Maslow Theorem: The Great Society America 21st
Century (work in progress-by Paul D. Goree)
Now
that President Obama has cemented another critical piece to the resolvement of
the Great Society. We now can look towards the final piece. Abraham
Maslow, cites several lower hierarchy social requirements, needed for upward
mobility. These needs represent the physiological and sociological requirements of an individual to survive within a societal setting.These needs include water, food, safety, security, and shelter. If these
lower hierarchy needs are not consistent/stable, then social upward mobility is
not possible. For example, as soon as an individual has food/water, they are in
need of shelter/housing. Once shelter/housing is required, they may lose their
job, and then shelter/housing becomes an issue again. Thus this becomes a continuous
circle,resulting in discouragement; in the Land of Liberty.
The Great Society (L.B. Johnson), suggests that all of the lower level
survival needs be state provided (social welfare). With universal health care
resolves safety and security, as AFDC/TANF resolves water and food. Now
American can look to resolving housing needs. We can look towards HUD for some
of these answers. Yet it still seems that states, may be able to resolve
housing much better than the centralized bureaucracy that HUD is.
In
Rubinger’s article: Why U.S. Desperately needs affordable homes, he states:
“America faces many more unresolved
affordable housing challenges. A $26 billion capital-needs backlog that's
associated with our publicly financed affordable housing stock looms.
Traditional federal subsidies
that enable affordability -- such as Section 8, which authorizes rental housing
payment assistance to private landlords on behalf of more than 3 million
low-income households -- are being cut back. Federal housing subsidy programs
such as HOME were slashed this year. These vital programs need to be preserved
and expanded.
Other important tools are at the
ready, but sadly, they are inactive or underutilized.
Back in
2008, President George W. Bush signed into law the National Housing Trust Fund,
requiring at least 90% of its funds be used to build, preserve or rehabilitate
rental housing for low-income households. But this program and others like it
have yet to receive the funding that was envisioned by the law.
Another valuable initiative is
the Rental Assistance Demonstration Program, which enables private developers
to work with public housing authorities to preserve affordable housing. But it
has only been funded for up to 60,000 housing units…”
According
to the Annual Homeless Assessment Report (2013) the following data reflects the
homeless population as of January 2013:
January
2013
• 610,042 people were homeless in the United States.
• Nearly two-thirds of people experiencing homelessness (65
percent or 394,698) were living in emergency shelters or transitional housing
programs.
• More than one-third of all homeless people(35 percent or
215,344) were living in un-sheltered locations such as under bridges, in cars,
or in abandoned buildings. Age of Homeless Population in 2013. In 2013, HUD
required communities to provide estimates of homelessness in three age ranges— under
age 18, 18 to 24 years old, and 25 years old and older.
• More than two-thirds of all homeless people (67 percent
or 410,352 people) were 25 years or older.
• 10 percent of homeless people were 18 to 24 years old (or
61,541). This percentage remains the same regardless of sheltered status.
• Nearly one-quarter of all homeless people (23 percent or
138,149) were homeless children under the age of 18, and 30 percent of
sheltered homeless people were children.
• 80 percent of unsheltered homeless people were over the
age of 25. Less than 10 percent of the unsheltered population was under 18.
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