Who's Homeless?
22 May 2006
Editor, The Christian Science Monitor
Dear Editor:
Gerry Roll wants to classify as "homeless" families who are "doubled- and tripled-up with friends and relatives" ("Understanding poverty and homelessness in America," May 22).
While such families might be poor, they are, in fact, not homeless. To classify them as homeless would be, well, a lie. Among other ill consequences, this lie would mask the significant fact that a century ago the typical American household housed 5.63 persons while today the typical household, despite being larger than its counterpart of 100 years ago, houses fewer than half that number (2.37 persons).
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, The Christian Science Monitor
Dear Editor:
Gerry Roll wants to classify as "homeless" families who are "doubled- and tripled-up with friends and relatives" ("Understanding poverty and homelessness in America," May 22).
While such families might be poor, they are, in fact, not homeless. To classify them as homeless would be, well, a lie. Among other ill consequences, this lie would mask the significant fact that a century ago the typical American household housed 5.63 persons while today the typical household, despite being larger than its counterpart of 100 years ago, houses fewer than half that number (2.37 persons).
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Thursday March 8, 2007 at 6:08pm