Private Enterprise For Good

A luxury condo development in Brooklyn has been turned into a homeless shelter. The city will pay $90 a night for an apartment which includes marble baths and granite countertops. The original sale price for each apartment was approximately $350,000, but as a result of the housing market decline the developer and a non-profit agreed to use it as homeless shelter.

Lets talk about America and its a approach to solving poverty. Not having the same welfare support system such as countries in Europe, the United States often relies on a high amount of its support systems through non-profits.

Non-profits essentially rely on their support through big grants, small donors, and the largest ones utilize corporate donations to a high amount. When the economy is struggling, all of these three struggle and if not for grant opportunities from sources such as the stimulus packages, a lot of non-profits have to reduce or eliminate their services.

When Private business can use their resources to provide solutions, it removes pressure off of both governmental bodies and non-profits who are already strained. I think all of us who work in poverty reduction would love to see less governmental intervention and more reliance simply on the private sector, but when the private sector doesn't come through it's difficult to rationalize not calling for more governmental support. This makes a tough message to get across to political followers who advocate for small, limited government.

My message to them: If the private industry makes more projects such as these, we wouldn't need government to support us. Please follow this lead and keep up the good work!