Seattle Buckles Under Corporate Pressure, Repeals 'Amazon Tax' to Fight Homelessness

Socialist City Councilwoman Kshama Sawant says that as long as corporate Democrats run government, we should expect them to buckle under Amazon's and Starbucks' pressure

Homeless in New Zealand - Thousands Living in Garages and Cars

Once a pioneer of the social welfare state, New Zealand now has over 40,000 people who are homeless, forced to live in their cars and in garages as a result of rapid house price and rent rises and a shortage of social housing. Al Jazeera correspondent Tarek Bazley visits South Auckland and meets two families – one with six children living in a derelict garage, the other who lived with three teenagers for months in their car – and charts the country’s fall from and egalitarian society to one with deep divisions of wealth.

Eric Pickles Warns David Cameron of Rise in Homeless Families Risk

THE GUARDIAN: A leaked letter, from the office of Eric Pickles has warned that welfare reform will make 40,000 more families homeless

David Cameron has been warned by one of his most trusted cabinet ministers that his welfare policies risk making 40,000 families homeless.

The extraordinary claim, in a letter to the prime minister from the office of Eric Pickles, the communities secretary, exposes deep splits at the heart of government over plans to cap benefit at £500 a week per family.

The letter, leaked to the Observer, reveals Pickles's belief that the cap – announced with great fanfare at last year's Tory conference – will increase the burden on taxpayers, because thousands of families will be unable to pay their rent and will have to seek local government help. It blows apart the government's public insistence that a limit on benefit payments will have little impact on homelessness and child poverty. » | Daniel Boffey and Toby Helm | Saturday, July 02, 2011

America’s Homeless Middle Class

UN Meets Homeless Victims of American Property Dream
NAME: UN special rapporteur says wealthy US ignoring deepening homeless crisis while pumping billions into bank rescues / UN say US is neglecting deepening homeless crisis

A United Nations special investigator who was blocked from visiting the US by the Bush administration has accused the American government of pouring billions of dollars into rescuing banks and big business while treating as "invisible" a deepening homeless crisis.

Raquel Rolnik, the UN special rapporteur for the right to adequate housing, who has just completed a seven-city tour of America, said it was shameful that a country as wealthy as the US was not spending more money on lifting its citizens out of homelessness and substandard, overcrowded housing.

"The housing crisis is invisible for many in the US," she said. "I learned through this visit that real affordable housing and poverty is something that hasn't been dealt with as an issue. Even if we talk about the financial crisis and government stepping in in order to promote economic recovery, there is no such help for the homeless." >>> Chris McGreal in Los Angeles | Thursday, November 12, 2009

'Tent Cities' of Homeless on the Rise across the US
Photo courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: Homeless encampments dubbed "tent cities" are springing up across the US, partly in response to soaring numbers of home repossessions, the credit crunch and rising unemployment, according to a report.

Nearly 61 per cent of local and state homeless organisations say they have witnessed an increase in homelessness since the foreclosure crisis began in 2007, the Washington DC-based National Coalition for the Homeless study says.

And the problem has intensified since the report was produced in April, along with rising repossessions, soaring energy and food prices and job losses, the group says.

"It's clear that poverty and homelessness have increased," Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the coalition, said.

"The economy is in chaos, we're in an unofficial recession and Americans are worried, from the homeless to the middle class, about their future." 'Tent Cities' of Homeless on the Rise across the US >>> | September 20, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (US) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (US) >>>