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In the USA, there are more than five times as many vacant homes as there are homeless people. The state of Utah has therefore implemented the “Housing First” program and started to provide shelter for all in need, meaning that homeless people in the state receive apartments without any preconditions. Thanks to the Housing First program, the number of chronically homeless people in Utah has been reduced by 91% in ten years. Crucially, the program is cheaper than accepting homelessness.

The United Nations estimate that about 100 million people worldwide are homeless. Around 4 million of them live in Europe, and 3.5 million US-citizens have no shelter. On the other hand, there are 18.9 million vacant homes in the USA. This means there are more than five times as many vacant apartments as there are homeless people. It is the same in Europe: more than 11 million homes lie empty across Europe while 4 million people have no roof over their heads.

How “Housing First” works

This is why the US state Utah launched the Housing First program in 2005. It reverses conventional homeless aid. Commonly, homeless people are expected to look for a job and free themselves from their psychological problems or addictions before they receive help in finding accommodation. The Housing First program reverses the path. Homeless people get a flat before anything else. They receive accommodation without any preconditions – on the basis that every citizen should have a residence. The idea is that with the guaranty of a home to live in, it is easier to find a job and take care of mental health problems.

Utah started with 17 homeless people

Utah started the Housing First program in its capital Salt Lake City. The state chose 17 of the most challenging cases of chronic homelessness who had spent an average of 25 years on the street and provided shelter for them. The apartments were not subject to any conditions, there were no restrictions or rules. The participants only received the offer to be supported by caseworkers. 22 months later, all 17 former homeless people were still housed, including Keta. She had lived on the streets for more than 20 years and had been an alcoholic.

Lloyd Pendleton, director of Utah´s Homeless Task Force, says that trust is crucial. He reports about Keta, one of the first participants of Housing First:

“THE FIRST NIGHT IN HER APARTMENT, SHE PUT HER BELONGINGS ON THE BED AND SLEPT AT THE FLOOR. THE NEXT THREE NIGHTS SHE SLEPT OUT BY THE DUMPSTER NEAR THE APARTMENT BUILDING. WITH THE AID OF HER CASE MANAGER, SHE MOVED BACK INTO HER APARTMENT, BUT CONTINUED TO SLEEP ON THE FLOOR FOR SEVERAL NIGHTS. IT TOOK OVER TWO WEEKS FOR HER TO DEVELOP ENOUGH TRUST THAT THIS APARTMENT WAS HERS AND WILL NOT BE TAKING AWAY FROM HER.”

With confidence and a safe home, people find the strength to solve their problems. Today Keta is still sleeping in her own bed – and she is sober.

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Utah reduced chronic homelessness by 91%

In addition to Keta, the Housing First program helped state-wide more than 2,000 other people out of homelessness. Within ten years, the number of chronically homeless people in Utah has been reduced by 91%. In the neighbouring state of Wyoming, on the other hand, homelessness rose by 213% over the same period.

The Housing First program also works in other countries. Finland has been implementing the Housing First concept since 2008 and is the only country in the European Union where the number of homeless people is declining. The Finnish NGO “Y-Foundation” buys flats on the private housing market and renovates existing apartments with one or two rooms. Then, they provide the flats to people in need. Social workers, who have offices in the residential buildings, help with financial issues such as applications for social benefits. 4 out of 5 former homeless people make their way back into a stable life through Finland’s Housing First program.

Housing First is cheaper than homelessness

The Housing First program is not only a method of helping the homeless: besides humanitarian reasons, there are also economic advantages. In Utah, the state has to spend an average of 16,670 dollars for each chronically homeless person per year. That includes costs for emergency services, legal expenses, or jail time. In contrast, the costs to house homeless people and provide case management services to them only makes up 11,000 dollars per person.

30-year-old Sarah McBride was elected to the state parliament of Delaware with a majority of 73 percent of the votes. The first transgender senator advocates a socially just health policy, paid sick leave and the rights of queer people.

After her great electoral success, McBride published a thank you note on Twitter to all the people who voted for her.

“I HOPE TONIGHT SHOWS TRANS CHILDREN THAT OUR DEMOCRACY IS BIG ENOUGH FOR THEM TOO.”

Similarly to the democratic candidate Biden, McBride lost her partner. In 2014 the then 28-year-old Andrew Cray died a few days after his marriage to the 24-year-old Sara McBride. Cray also worked for fair and safe health care for trans people. Barack Obama nominated her for the “Champion of Change” program.

A pioneer in many ways

Sarah McBride was one of the first trans White House interns under the Obama administration. According to the Washington Post, her life story influenced high-ranking politicians and had a positive influence on the Democrats’ stance on trans-rights.

In addition, in 2016 Sarah McBride was the first trans person to speak at a national party conference in the United States. Moreover, she is a spokesperson for the non-profit LGBTQ organization “Human Rights Campaign”. Today, she became the first transgender senator.

Biden wrote the prologue in Sarah McBride’s memoirs

McBrides home state of Delaware is also the home state of Joe Biden. She lives in the 70,000 inhabitant city of Wilmington. Therefore, Biden and his family supported McBride on her political path.

In 2018 Sarah McBride published her memoirs “Tomorrow Will Be Different”. Joe Biden wrote the prologue and addressed the importance of the struggle for equality of trans people.

“IT IS ABOUT FREEING AMERICA’S SOUL FROM THE CONSTRAINTS OF BIGOTRY, HATE AND FEAR AND OPENING PEOPLE’S HEARTS AND MINDS TO WHAT HOLDS US ALL TOGETHER. AND THAT IS WHAT MAKES SARAH’S BOOK SO POWERFUL,” BIDEN WRITES IN THE PROLOGUE.

Trump and his lies about the cost of trans-personnel in the US military

That same year, US President Donald Trump had Trans people expelled from military service. He argued on Twitter with the high medical costs for their treatment. However, it costs the US military $8 million dollar annually. The total health budget for the U.S. military is $50 billion. According to BBC calculations, the military spent $2.2 million dollar on sex adjustments in 2017, and $41.6 million on Viagra prescriptions that same year.

Further success for transgender candidates

Besides the first transgender senator, other trans people made history in this US election. Taylor Small (26 years old) from Vermont made it to the House of Representatives. Moreover, Stephanie Byers (57 years old) from Kansas is the first indigenous transwoman ever elected to a state parliament.

Furthermore, in Oklahoma, 28-year-old Mauree Turner became the first non-binary candidate and Muslim woman to win a seat in a state legislature.

In addition, Mondaire Jones and Ritchie Torres won their seats in New York and are the first black, openly living members of the LGBTQ community ever elected to Congress.

In the US the COVID pandemic results in extreme contrasts. The acute economic crisis entails 32 million unemployed and at least 27.5 million without health insurance. At the same time, it is precisely the corona crisis that makes the super-rich even richer. US billionaires have become 700 billion richer since the corona lockdown. Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders now wants to fight this effectively: with a special corona tax. In return, all US citizens will be guaranteed free health insurance for one year.

In the 17 weeks since the corona lockdown in March until mid-July, almost 140,000 US Americans died of COVID-19 and more than 50 million lost their jobs. Of these, 32 million are currently unemployed, according to the organization Americans for Tax Fairness. The richest of the rich, however, are still recording capital gains.

Billionaires and poverty USA: Bizarre contrasts

Online companies benefited massively, especially during the lockdown: the closure of restaurants and shops was to their advantage. For example, the stock market value of Facebook increased by 60 percent from the beginning of the restrictions in mid-March to mid-May. That of Amazon increased by 45 percent. The value of Netflix by 46 percent. Large technology-oriented companies benefit(ted) enormously due to the current crisis. However, the global economy and workers have to endure the worst economic crisis in recent history, as kontrast.at has reported.

Not surprisingly, one of the biggest winners of the crisis is the richest man in the world: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. He has seen his assets rise to 179 billion dollars. That corresponds to an increase of 65 billion dollars or 58 percent. Mark Zuckerberg’s (Facebook) assets increased by 62 percent to $ 88 billion. The money of Elon Musk (Paypal, SpaceX, Tesla) has almost tripled: to over $70 billion.

The year 2020 so far summarized: The Corona crisis has caused a worldwide drop in sales, unemployment and an uncertain future. Millions of US citizens have no health insurance during times of a global pandemic.

For the richest of the rich, however, the global economic crisis means the opposite. The total wealth of US billionaires in 2020 is 12 times higher than their total wealth in 1990. Altogether, the wealth of the more than 600 US billionaires grew by an additional $700 billion during the Corona crisis. This has been reported by the organization Americans for Tax Fairness and is based on Forbes data.

Corona special tax: the “Make Billionaires Pay Act”

Democratic US Senator Bernie Sanders now wants to balance this inequality. And he does so with a kind of special Corona tax for the super rich. He calls it the “Make Billionaires Pay Act”: a one-off 60 percent tax. In a tweet from the beginning of August he provocatively asks: “How much is too much?” Below, a graph shows the asset growth of Bezos, Zuckerberg and Musk since the beginning of the US lockdown in March.

Specifically, Sanders is planning a one-off tax of 60 percent on the asset gains since the lockdown. That means that only the gains recorded in the period from 18th March 2020 to 1st January 2021 would be taxed. With these revenues the health care of all US citizens would be guaranteed as a basic right for one year: All costs deriving from medical treatment would no longer have to be covered by the citizens themselves.

THE US IS THE COUNTRY OF BIZARRE OPPOSITES: IN TIMES OF THE PANDEMIC BILLIONAIRES GAIN 700 BILLION DOLLARS MORE WHILE 30 MILLION US CITIZENS CANNOT EVEN AFFORD HEALTH INSURANCE.

With this special Corona tax Bernie Sanders wants to guarantee what EU citizens already take for granted: health insurance.

Land of inequality

In the USA, there is no social safety net as in most European countries. There is neither general health insurance nor a permanent basic provision for the unemployed. The Corona crisis has further intensified these inequalities.

Only old and particularly poor Americans are covered by state health programs. Most employees obtain their health insurance from their employer. But especially in the lower income jobs, employers often do not pay for insurance coverage, as the German newspaper DIE ZEIT reported. Obama-Care allows people to insure themselves, but it is highly overpriced and still provides inadequate protection. Kontrast.at has reported.

IN THE US, ILLNESS MEANS POVERTY. IN THE PANDEMIC, MILLIONS MORE US CITIZENS ARE NOW LOSING THEIR INSURANCE COVERAGE ALONG WITH THEIR JOBS. THIS IS A DISASTER NOT ONLY FOR THE CHRONICALLY ILL. IN THE US, A GLOBAL HEALTH PANDEMIC MEANS A DISASTER FOR THE ENTIRE POPULATION.

Even before the pandemic, the US was characterized by extreme inequality: The top 10 percent own nearly 64 percent of the wealth. Nearly 38 million people live below the national poverty line. So the compensatory contribution from the Corona special tax seems more than fair. Since people are not billionaires because they work more or live more economically than others.

BILLIONAIRES ARE ENTREPRENEURS: THEY COMBINE WORK AND KNOW-HOW. AND A COMPANY IS OF COURSE ALSO HEAVILY DEPENDENT ON THE MANPOWER OF ITS EMPLOYEES. BECAUSE FIRST AND FOREMOST THE COMPANY (OWNER) PROFITS FROM THE PROFIT MARGIN ON THE WORK OF OTHERS.

In this way companies generate added value that far exceeds the entrepreneur’s own contribution. The Corona special tax could now provide US citizens with free health insurance for at least one year.

Corona tax would generate about 422 billion for health insurance

Together with the announcement of the Corona special tax, Senator Sanders also published a fact sheet. There he quantifies the exact taxation for the richest US billionaires and calculates what they would have to pay through the tax by 5th August 2020. That would be 42.8 billion dollars for Bezos, 27.5 billion dollars for Musk and 22.8 billion dollars for Zuckerberg.
In total, the “Make Billionaires Pay Act” could raise $421.7 billion in taxes. Only those super-rich people with assets of more than one billion dollars would be taxed. It is currently still open whether the plan will be approved by the Senate and Congress.