able living environment’ for every American." ( Hombs, 131-132) The President called for increasing housing subsidies and repairing the "damage caused by the misguided and harmful housing budget cuts of the 1980s." (Hombs, 132) However, the President's Fical Year 96, 97, and 98 budgets maintained the cuts to housing programs made by Congress. President Reagan believed that “the homeless are on the streets by choice and prefer this to the available shelters...and that the jobless are simply not motivated.” (Hombs, 9) Thus, Congress left in place a number of measures which reduced the poor’s access to housing, such as tightened eligibility standards forpublic housing, cuts to federal aid to poor children, (Foscarinis, par. 5-8) and cuts in subsidized low-rent housing.Still, today, our nation’s government has not enacted any permanent solutions to homelessness. Our local, state or federal governments have not addressed the so desperately needed solutions for the fundamental cause of homelessness: 1) providing subsidies to make existing housing affordable, creating additional affordable housing through rehabilitation, and where needed, new construction; 2) ensure that working people earn enough to meet basic needs, have access to jobs and job training, and if not able to work, are provided with assistance adequate to meet baics needs, including housing; 3) ensure access to social services, including health care, child care, mental health care and substance abuse treatment; 4) prohibit laws that discriminate against the homeless. (Robertson/Greenblatt, 339-346) New policies that address the causes of homelessness, by addressing housing, education, income and treatment problems, must align with prevention policies to stop the rise in homelessness. Making a differenceWhen President Clinton was first elected, it appeared that he had a plan to make homelessness the number one HUD priority and to introduce innov...
