By Justice D. Stanley
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Local and state government will have to reform the way they handle hunger and homelessness if society is going to reduce the number of people living on the streets in cities like Baltimore, according to a panel discussion held at the Real News Network last Wednesday.
The seven panelists who participated in the “Hunger & Homeless: Creative Solutions to Systemic Barriers” program said taxpayers and philanthropists are usually more willing to pay for incremental changes that improve the city rather than broader programs designed to demolish and rebuild a community.
“It’s easier to get funding for reform than it is to get funding for revolution,” said Michael J. Wilson, director of Maryland Hunger Solutions who was one of the panelists.
The panel discussion, which was held in honor of National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week, included representatives from local groups like Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, Health Care Center for the Homeless, and Maryland Hunger Solutions. There were about 100 people in the audience.
According to Adam Schneider, director of community relations at Health Care for the Homeless, Baltimore’s homeless population has been undercounted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for several years.
While the 2014 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress reported 4,980 homeless individuals in Maryland, Schneider said there are actually an estimated 25,000 people living on the streets in the state.
Schneider pointed out that Maryland has almost 80,000 low-income families even though the state is the wealthiest in the country, with the median household income equaling $73,971.
Adam Jackson, CEO of Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, said he believes the system is intentionally set up to keep people stagnant and oppressed – a reason that he believes some people sell drugs.
Jackson also brought the audience’s attention to the way that resources are being distributed throughout the city. He holds politicians, including Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and former Gov. Martin O’Malley, as well as those who are in charge of distributing resources, responsible for not effectively working towards decreasing the city’s homeless population.
He pointed out that the people who should be properly distributing the city’s resources are often too busy lining their pockets with six-figure salaries to notice the city’s residents suffering.
“We don’t have apparatus to hold people accountable,” Jackson said.
Despite encouraging reform, Wilson was not optimistic that things will get better for the homeless and low-income communities after the 2016 mayoral race.
Schneider compared voting for the next mayor to “choosing our next oppressor,” but he did encourage the audience to continue to address the issue of homelessness.
“These are social issues that need to be addressed systemically,” Schneider said.