 Housing woes push many to vote
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-24 07:35
Single mother Mary White worked as a sales clerk until the bank foreclosed on the home she rented. Tossed out on the street with her six boys, she lost her deposit and her job. Now she is revved up to vote in November. "My situation is going to make me want to vote even more," she said. "I want to say that this should not be happening to people in America, and I am very angry and upset about it." White, 42, is among many homeless people eager to cast a vote in an election year dominated by the shaky US economy and a deepening housing crisis. The US government estimates that more than 400,000 people around the country sleep in homeless shelters each night, with many more on the streets, under bridges and in parked cars. Advocacy groups say that some 3.5 million Americans will find themselves homeless at some point in a year. As home foreclosures passed the 2 million mark last year, organizations offering emergency accommodation say they are fielding more calls from families facing homelessness as they struggle to keep up with mortgages, rent and bills. Specific figures are not available, but advocacy groups say many people who have lost their homes are particularly motivated to cast their votes this time around, because they feel they have more at stake. "Low income and homeless people are more energized than I have ever seen before," said Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition of the Homeless. "There's a lot of interest in voting because of what's happening in this country." With the US housing crisis and economic insecurity forming a grim backdrop to the November election, both Democratic candidate Barack Obama and his Republican rival, John McCain, have policies aimed at helping those hardest hit. Obama has promised to help the nearly 37 million people living below the poverty line with measures including a raised minimum wage, together with family tax breaks and increased access to affordable housing. McCain's proposals including business incentives for areas with high unemployment, and housing vouchers for the homeless. People without a home, more than a third of them families with children, depend on the government and nonprofits. For them much is riding on the outcome of the Nov 4. presidential election, advocacy groups say. Agencies (China Daily 07/24/2008 page11) |
