U.N. Criticizes U.S. Homeless Situation

After years of being denied entry by the Bush administration, a special rapporteur for the U.N. has finally completed a tour of housing in the U.S. and the diagnosis isn’t good. The special investigator accused the government of ignoring the “invisible” problem of homelessness while shelling out billions to banks.

The Guardian:

A United Nations special investigator who was blocked from visiting the US by the Bush administration has accused the American government of pouring billions of dollars into rescuing banks and big business while treating as “invisible” a deepening homeless crisis.

Raquel Rolnik, the UN special rapporteur for the right to adequate housing, who has just completed a seven-city tour of America, said it was shameful that a country as wealthy as the US was not spending more money on lifting its citizens out of homelessness and substandard, overcrowded housing. 

“The housing crisis is invisible for many in the US,” she said. “I learned through this visit that real affordable housing and poverty is something that hasn’t been dealt with as an issue. Even if we talk about the financial crisis and government stepping in in order to promote economic recovery, there is no such help for the homeless.”

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Advocate groups believe at least 3 million people in the U.S. were homeless at one time over the past year.