Hunger and Homelessness in the USA: A Human Rights Abuse

When Dr. Arjun Sengupta, an expert on human rights and poverty who works for the UN Commission of Human Rights, decided to illustrate how extreme poverty can thrive in a wealthy nation, he chose the Unites States:

"The case of the United States was particularly interesting as it presented an apparent paradox: as the wealthiest country on Earth, with higher per capita income levels than any other country, the United States has also had one of the highest incidences of poverty among the rich industrialized nations," Dr. Sengupta said. (link)

But Dr. Sengupta’s interests are not merely in poverty per se but in the intersection of poverty with human rights abuses:

"Poverty is not only deprivation of economic or material resources, but a violation of human rights too," according to the Geneva-based U.N. Commission on Human Rights.

"No social phenomenon is as comprehensive in its assault on human rights as poverty," it says. "Poverty erodes or nullifies economic and social rights such as the right to health, adequate housing, food, safe water, and the right to education." (link)

Of course, Dr. Sengupta’s flaw is that the United States doesn’t recognize that its citizens have a right to good health, adequate housing, something to eat, and safe water. It does recognize in theory that children have a right to an education, but after Bush’s No Child Left Behind completes its infernal work, that right will be reduced to a point of insignificance. Such material inequalities are permitted to exist in the USA because the material equality conferred in the USA consists in what is denied to all, not in what is conferred. As Anatole France put it:

The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.

For those of us who, nevertheless, find the right to egregious inequality a bizarre notion, Dr. Sengupta’s findings are illuminating:

• In 2004 12% 12 percent of the United States population--or about 37 million people—lived in poverty.

• 16 percent--or about 46 million—of the USA population have no health insurance.

• 38 million people in the USA, including 14 million children, are threatened by lack of food.

• [E]thnic minorities are suffering more from extreme poverty than white Americans. Compared to one in ten Whites, nearly one in four Blacks and more than one out of every five Latinos are extremely poor in the United States.

Dr. Sengupta also noted that

a multitude of federal and state benefit systems and means-tested programs have been designed to provide assistance to poor people, but noted that there were "significant gaps" in the current system.

[His] report identifies high costs of healthcare, inadequate access to quality education and vocational training, low wages, limited protection of tenants, and lack of low-cost housing as major factors that pose "serious obstacles" to people struggling to get out of poverty. (link)

It might be possible to dismiss Dr. Sengupta’s findings as “typical UN anti-Americanism” if there weren’t confirmation of his findings from a more pro-American crowd: e.g., the US Conference of Mayors. According to their recently released (12/05) 105 page Hunger and Homelessness Survey:

The number of families with children requesting emergency food assistance increased in 54 percent of the survey cities. The average increase in the number of families with children requesting emergency assistance was 7 percent. Across survey cities, 54 percent of those requesting emergency food assistance were either children or their parents. Survey cities reported 40 percent of adults requesting emergency food assistance were employed.

The number of elderly persons requesting emergency food assistance increased in 76 percent of survey cities. Across the cities, requests for emergency food assistance by elderly persons increased by an average of 13 percent. (link)

Not everyone who wants a meal to eat in the USA can find one even from emergency workers:

An average of 18 percent of the demand for emergency food assistance is estimated to have gone unmet in survey cities during the last year. For families alone, 18 percent of the requests for assistance are estimated to have gone unmet. In 43 percent of the cities, emergency food assistance facilities may have to turn away people in need due to lack of resources. (link)

Moreover, the problem isn’t confined to cases of episodic hunger. USA cities are seeing increasing cases of chronic hunger in the USA:

Eighty-seven percent of cities reported that emergency food assistance facilities were used both for emergencies and as a steady source of food over long periods of time. (link)

All of that is merely hunger. Homelessness is also on the rise during Bush’s amazing economic recovery:

An average of 14 percent of the requests for emergency shelter by homeless people overall and 32 percent of the requests by homeless families alone are estimated to have gone unmet during the last year. In 88 percent of the cities, emergency shelters may have to turn away homeless families due to lack of resources; in 79 percent they may also have to turn away other homeless people. (link)

How can these results occur in the “best,” freest,” “most enviable” nation in the world with the “greatest economy?” Could it be because the mythos we have about the USA isn’t true?

“The American way of life dictates that if you work hard you will move ahead or at the very least stave off poverty. However, today’s survey results prove that working families are increasingly at risk for hunger and in danger of homelessness,” said Rod Bond, President of Sodexho, Inc. School Services Division. (link)

Then Mr. Bond adds:

“Unfortunately, as this epidemic continues to grow, working families are forced to choose between housing or groceries, heat or groceries, medicine or groceries. As citizens, it is our responsibility, indeed it is our duty, to help ensure that every family has enough to eat and a decent place to live.” (link)

It’s our “responsibility” and “duty” to help, but we aren’t? Is that close to saying that our neglect of our own hungry and homeless is tantamount to a human rights abuse?

"Resource constraints have limited the reach of the assistance programs and social discrimination has aggravated the problems in many situations resulting in poverty clearly seen as a violation of human rights," Dr. Arjun Sengupta declared after visiting the United States….. (link)