In order to combat Carville’s rampant homeless problem, Mayor

Question

In order to combat Carville’s rampant homeless problem, Mayor Bloomfield recently proposed a ban on sleeping outdoors in the city’s many parks. He claims that such a measure will force the homeless to either leave Carville or to find means other than sleeping in public parks.

Which of the following, if true, suggests that Mayor Bloomfield’s plan will be successful?

Which of the following, if true, suggests that Mayor Bloomfield’s plan will be successful?

A) Until the ban, the city’s many homeless shelters were at less than fifty percent occupancy.
B) Many homeless tend to congregate underneath Carville’s numerous overpasses.
C) Adjacent cities have even tougher measures on the homeless sleeping outdoors.
D) The percent of Carville’s population that has been homeless has been slowly decreasing in the last five years.
E) Mayor Jonesmith, Mayor Bloomfield’s predecessor, had been far more tolerant towards the city’s homeless population

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear Harley1980 , I'm happy to respond. :-)

This question was written by my friend Chris Lele. Among other things, I think the name of the conservative mayor Bloomfield is a play on the name of the recent conservative mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg . So the mayor things that his ban on sleeping outdoors in the parks will force the homeless to do one of two things (1) leave Carville, or (2) find someplace else to stay in Carville We want a strengthener, something that would support the success of the major's plan. (A) This is promising. If the homeless shelters were less than 1/2 full before the ban, this suggests that a large number of the homeless would have a place to go at night. This could support the mayors plan. This is a strengthener. (B) Many already sleep under the overpasses. This is a different group than those who were sleeping in the park, but it doesn't sound as if there is a whole lot of room under the overpasses that could accommodate all the folks who had been sleeping in the park. This might be a strengthener, but it might not be. It's unclear. (C) Hmm. Not much motivation for the homeless folks to go to other cities, so if anything, this is a weakener. (D) An interesting fact. How is it relevant? First of all, how is the population of Carville changing? If Carville has grown quickly over the last five years, then even though the percent has gone down, the number of homeless could go up. For example, 3% of 100,000 (=3000) is less than 2% of 200,000 (=4000). It seems that the total number of homeless might be more relevant than the percent of the total population of the city. This statement is not necessarily relevant. (E) If the new measure represents something much tougher than the homeless had been used to, that doesn't necessarily bode well for a smooth transition to the new law. This may be neutral, or it may be a weakener. It's certainly not a strengthener. The only tenable answer is the OA, (A) . Does this make sense? Mike :-)

brs1cob · Answer

i narrowed down to A and D.
D says % of homeless people has been decreasing over the last 5 years, while the ban on homeless people has been introduced recently. hence A is the winner.

asthagupta · Answer

Hi Mike,

I selected B and was confused between A and B.
The reason you are giving to reject B is also a valid reason to reject A, homeless shelters might not be able to provide shelters to all of those people sleeping in park moreover we do not know how many such organisation are there and with how many beds.

Please suggest?

ashutosh423ag · Answer

Hi Astha,

Your question is genuine, there is a very small difference between the two choices.
Although same exception is possible for both the option but A has more possibilities to accommodate homeless people. Also it is mentioned that there are many homeless shelters.''Hope it helps

mikemcgarry · Answer

Dear asthagupta , I see that ashutosh423ag gave you an intelligent response, but I'm happy to add a little more.

Think about the exact wording of the prompt. In order to combat Carville’s rampant homeless problem, Mayor Bloomfield recently proposed a ban on sleeping outdoors in the city’s many parks. He claims that such a measure will force the homeless to either leave Carville or to find means other than sleeping in public parks. Which of the following, if true, suggests that Mayor Bloomfield’s plan will be successful? We know Mayor Bloomfield wants to deal with the homeless problem, and we know that he has pass this specific law. We want to know: will this specific law, this specific plan, be successful? What would make it successful. Now, think about the exact wording of the answers. A) Until the ban, the city’s many homeless shelters were at less than fifty percent occupancy . We find that there are " many homeless shelters ," a large number, and they are less than 50% full--i.e. more than 50% empty! That means, there are many spaces to be had in these shelters! Will this singlehandedly solve the problem all by itself? Maybe, maybe not. But if a substantial fraction of the homeless in Carville can go to these shelters, right away, that's a huge step toward solving the problem. Let's make up numbers--say there are 10000 homeless sleeping in the parks right now. Let's say 6000 can find beds in the shelters. The shelters alone don't completely solve the problem, but finding a solution for the remaining 4000 people is much easier than finding a solution for all 10000, so it supports the success of the plan. This is a strengthener. B) Many homeless tend to congregate underneath Carville’s numerous overpasses. These people are irrelevant to the bill: they are not in the parks and they won't have to move. (It may be that Mayor Bloomfield is also unhappy about these people, but that's irrelevant to this argument, because the new law doesn't cover them.) This one talks about many homeless people under many overpasses. The big difference between this and (A) is that here, no space is indicated. Is there space for more homeless under these overpasses? Maybe, maybe not. We don't know whether there is any space at all under the overpasses. It's not clear whether (B) offers any help at all. At least in (A), we are guaranteed that there is some space : maybe it's enough space to take everybody or maybe just some fraction of them, but at least some space is guaranteed. That's a huge difference. Remember, on the GMAT CR, a strengthener is not necessarily an iron-clad guarantee of 100% success. It's just something that supports, something that makes it easier for the argument or proposed plan to be successful. This is precisely what (A) does. Does this make sense? Mike

aragonn · Answer

Official Explanation 
The mayor’s plan is to make sure the homeless are gone from Carville, and specifically, gone from Carville's public parks. Whether they remain in Carville is not at issue here. They could leave, but that's not the main goal of the mayor's plan.

(A) suggests that there is plenty of room at the city’s homeless shelters for the homeless to go to. (A) is the answer.

(B) suggests that the homeless aren’t only found in the park. This fact does not relate to the mayor’s plan, though.

(C) might suggest that the mayor’s plan won’t work. Remember, the mayor only wants the homeless to leave the park. They don’t have to leave Carville.

(D) only states that there are fewer homeless people each year. That doesn’t tell us whether the mayor's plan will be successful.

(E) is totally out of scope.

FAQ: Why doesn't choice (B) work as the correct answer?

Choice (B) doesn't actually tell us that the homeless people will sleep underneath overpasses. It just states that homeless people often "gather" or "congregate" underneath the overpass. Also, notice the word "tend". It's in present tense, so it's something that homeless people are currently doing. That means there are homeless people in the park and homeless people under the overpasses.

Further, it doesn't really tell us what would happen to the homeless people in the park. Maybe they would migrate to the underpasses, or maybe there's no room because the underpasses are already occupied by other homeless people. So as it is worded, answer choice (B) doesn't really help us in knowing whether or not Bloomfield's plan will be successful.

In order to combat Carville’s rampant homeless problem, Mayor

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In order to combat Carville’s rampant homeless problem, Mayor

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