There were a couple of interesting articles at Triad City Beat today.
The first highlights pressure being placed on the operators of the Interactive Resource Center in Greensboro. This facility– funded by both the city and the county– provides various services for the homeless; and is located just east of downtown.
Apparently the problem is that there has been considerable disorder at the center:
In the last year, there were 590 events that required emergency services or police presence at the IRC between Jan. 1, 2023 and Jan. 16. But between Jan. 17 — the day the IRC went 24/7 — and May 22 of this year, 642 events occurred.
Since January, multiple assaults have occurred at the building and in the surrounding area according to local crime data. Law enforcement has been dispatched to the IRC to respond to disputes, larceny, trespassing, reported weapons and assaults, including a stabbing. On May 8, GPD was summoned to the IRC because someone was “yelling” and making “threats to kill people.” Four days later, GPD responded to a call regarding the discharge of a firearm. A vehicle was shot; there were no injuries. On May 16, a fight broke out between two women; one was stabbed. Ten GPD units were called to the scene.
Calls for service from the IRC “significantly” tie up the city’s resources, Davis said, noting that one of the city’s reasons for visiting was to “determine” how they can “address a continued increase in call volume.”
The second article indicates that people are less able to afford housing in our area because of rising costs of renting apartments.
This is all very interesting.
The Interactive Resource Center was a well-intentioned, altruistic effort. However, the population of homeless includes many people who are mentally ill or who have problems with alcohol and/or substance use disorders. In retrospect, it makes sense that a facility that draws the chronically homeless like a magnet is going to be associated with all these corollary problems noted in the above excerpt, particularly when the police are systematically undermined as they are in Greensboro.
When our local elected leaders decided to support this project, they should have known what they were buying. Helping the homeless is associated with certain challenges. Perhaps it is better for those serving the homeless to go out to where they tend to stay. In fact, many Christian groups precisely do that.
But it appears that the people who advanced this proposal years ago and who supported this facility did not anticipate the problems they were creating.
With regard to the cost of housing, one answer is to increase the supply. That is difficult to do in Greensboro because of zoning issues and a city staff that moves very slowly with regard to permitting.
It should be noted that unfettered illegal immigration (“migrants”) and the flood of refugees in our area tends to increase the cost of housing by increasing demand. That is also part of the reason we are seeing higher rents.
But let’s look back at the general inflation that took place over the last four years nationwide. The governmental response to Covid-19 and Biden’s spending both fanned the flames of inflation; and that ultimately affected the housing sector.
Perhaps the folks at Triad City Beat ought to consider the real drivers of these problems related to the cost of housing and the homeless in Greensboro. Their response will be to expand the welfare state; but that would be a mistake.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result..
The socialists, Fred, love to highlight the problems where they exist– particularly as a route to expanding the welfare state. They will not acknowledge, however, that it was their own policies and moves that created the problems in the first place.