Single-Loop and Double-Loop Learning and Homelessness – Part III – Capitalism

In Part II of this series, we wrote: “Nothing is preventing us from investing more in housing for those on the lower rungs of the economic scale, than we do for those on the upper rungs. Nothing is preventing us from enacting policies that will make all the investments we make, as a nation, in a more equitable manner. We can create a more equitable society, with much less income and wealth inequality.”

Implicitly, though, up until now, in this series, we have accepted capitalism, which undergirds our economy, as an unquestionable governing variable. The language we now use, across the country, that we will make homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring, implicitly, if not explicitly, is based on the acceptance of this governing variable. We can make homelessness rare, brief and nonrecurring, but we can’t end homelessness in the absolute sense of the word, because in a capitalist society, there will always be economic churn. 

What if we were to question that governing variable? Double-loop learning compels us think about this. In a recent episode of the excellent KERA show, Think, Can Capitalism Work Forever? the host Krys Boyd interviewed Raj Patel and they considered this very question. Patel and Jason W. Moore recently published A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet. The book is a marvelous example of broad and encompassing double-loop learning. 

As Bill McKibben writes, it, “helps us see the startling reality behind what we usually dismiss as the obvious and everyday.” It does this by looking back, and according to Kim Stanley Robinson, offering a, “compelling interpretation of how we got to where we are now.” More importantly, it offers some ideas for, “how we might go on to create a more just and sustainable civilization.” We highly recommend listening to this Think episode to learn more about what might replace the current system. 

Obviously, we don’t know if Patel and Moore’s ideas will work. It is thinking about the ideas we have raised in this series, and not being afraid to question the governing variables that undergird our society, which is important. Such thinking has particular urgency because the effects of our current way of life are, quite literally, killing us. 

Raj Patel

(Courtesy of Raj Patel and Sheila Menezes)

This is not hyperbole. Homelessness kills: As our President and CEO, Cindy J. Crain warned us, in a haunting piece about a year and a half ago, the life expectancy of chronically homeless individuals, in the United States, is in the mid-sixties. Inequality kills: As the World Bank tells us, “Crime rates and inequality are positively correlated (within each country and, particularly, between countries), and it appears that this correlation reflects causation from inequality to crime rates, even controlling for other crime determinants.” Capitalism, unfettered and unregulated, as it is practiced today, kills: As Patel and Moore remind us, it threatens to leave us all homeless, as it endangers, our very existence, as a species, in this, our home, Planet Earth.

Why I Give to United Way?

United Way of Metropolitan Dallas (UWMD) invests in Income, Education and Health, and is making measurable progress in these three areas. 

My organization, MDHA, leads the development of a homeless response system, that will make homelessness in Dallas and Collin Counties, rare, brief and non-recurring. How does that connect to what UWMD is doing?

Picture this: It is August 2015. There are tents and other temporary structures, that have formed a tent city under I-45. Our multi-agency Outreach Taskforce has been working with the folks living there for two or three months, getting to know them, building rapport, and connecting them to housing solutions. The Taskforce knows they are making progress, but it is a process. 

Then, our VP, Rebecca, sees something she has never seen in any of her previous visits - a one year old baby. She immediately calls our CEO, Cindy, and they, being moms themselves, decide then and there, that this baby is not sleeping outside of a home that night. Rebecca asks the mom a few simple questions, and Rebecca discovers that the baby's mom has a housing voucher and an apartment waiting for her. So, why on earth is she in a tent? Well, she can't afford the $45 application fee for the apartment. And the program that got her the voucher is funded by a grant, that does not fund application fees. So, she is stuck!

Fortunately, MDHA, with the help of UWMD, had created the MDHA Flex Fund. This fund is designed to pay for minor, but impactful expenses, that can and do make a huge difference. So, Cindy had a $45 check for the application fee immediately cut. Rebecca ran back to the office to pick up the check and deliver it. The problem was solved. Mom and baby were housed. 

Think about the ripple effects of that $45. In the business world we would call it the ROI, the return on investment. Better still, think about what happens without that $45. Without that $45, that baby does not have a home. Without a home, how do you escape poverty? Without a home, how do you raise a healthy child? Without a home, how can you and your child concentrate on a kid's number one job, learning? That $45 gets you the package deal - Income, Education and Health. 

That is why I run a United Way campaign at our office. That is why I give to UWMD. That is why I call on you to give to UWMD. So, so do what I do. Figure out how much you can give, and then give that much, plus 10%. On behalf of UWMD, on behalf of MDHA and on behalf of the baby and her mom, thank you for giving.