Encouraging homelessness

There have been several articles recently regarding homeless people, with the main theme being that the numbers haven’t really increased; it’s simply that more are using the shelters, making it easier to count them. Uh-huh.

There are a number of truisms regarding life and human nature. One of them is, “If you want more of something, subsidize it.” By providing free meals and beds to homeless people, we are subsidizing the actions of a group of people, and the simple and inescapable result is that we get more of them.

The opposite is also true. If we tax something, we will get less of it. So if Spokane takes a stronger position regarding homelessness, citing people for the various offenses they commit, there will be less homeless people in Spokane. I am not promoting either scenario. I am pointing out that for whatever reason, the people telling us that the number of homeless people in Spokane has not increased are not being honest.

I have lived in the downtown area for 17 years, and the number of homeless has doubled several times over during this period. And this number will continue grow as long as we subsidize their behavior.

Hal Dixon

Spokane