where bitter winters do not exist but where at least some social programs exist, and you get California. The state has appropriated funds to build permanent housing for the homeless, a plan that really is not remotely effective to date, versus New York City which simply focuses on getting the homeless with a roof over their heads, however temporary. Did weather dictate that difference? The NYC plan seems to be more effective. Los Angeles and San Francisco, not doing so well.

Enter the Trump administration with its deep hatred of all things California, from too many Latino residents, too many blue voters and too much resistance to most of the President’s policies, from trade to immigration to environment. California is the anti-Trump state to the max. So the Trump administration sent officials from the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency to Los Angeles to find (i) blame or (ii) a solution? I suspect only the former.

Writing for the September 11^th Los Angeles Times, Benjamin Oreskes, Dakota Smith and James Queally describe the hateful “fact-gathering” effort. “The Trump administration officials who came to town to study homelessness spent Monday [9/9] and Tuesday [9/10] meeting with officials from Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office, checking out the Jordan Downs public housing in Watts and touring the long-entrenched epicenter of the crisis, skid row. There was even a trek to Pomona.

“An administration official said the purpose was to gather information so that President Trump could begin to develop a plan to address the ‘tragedy.’… ‘The president has taken notice of the homelessness crisis, particularly in cities and states where the liberal policies of overregulation, excessive taxation, and poor public service delivery are combining to dramatically increase poverty and public health risks,’ Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere said.

“Local and state officials were skeptical. The offices of Garcetti and Gov. Gavin Newsom put out statements listing steps they said the administration could take right away if it truly intended to help solve the crisis.

“As he pursues reelection, Trump has used homelessness to bash leaders in California, where he remains deeply unpopular… ‘You take a look at what’s going on with San Francisco, it’s terrible. So we’re looking at it very seriously. We may intercede. We may do something to get that whole thing cleaned up. It’s inappropriate,’ Trump told Fox News in early July.” Does anyone think for a minute that an administration that is hell-bent on eviscerating social “entitlements” – from the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, food stamps, welfare at every level – to cutting taxes for the rich and leaving the rest of us to dangle in a world of skyrocketing costs… has any intention of helping solve this horrible issue?

              I’m Peter Dekom, and the only rational for this foray into poverty is to find liberals to blame for anything Trump can in preparing for his 2020 reelection effort.

If the Economy is so Great, Then Why… Is the Percentage of Americans with Health Insurance Falling?

Any poll that shows Donald Trump’s approval ratings dropping is “fake news,” at least according to Donald Trump. And most polls are showing serious erosion in those ratings. Yet the economy is the “greatest economy in our history” according to our President, even though his metrics are based on stock market performance (a bit of a yoyo based on the political announcement du jure) and “average” metrics. Numbers that tell you rich people are doing well. Like average earnings. Lots of folks at the top are making bundles more, and of course that raises the average income numbers. But for 70% of Americans, stagnation is the name of the “real retained earnings” game. Costs for food, healthcare, housing and now durables based on products and resources from China, where the trade war slams “average” Americans in the teeth, have spiked. Less net money for most of us.

But the MAGA “friend to average [white] Americans” would be hard-pressed if he were honestly to explain the declines of “average” American life expectancy in recent years or the fact that fewer Americans have healthcare and more Americans are filing for bankruptcy because of an inability to pay medical bills, even many with health insurance. But then, when have we heard an “honest” explanation of his myriad of failed policies… I guess because we’re winning so much.

The lack of health insurance can explain some bankruptcies, but the recent rise reflects more families with medical coverage, numbers that seem to rise – notwithstanding Medicare – more among older Americans. Often, it is the unexpected impact of an unforeseen medical cost, added to other debt, that pushes many over the top. The precipitous rise in co-pays, premiums and deductibles plus the impact of exceptionally limited coverage from so-called “skinny bundle” policies pushed by the Trump administration in defiance of the Affordable Care Act adds to the financial pressure.

But by the numbers, as 20 red state attorneys general joined by Trump’s Department of Justice and Health & Human Services regulators, fewer people and fewer ailments are getting coverage, and even those that do face higher costs. “About 27.5 million people, or 8.5 percent of the population, lacked health insurance for all of 2018, up from 7.9 percent the year before, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday [9/10]. It was the first increase since the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010, and experts said it was at least partly the result of the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine that law…

“The drop in insurance coverage in 2018 is relatively small compared to the long-term trend, but it suggests that policy changes under the Trump administration, which has been hostile to the health law, have made a difference… The administration also cut back on advertising and enrollment assistance, programs that helped low-income people learn about the new insurance programs, among other changes that may have depressed the number of people signing up for health plans. The government also announced that it might begin counting Medicaid enrollment as a strike against immigrants who are seeking green cards or citizenship — a policy that was finalized this year. Insurance coverage for Americans of Hispanic origin fell last year, according to the report.

“The administration’s decision in 2017 to eliminate a subsidy program contributed to large price increases for health insurance in the Obamacare marketplaces in many parts of the country the following year. Research from the Department of Health and Human Services shows that more than a million Americans who were previously buying their own insurance left the market in 2018.

“But the Census Bureau figures show that the main change in the uninsured rate came from declines in Medicaid coverage. Urged by the administration, which expressed concerns about the program’s integrity, several states started asking families to prove their eligibility for Medicaid more often in 2018. The number of Americans covered by Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program fell by more than 1.6 million last year, according to administrative data.

“‘The way they are doing this seems clearly designed to throw people off this program,’ said Eliot Fishman, a senior director at the consumer group Families USA, and a former top Medicaid official in the Obama administration. Mr. Fishman said he was particularly disheartened to see declines in the number of children with health insurance.

“Brian Blase, a former special assistant to President Trump for health care policy, said he’s not surprised to see enrollment in Medicaid fall. He pointed to a recent study suggesting that some Americans who had enrolled in the program in the early years of Obamacare were not in fact eligible for it. ‘My sense is in 2018 states probably started tightening eligibility,’ said Mr. Blase, who is now president of the consulting and research firm Blase Policy Strategies. [9 years ago?!]

“As part of the 2017 tax law, Congress abolished Obamacare’s so-called individual mandate, which required most Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a fine. Technically, the change did not kick in until this year. But analysts believe publicity about the provision may have led fewer people to seek coverage.” New York Times, September 10^th. If you want to see the kinds of people most negatively impacted by these healthcare assaults and cutbacks, just look at all those people standing and cheering behind Donald Trump at one of his many campaign rallies. We spend 41% of the global military budget, but we still do not seem to be able to take care of our own with universal healthcare as does every other developed nation on earth. What is that massive military protecting again? The same military that has not won a major war since 1945?

              I’m Peter Dekom, and there are at least three major casualties in Trump’s domestic policies: average Americans, the environment and truth.

Biophilic Designed and Wellness Focused Housing

“Filtration systems for purified air and water provide peace of mind and a sense of wellbeing. Biophilic designs bridging indoor and outdoor spaces create harmony with the surrounding environment. Troon’s interventions in urban contexts open up new possibilities for city
dwellers seeking homes that foreground health, wellness and effortless living.”

Huh? Biophilic kind of works this way: “Because humans today spend 90% of our time indoors, according to the 2001 National Human Activity Pattern Survey, it’s necessary to bring the outdoors in and create indoor environments that reference nature in both obvious and subtle ways.

“At the simplest level, that means plants–and lots of them. This trend has even helped spur a boom in startups catering to plant-obsessed millennials in urban areas, where demand is so great growers report that they can’t keep up. But biophilic design is more than just adding plants to indoor spaces. It’s an ethos that poses interior design not merely as an aesthetic or functional discipline, but as a way to improve people’s mental and physical well-being.” Katherine Schwab, FastCompany.com, April 11^th. Bring nature indoors. 

Let add the wellness construct to this mix. It blends peaceful serenity with home health and fitness. Essentially, it brings a gym and spa into your immediate environment, in a quiet and peaceful way. But if you want to push the envelope, the expensive add is the way the home is constructed – light, air and sound. The biggest threat to contemporary life, beyond climate change, is simply how many of us are sleep-deprived in a modern environment. Lack of sleep increases stress, makes daily life harder and less pleasant and can physically be a life threat.

“Over 35% of American adults don’t get enough sleep, while 44% say their snooze got worse in the past five years. Is it any wonder our society has fetishized rest? The national “sleep epidemic” has inspired legacy brands and startups alike to hawk gadgets, tonics, trackers, ‘coaches,’ and smart mattresses. The U.S. sleep aid market is expected to grow to over $100 billion by 2023.

“Sleep, much like other health and wellness categories, has become something of a status symbol, a signifier of wealth, something that you spend money on to fix (as compared to the rest of us, for whom it just means what happens when you collapse out of exhaustion after a long day at work or taking care of children).

“So it’s no surprise that the ever-elusive slumber has been embraced by entrepreneurs, including real estate developers. It makes sense: If you spend a third of your time sleeping at home, shouldn’t it be fully optimized for snooze?

“Troon Pacific, a San Francisco-based development and investment management company, is leading the trend by designing luxury sleep-enhanced homes. It takes into account all construction, design, and materials to give clients a solid sleep—from insulating walls to reducing noises like humming and vibrating, filtering the air, and keeping temperatures consistent throughout the night.” Rina Raphael, FastCompany.com, September 6^th. The above photo is from the Troon website. Oh, their specially outfitted biophilic/wellness home – 8,350 square feet in the San Francisco Bay Area? It is big and in a pricey hood, but a real steal at a mere $29.8 million!

I have an easier approach to life that fits better with most people’s affordability capacity. First, list the places where your body spends the most time. Be specific. Prioritize those elements for expenditures. For me, it’s office chair, bed and car, in that order. So I spent a long time researching my chair, which cost way more than most (from Relax the Back, but I am older and have had back surgery), have a really good bed/mattress (firm, lots and lots of springs with a great topper) and even went upscale on the seat for my car (which has lasted me nine years with more to go). Because a quality chair (lifetime), bed (25 years) and car (10+ years) last longer, the price amortizes to reasonable… and my body sends me a thank-you note now and again. If you cannot find quiet, maybe a white noise generator is an OK substitute. Dark cool rooms without leaping pets… well, you know.

Whatever you can do to enhance sleep has to be good for you. Eating and drinking the wrong stuff, not getting enough exercise and the way you interpret everything around you (e.g., “that bastard cut me off” vs. “he must be really late for a very important date”) all factor into life and bad sleep. Life is tough enough without paying attention to those details you actually can and must control. To sleep, perchance to dream….

              I’m Peter Dekom, and even I have to take time out from ragging at the world to be a bit nicer to myself… you too should be nicer to yourself if you are not already.