(RightWing.org) – America faces several pressing issues as the country heads into the next election cycle. Joe Biden has a lot to explain to hard-working Americans as he campaigns for a second term. Unsurprisingly, a recent Monmouth University poll found that 44% of registered Democrats want the president to step aside in 2024, presumably hoping to find someone younger, more charismatic, and less prone to making humiliating gaffes to carry the party’s banner.
Amid this backdrop, a recent report indicated that the country’s homeless population reached a record high — or an appalling low point for the nation, depending on how someone wants to interpret this stunning new revelation.
United States Homelessness Reaches Record High
On August 14, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published the results of its recent analysis of information gathered from multiple sources. The data it collected so far showed that homelessness increased by 11% over the closing figures from 2022.
Putting that figure in context, the WSJ explained that this year’s increase is the biggest one on record since the US government started tracking comparable data sets in 2007. The next largest recorded spike occurred in 2019 and only reached 2.7%.
The WSJ advised readers that their estimates are based on preliminary figures. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development won’t release new figures until later this year. It’s reasonable to expect that the year-end figures could be significantly different from the WSJ’s current figure — perhaps even considerably higher.
Sadly, This Year’s Spike in Homelessness Happened for a Reason
The WSJ determined that this increase in homeless people reflected several “pressures [from] around the US.” Others might say it was the predictable outcome of a failed presidential administration.
For instance, the study attributed much of the rise of displaced individuals to the country’s exploding housing costs. Likewise, the expiration of pandemic-related eviction moratoriums also played a massive role in the increase of homelessness. Despite his many campaign promises, Biden appears to have turned his back on working-class Americans struggling to get back on their feet after months of lockdowns.
Rising interest rates and market expectations that the nation will enter a recession in early 2024 also added fuel to an already raging fire. The country’s economic downturn in the last two to three years also created a lack of available new housing units in several parts of the country.
As an interesting footnote, it appears that the president’s failed border and immigration policies also played a role in the nation’s rise in homelessness. The WSJ determined that the nation’s opioid crisis contributed significantly to people losing their homes. No doubt, the rising levels of fentanyl reaching the country’s southern border has played a considerable role in the increasing number of Americans addicted to drugs.
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