Perhaps the phrase ‘homeless count’ causes people to assume that the purpose – and therefore design – of the homeless count is to count all the homeless and it is that erroneous assumption that leads to the utterance of utter nonsense such as:
“Earlier this year, a homeless count found a dramatic increase in homelessness across the region from three years ago, including a 79 per cent increase in Abbotsford.
The Shorter – 1 of 2
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” Mark Twain
Twain attributed the quote to British politician Disraeli but researchers have concluded that the phrase originally appeared in 1895 in an article by Leonard H. Courtney. Ironically Mark Twain is credited with saying that “it isn’t what we don’t know that causes problems but what we know for sure – that ain’t so”.
The fault lies not with the science of statistics but with what we know about statistics that ain’t so. .
Approach 1:
A Little Subtraction, a Little Addition and…….
…….the numbers reveal why the homeless population keeps rising despite all the government spent $$$$ ……provided you 1. look at the numbers, 2. can perform and understand basic arithmetic and 3. can process basic thought.
Politicians, pundits, media and the public focus on what they believe they know, wilfully ignoring all the evidence that what they ‘know’ ain’t so, seeming incapable of simple arithmetic and basic thought processes.
Although it does explain why we are in this handbasket and where we are headed.
“ ‘Disturbing’ report suggests powerful drugs helped fuel 2016 jump in homeless population.”
However, reading the article reveals it is not ‘powerful drugs’ but capitalism that was the cause of the significant jump in homeless population. People were not coming because they could get powerful drugs here, but because of the attractive prices and supply.
Consumerism: whether going to Abbotsford for drugs or going cross-border shopping it’s about the price.
Given the media coverage, misunderstanding and misapplication of the results of the homeless count it is clearly important to understand what the homeless count IS and IS NOT. Failing to understand what the homeless count is and isn’t is what makes the homeless count one more behaviour that contributes to the growth of homelessness.
Continue reading Understanding the 2017 Homeless Count Results