In the dubious spirit of “going big,” new Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge has asked for an additional $100 billion — almost twice the agency’s annual budget — so it can house the homeless across the country. The money is necessary, she says, to help the nearly 600,000 HUD estimates to be homeless.
“We need at least another $70 to $100 billion to do those things,” she told Politico. “So yes, I’d like to see a stream of resources to do this.”
There’s no doubt — as anyone who’s been to Grand Central, Penn Station or too many subway platforms lately knows well — there’s a street-homelessness crisis in New York, and it pales in comparison to that of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle, where tent encampments have taken over downtown areas.
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