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08/21/2003 Archived Entry: "Homeless Information Management System"

OH, NOW HERE'S SOMETHING CREEPY and very discouraging for those of us who live by choice or chance on the margins of society: As the price of their largesse, the feds are now demanding that local organizations that help the homeless get Homeless Management Information Systems by next year to track their clients.

Homeless Managment Information Systems. Just roll that one around on your tongue and in your brain for a while. Sounds more ominous than Freddie and Jason in partnership, when you think about the implications.

Sheesh. You can't even drop out and become a bum these days without the fedgov following you. And yes, they'll be tracking social security numbers, mental-health histories, the places you like to stay, and all the other ain't-nobody's-business stuff. The justifications are the usual ones. To give statistical data on the "homeless problem." And to "prevent fraud," of course. To paraphrase one person quoted in the article: What, are they worried somebody is going to be double-dipping shelter beds?

This is going to make your typical paranoid homeless person a whole lot more paranoid (and a whole lot less inclined to get help) and your typical on-the-run person a whole lot more desperate and inclined to commit desperate acts. And homeless women, who are often fleeing violence, are going to feel sooooo much more secure knowing a database is there to alert pursuers to their whereabouts.

Homeless Management. What'll they think of next? No, don't even go there. What they'll think of next you don't wanna know.

(Another day brightener from Sunni and Free-Market.net.)

Posted by Claire @ 10:52 AM CST
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