Studying homeless students

The number of homeless students in Michigan has increased 66 percent in the past four years.
Krystle Wagner
Apr 6, 2013


The number of homeless students has also increased in Northwest Ottawa County, though not as dramatically, said Cindy Benson, information services specialist and homeless liaison for Grand Haven Area Public Schools.

There were 103 students in the Grand Haven school district classified as "homeless" in the fall of 2010. That number has grown to 153 this past fall, Benson said.

Being classified as "homeless" doesn’t necessarily mean living on park benches. Families fall into that category if they lack a regular and adequate nightly residence; live in an emergency or transitional center, car, public space, motel, hotel or campground; or share a home because of economic hardship, Benson said.

Schools aren't the only ones seeing an increased need in services for homeless students. Todd Krygsheld, associate director of the Holland Rescue Mission, said more Ottawa County residents are using their emergency shelter services, along with the women and children's shelter.

"We've seen a little increase with the economy and loss of jobs," he said.

Although Benson said she thinks the homeless issue is driven by the economy, she believes shelters are helping more people because the community and schools are doing a better job of identifying people in need.




So why is the cost of care going up? That research and reply will go on for days. Best save that for another post. Keep pick'n at the po folks tho 'cus that's show'n your look'n out fer'm.


Sorry, Wing - you're not going to cough and sniffle your way out this one. You clearly didn't read the entire link. The article, in an easy-to-easy read manner, addresses the issues of rising health care costs, with the cost of hospital care one of the most spreading epidemics.

The ACA is an attempt to begin to sedate this rise. Yeah - you just keep feverishly pick'n and grin'n while you sit in a sate of reduced brain wave activity.


Hey did you see that wee little solution mentioned about competition as solution to rising cost. Nope didn't think so. Now that would help wouldn't it. I'm excited being a free market kinda guy. Oh wait, how is the ACA going to insure that? Oh that's right thru Health Insurance Exchanges run by the gubment, or quasi-gubment entity. Yup, that should do it.

Now back to my reduced brain wave activity reading your other post.


Competition, capitalism, and free market approaches have done a swell job, haven't they? Kept those costs down, check. Running smoothly, check. No glitches as they rake in enormous profits, check. Totally prepared for the avalanche of aging Baby-Boomers, check.

Try reading up on the ACA before you start hurling needles. You should trade in that smart phone - it apparently is a lemon.


Meddling by the gubment and Keynesian theorist by design interrupts the free market. Maybe you should read up on that little theory before you hurdle your needles at the free market, capitalistic system that made us the #1 economy in the world. I would suggest you stick your head outside this morning for some fresh air to clear your head but its raining really hard and you would get as wet as your statements. See, I am compassionate and caring about my fellow citizens.


Oh-oh - looks like I hit a nerve. If I have offended you or your sensibilities, especially in lieu of the winggirl fiasco, or possibly Dick Cheney, I offer my most sincere apologies to a compassionate, caring compatriot.


At the time my father was under the local government insurance, which was rather decent coverage. However the cancer and treatment had torn him apart making him unable to work. He applied for social services before his insurance was to lapse so that he would not have loss of coverage. This prompted his case officer to assume he was trying to game the system, and so they flagged him as an "undesirable". One persons actions caused my father to face the possibility loosing all coverage. (his case is still under review 3 years later)

When this happened the entire board of county commissioners came to bat for him, and kept him on the pay roll (with no pay) to extend his coverage. Luckily the VA stepped in shortly after.


Thanks for sharing your story. I have enormous respect for our veterans, and this, coupled with the fact that your father seems like an exceptional person in general, makes the frustration of knowing he has had to struggle so after devoting his life to serving others all the more disturbing.

It sounds like you and you father have come to a place of peace and acceptance. I hope you all will enjoy the future together fully and with happiness. Blessings to you.


Corporate welfare and tax evasion need to be reviewed and addressed as well. I don't claim to be "judge, jury and executioner," but I do believe anyone able to hunt elk or fish all day is capable of being employed, and certainly not entitled to my tax dollars. Neither am I a doctor, but four of my sisters are and they see freeloaders all day.


Rainbowjoe: Thanks for the heads up re: JP Morgan. I found the following very interesting link...http://www.rooseveltinstitute.or...

Seems the states have found they can save millions on food stamp costs by outsourcing operations to JP Morgan. To add insult to injury, should you need to talk to someone about your food stamp, you must call JP Morgan, and you will be directed to a call center in India.....JPM is saving money by outsourcing food stamp customer service calls to India. End result? JPM making huge profits all of food stamps!

The beat goes on, and on, and on.....


"43.6 million Americans are now using food stamps, nearly 14% of the population, which is a record number." Do ya think any of that is fraud? Again, those that need assistance should get it but the fraud is always glazed over.

JPM making money off food stamps is the free market working. Why the disdain? Do you want them to lose money? Does taking down that big ole mean bank thru losing money, ie profit, from serving food stamp customers make it better? I don't get it? I'm glad they found profit in dealing with this clientele. Only thing I don't like about it is the outsourcing of the job of taking calls.


Why the disdain? As you sprinkle your pixie dust of prejudice over some poor American getting a few bucks worth of food stamps a month, JP Morgan is creatively profiting from the hard luck of American citizens. Not only did they profit and ultimately thrive as major players in bringing about the Recession of 2007-2009, helping to create the massive, nearly unprecedented wave of retraction in the economy and the resultant unemployment, they are now profiting handsomely from the administering of aid to those they originally shafted the most. And you're "glad"!

Which brings us to the rise in food stamp see, when tens of millions of people lose their jobs, homes, cars, health care, all in a few years, they then are forced to turn to help in the form of food stamps until they can get back on their feet. Hence the rise in food stamps. Make sense?

"According to the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research (the official arbiter of U.S. recessions) the recession began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009.[25][26] US mortgage-backed securities, which had risks that were hard to assess, were marketed around the world. A more broad based credit boom fed a global speculative bubble in real estate and equities, which served to reinforce the risky lending practices.[27][28] The precarious financial situation was made more difficult by a sharp increase in oil and food prices. The emergence of sub-prime loan losses in 2007 began the crisis and exposed other risky loans and over-inflated asset prices. With loan losses mounting and the fall of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008, a major panic broke out on the inter-bank loan market. As share and housing prices declined, many large and well established investment and commercial banks in the United States and Europe suffered huge losses and even faced bankruptcy, resulting in massive public financial assistance." Wiki.

You do indeed "don't get it". The only redeeming point in your comment is "Only thing I don't like about it is the outsourcing of the job of taking calls". JP Morgan, under pressure from intense public scrutiny of this practice, has begun to pull food stamp customer service call center jobs back to the US.

You applaud the financial industry for their cutthroat methods of profit-making. I say - Corporate Welfare? Bah Humbug!


More thoughts from an Independent - by that definition, Bernie Sanders would be a moderate Republican.

So JP Morgan is profiting? Who is paying them for the services they provide? The Obama Administration! Do you truly believe the feds could provide the services more cheaply and efficiently? If so, you have never worked for the federal government. Let's see, the economy is in the dumper, the democrats expand the food stamp program (even to illegal aliens), they contract out providing the service to the private sector, and you blame the private sector for making a profit, and excoriate them for keeping costs down by subcontracting to India, where people actually have to work to make a living rather than relying on the government to steal from other citizens to provide them a living wage?

Since you are so enamored of U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research (the official arbiter of U.S. recessions) you must have noted that their working papers conclude that risky lending by banks and subprime lending was a direct result of the Clinton/Reno/Cuomo/Raines/Bawney Fwank/Nostrilla Waxman/ Chuckie Schumer beefing up and defending the Community Reinvestment Act, which forced banks to make loans to the po folk who could never pay them back (the same conclusion that was reached by the Federal Reserve and other notable economists). The program was promoted through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which Gorge W. Bush attempted to reign in but was thwarted by Congressional democrats.

Corporate Welfare, where a private sector firm is actually providing a service instead of taking the taxpayer dollars thrown at it by Obama, getting rich and then producing nothing - Solyndra, L&G Batteries, Fisker, etc., etc., etc.; which makes more sense to hardworking taxpayers who are already subsidizing millions of their fellow citizens, bloated government and public sector union bureaucracies, and teaching chinese hookers not to drink alcohol?

Give me a break from such clear, independent thinking (or lack thereof)!


"George" - I mistyped, most likely because the liberal talking points were making my gorge rise. Oh sorry, Independent Liberal talking points.


My I rebut some of your more salient rebuttals in this post?

1. The only thing "alien" is your predictable, constant, repetitive, and redundant arguments in your first paragraph. First of all, you imply I'm prejudiced against Indian people, which is categorically not true.

2. Why do you always stawt to weplace "r's" with "w's" when you wwite Bawney Fwank? I'm seawching fow a wational weason, but wight now nothing weasonates.

3. Your typo of George to Gorge was a brilliant Freudian slip, if I must say so. So descriptive of the "deep, narrow passage with steep rocky sides" he drove our nation into. Bravissimo!

4. The only break you are currently reveling in is the proverbial break from reality, the break from objective reasoning, and a leading role in "The Break-fast of Champions".

5. There you again - discriminating against chinese hookers. As long as they stay clear of the Everclear, why pick on them?


If you went to the link, you would understand.


Oh I understand. The time the public gets an unbiased, objective explanation, in context, from Brit Hume/Fox is about the time you get an engraved Christmas card from Obama.

I know all about it. George and Henry, getting cold feet while rapidly approaching legacy-time, and actually starting to read those confidential memos stating that if they don't start getting presidential and do some regulatory oversight, the economy will end up in the dumpster, decided to pin the blame on the Dems. Anything to save his legacy and maybe win the election for McCain! But I will give him credit for actually appearing to do something.


What is it about the year 2001 that you don't understand?


You're somewhat cryptic here, but I will assume you mean 911. This is unfortunate. I had business associates that suffered and died in the World Trade Towers. I grieved then, once again when Bush made an abrupt right turn into Iraq, leaving bin Laden trapped in the mountains Tora Bora, then again when he said about bin Laden, "I really just don't spend that much time on him, to be honest with you". It took Obama to finally give me some relief. And now you bring it up again.

If this is not what you meant, delete the above.


Please, take the blinders off and pay attention. The report at the link clearly shows Bush raised the first red flag about the housing problem in April 2001, contrary to your blunderbuss assertion that " George and Henry, getting cold feet while rapidly approaching legacy-time, and actually starting to read those confidential memos stating that if they don't start getting presidential and do some regulatory oversight, the economy will end up in the dumpster, decided to pin the blame on the Dems." I give you credit for ignoring reality and immediately going into your left wing, liberal, democrat talking points against George Bush and the Iraq war, further burnishing your new "independent" label.


Gee, you better get on the horn quick and inform the NYT they don't know what they're talking about.....

It's always best to make every attempt at obtaining the proper information before any effort to discredit Independent mentalists. I know this is a hard life lesson to learn, but even you Constitutional Interpretivivistas are capable of going outside the four corners.


Let's please stop being silly. The NYT article (a known non-partisan entity, of course) was talking about dealing with the crisis that the CRA created and that was exacerbated by the intransigence of democrats in failing to rein in the mortgage crisis and the GSE's. Did Bush play a role in 2002 by continuing the democrat's CRA - yes he did, to his discredit. Did he recognize the problems soon thereafter and try to correct them? Yes, to his credit. Did the democrats originally expand the CRA and extort the banks to give loans they never would have made? Yes. Did the democrats thwart any attempts to correct the problems? Yes. Is Obama even today attempting to force the banks to make the same kind of bad loans that led to the crisis? YES. Come on, you're smarter and better than citing a NY Times article to mislead about Bush's attempts to fix the problem years after the fact.


You want me to stop being silly? Ok, buster. Frankly, I'm disgusted with your constant attempts at discrediting Obama at every opportunity. Is he perfect? - no. I'm equally dismayed at your constant attempts at justifying some very bad policies made on Bush's watch. Are you being fair and objective? - no. Are your feathers ruffled because I have a more developed sense of humor than you? - yes. Is my energy lagging because you simply can not, will not, or are just not capable of admitting just once I might be on to something? - yes. And, finally, am I done here and moving on to greener pastures? - yes.


O.K. but here's an olive leaf, something we can probably agree on:

No matter which president, which party bears some responsibility, this will not end well.


I hope you will clear up my confusion regarding your olive leaf (vs a branch which would have a greater flogging effect) and the coercion of forcing me to dig deeper. Couldn't you have chosen a more complicated subject? What do you suppose we can probably agree on?

1. The history of defined benefit plans (liberal?) vs defined contributions (conservative?).

2. calPERS, as a public employee retirement system, based on a defined benefit plan, never having paid into the PBGC or Social Security options, relying on actuarial science which is a fancy word for crap shoot, and never dreaming 10 years ago that interest rates of 8% would fall to 1-2% (why didn't they?), is now fighting for it's life with it's shareholders, Wall Street.

3. Wall Street, again making points in the "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil" game, has righteous indignation that their speculative investing might not be bailed out again. The calPERS dilemma is not a sudden revelation. They had a field day buying up junk bonds and sub-prime mortgage bundles and were bailed out when everything tanked, and I suppose they believe, on principle, this should always happen. Their hands are not clean.

4. We do agree on one thing. There's enough blame to go around and responsibility can be shared by all parties; and I'm not looking forward to the ending, either.


I gotta say, one of your more entertaining, funny replies. #2 wocks! Now if we could fix your political views and keep working on your music selection, you might just get invited to a Tea Party event. Of course you will have to repaint the Lani van to get those outdated peace symbols off the front. Peace out!


Cawwy on, Wocket Man Wocker!


So the best vaccine for all this is a growing robust economy...right! More jobs=less food stamps right? That takes us all the way back to one of my earlier post: "Expanding business means more jobs, more jobs means less people in poverty and needing government assistance." This occurs during Republican presidencies or soon after their policies light the economy!

Maybe I need to put that in more poetic terms for you but I'm just a common man with common sense approach to the ills of our country. Let's pressure the politicians to fix the d*$# thing so we can make better use of the money that is pouring into the redistribute funnel. Your miss placed "feelings" again cloud your judgement and understanding to what can be done to fix the problem.


It's remarkable how you twist the application of statistics, research, and objective reasoning into a pretzel of "feeling" and "emotions". And "miss placed" at that! Oh just makes me want to sob and cry, old cootie Wing-King is such a bully!!

Of course, in their infinite wisdom and concern for you common men, and their publicly stated goal, purpose in life, and eternal focus of keeping Obama a 1-term president, Congressional Republican patriots blocked every single jobs legislation - I repeat, not one, zero, zip - during a financial crisis nearly as deep as the Great Depression.

Despite the effect this lunacy had in sabotaging the recovery (and helped give them a 12% approval rating, not to mention fail overwhelmingly in their stated goal), Obama had the fortitude to press forward, and jobs are returning, although not as quickly or as widespread as needed for some of those food stamp recipients.

And Wing - you are much too modest. You are a most uncommon man.


He, he oh, this is lunacy alright. Lets see if we can at least get to 100 post for the sake of the Trib on this subject.

Why was the most recent job legislation blocked? I'll tell you, it was because it was such an ill conceived, poorly structured bill, so full of waivers, hidden costs, and would have by its nature made crony capitalism legal. It would have destroyed far more jobs that it could ever hope to create. If it was such a good bill why couldn't it get out of the Democratic controlled Senate?

Why when the country was loosing so many jobs did Odrama wait till now to pass a jobs bill when he could have in his first two years. He didn't need the Republicans at all to pass anything then! That was proven with his health care bill. So stop crying because you mans priorities were all wrong when he took office.

Hey pass the pretzels I'm getting hungry! Hopefully I haven't miz spelled anything during that rebuttal. "Working man" - debut album from Rush



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